No, Really, Monsanto Has a "Discredit Bureau"

A company functionary discusses Monsanto's 'Ministry of Truth'

Heather Callaghan

Monsanto company arguably holds an inordinate amount of the global food supply, not only with its genetically engineered seed but its complimentary product, Roundup herbicide, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate.

Which is why they spat lividly when a subset of WHO publicly announced that glyphosate is a probably cause of cancer. They demanded a retraction. The report published in The Lancet Oncology discussed chromosomal and DNA damage, and glyphosate found in human blood and intestines. Catherine Frompovich expounds on it in What’s Your “Daily Value” of Glyphosate?

Since they hold more capital than Lucifer, it stands to reason they would have a propaganda wing that disseminates information and decimates those who stand in the way. Snippets of proof have surfaced before. Although shrouded in secrecy, this time someone from the company got a little too gleeful at the thought of "debunking" naysayers whether they be scientists, activists, bloggers or you.

Why Monsanto's 'Cure' For World Hunger Is Cursing The Global Food Supply

Sayer Ji

What if the very GM agricultural system that Monsanto claims will help to solve the problem of world hunger depends on a chemical that kills the very pollinator upon which approximately 70% of world's food supply now depends?
  
A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology titled, "Effects of field-realistic doses of glyphosate on honeybee appetitive behavior," establishes a link between the world's most popular herbicide – aka Roundup – and the dramatic decline in honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations in North American and Europe that lead to the coining of the term 'colony collapse disorder' (CCD) in late 2006 to describe the phenomena.[1]

The researchers found that concentrations of glyphosate (GLY) consistent with the type of exposures associated with standard spraying practices in GM agricultural - and neighboring ecosystems - reduced the honeybees' sensitivity to nectar reward and impaired their learning abilities – two behavioral consequences likely to adversely affect their survival abilities. Moreover, while sub-lethal doses were not found to overtly affect their foraging behavior, they hypothesized that because of their resilience, "..forager bees could become a source of constant inflow of nectar with GLY traces that could then be distributed among nest mates, stored in the hive and have long-term negative consequences on colony performance."

Is It Time To Acknowledge Roundup Herbicide As A Contraceptive?

How much longer will we deny the growing body of research linking Roundup to infertility before calling this chemical a contraceptive?

Sayer Ji

Following closely on the heels of the EPA's decision to allow Roundup herbicide residues in your food at concentrations a million times higher than shown carcinogenic, a concerning new study published in the journal Free Radical Medicine & Biology implicates the herbicide, and its main ingredient glyphosate, in male infertility, at concentration ranges well within the EPA's "safe level" for food.[1]

Performed by Brazilian researchers, the study found acute Roundup exposure at low doses (36ppm, 0.036g/L) for 30 minutes induced cell death in Sertoli cells in prepubertal rat testis. Sertoli cells are known as "mother" or "nurse" cells within the testicles, as they are responsible for maintaining the health of sperm cells, and are required for normal male sexual development.

Roundup herbicide exposure was found to induce oxidative stress and to activate multiple-stress response pathways within affected cells, and was associated with an increase in intracellular calcium (Ca2+) concentration leading to Ca2+ overload, and cell death.

Glyphosate and Roundup’s Implications on Modern Diseases

An interview with Stephanie Seneff, PhD: Co-author of "Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases."

image source

Catherine J. Frompovich

In April 2013, independent scientist Anthony Samsel and MIT scientist Stephanie Seneff published their mega studies analysis of glyphosate titled “Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases” in the online journal, Entropy. With 286 peer-reviewed papers analyzed, Samsel and Seneff documented that glyphosate—and the herbicide Roundup®, in particular—has deleterious impact on disease causality in laboratory and farm animals, and humans.

This is an interview with co-author Stephanie Seneff, of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

Before we get into details, will you please tell us how glyphosate and Roundup® came into being? Who owns it and how profitable a commodity is it for that corporation?

Monsanto is the inventor of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup®. It was brought to market first in the U.S. in the mid 1970s, and it came out from under patent in 2000, making it far more attractive as an herbicide due to the reduced cost.

Didn’t Monsanto produce saccharine (1901?), DDT (1944), Agent Orange for the Vietnam War (1960s-1970s), Posilac®—bovine somatotropin (Bst) for dairy cows (1994), Roundup Ready® soybeans (1996), Roundup Ready® Cotton and Roundup Ready® Canola (1997), Roundup Ready® Corn (1998), and receive USDA authorization for planting Genuity® Roundup Ready® Alfalfa and Genuity® Roundup Ready® Sugarbeets in 2011?

Yes. Monsanto has a long record of producing toxic chemicals.

California's Right to Know Campaign Gets Boost After Recent Bombshell Study

Activist Post

A recent peer-reviewed study published by the Food and Chemical Toxicology Journal demonstrated that Monsanto's best-selling weedkiller, Roundup, causes increased tumors, multiple organ damage and premature death in rats.

The discovery is going viral and giving even more momentum to California's campaign for the right to have GM food labeled -- also known as Prop 37. Many experts have given their assessment of these findings, including molecular biologist Dr. Michael Antoniou in a must-see video here.

In text from the video ad below, it is correctly pointed out that in addition to the most basic right to know what we are consuming, we should keep in mind who is bringing the world the wonders of genetic modification. 

New Study Finds GM Corn and Roundup Causes Cancer In Rats

Sayer Ji, Contributor

In an alarming new study published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, researchers from The Committee for Research & Independent Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) reported on the results of a 2-year feeding study in rats given either NK603 Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize, cultivated with or without Roundup, and Roundup alone, at levels permitted in drinking water and GM crops in the United States.

The authors of the study pointed out that currently no regulatory authority requires mandatory chronic animal feeding studies to be performed for edible GMOs and formulated pesticides, and the only 90-day feeding trials were conducted by the biotech industry.

USGS: Glyphosate pollutes air, rain and rivers in US

Rady Ananda, Contributing Writer

Two new studies by the U.S. Geological Survey reveal the pervasive spread of the biocide, glyphosate, mostly used as a weedkiller for crops genetically engineered to resist it.

Used in formulations by Monsanto, Bayer, Dow and others, glyphosate has been linked to spontaneous abortions in livestock, birth defects in humans, insect resistance, and weed resistance.

Worse, regulators have known for years of these links, Earth Open Source reported.

Monsanto's Roundup Herbicide Toxic To Life In Parts Per Billion Range

Sayer Ji, Contributor
Activist Post

New research on the DNA-damaging effects of the popular herbicide known as Roundup® indicates that it can do significant harm to fish even after short-term, environmentally low concentration exposures in the parts per billion range (μg /L).[i]

Published this month (July, 2012) in the journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessmentsresearchers set out to evaluate the genotoxic effects that the herbicide Roundup®, and its primary ingredient glyphosate, can have on a species of catfish known as Corydorasa paleatus. When exposed to minute concentrations of Roundup (at a concentration of 6.67 μg/L, corresponding to 3.20 μg/L glyphosate) for 3,6 and 9 days, the following effects were observed: "[T]he comet assay showed a high rate of DNA damage in group exposed to Roundup(®) for all treatment times, both for blood and hepatic cells." The researchers summarized their findings:

We conclude that for the low concentration used in this research, the herbicide shows potential genotoxic effects. Future research will be important in evaluating the effects of this substance, whose presence in the environment is ever-increasing.

First, it is very important to understand how low a μg /L or parts per billion concentration is. One way to visualize it is to think of one drop in one billion drops of water, or what amounts to one drop of water in an entire swimming pool.[ii]

Lawsuit Filed Against Monsanto and Recruiter Over U.S. Worker Exploitation Scam

Joe Wright
Activist Post

Seven Texas farm workers are alleging a wide range of crimes committed by biotech giant Monsanto. 

Courthouse News Service is reporting that lead plaintiff Jose Cardenas has filed a lawsuit against Monsanto recruiter Milo Inc. and Milo Inc.'s president, as well as Monsanto itself.

Cardenas is one of seven field workers who are attempting to show a wide-ranging exploitation scam that made promises which were later withdrawn. According to the plaintiffs:

Monsanto promised (the) seven Texas field workers and their children free housing with kitchens in Indiana, then charged them $300 a room, exposed them to pesticides and underpaid them, the men claim in Federal Court.     

The abuses also included unsanitary conditions that violated agricultural safety and health codes; among the violations, a school bus that was converted into a kitchen facility:

The workers say the bus did not have enough stoves for the number of laborers in the camp, lacked adequate sinks with hot and cold water, did not have sufficient lighting and ventilation or enough chairs and tables.

This is not the first lawsuit against Monsanto to make claims of horrific mistreatment; however, it seems to be the first lawsuit of its type filed inside the United States.

Monsanto Roundup Resistance Spreads In Canada

via Ag Talk forum

Heather Callaghan
Activist Post

A bushy Canadian plant called Kochia is no longer threatened by the likes of Monsanto's glyphosate weed killer. This spells trouble as weed resistance to the top selling herbicide, Roundup, spreads throughout the world, in effect creating "superweeds."

Monsanto stated on January 11th, that herbicide resistant Kochia was confirmed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) weed scientists in three fields in southern Alberta.

International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds found between 100-500 resistant fields in Alberta.

In the United States, glyphosate-resistant Kochia was previously confirmed in Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska. This tenacious weed causes much distress and loss for farmers as it can spread easily and grow up to seven feet tall even in drought conditions. Reports of the weeds' resistance are currently under investigation in three other states: North and South Dakota, and Montana.

Syngenta AG stated last year that Roundup-resistant weeds like Kochia and Palmer amaranth have scorched 14 million acres of U.S. corn, soy, and cotton -- and that will double as soon as 2015. A study by Dow Chemical Co. detected about 20 million corn and soy crops likely contaminated.

The proposed solution? Monsanto and its competing companies are back in the engineering labs developing yet more herbicide resistant crops to withstand more chemicals such as dicamba and Agent Orange element 2,4-D.

New GMO ‘Agent Orange Soy’ Silently Backed by USDA

Mike Barrett
Activist Post

Millions of pounds of herbicides are applied to crops around the nation each year. In one single year, 2006, 96.7 million pounds of glyphosate was sprayed on soybeans alone; this is a 20-fold increase from the 4.9 million pounds in 1994, the year before Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seeds were introduced.

Well, now, biotechnology giant and creator of pesticides and herbicides, Dow AgroSciences is bringing forth brand new GMO soybeans and GMO corn to the market that will ultimately cause more herbicides than ever to be sprayed across the nation. What’s more, the USDA is all over the idea.

2,4-D Herbicide and Super GMO Crops

And perhaps even more startling than the drastic increase in herbicide usage is the fact that Dow AgroSciences’ new genetically modified soy is actually specifically designed to resist an especially toxic herbicide known as 2,4-D, a toxic compound used in the well-known Vitetnam War defoliant Agent Orange. Known to have killed or maimed at least 400,000, and causing an additional 500,000 birth defects according to conservative Viatnamese estimates, Agent Orange is one of the deadliest concoctions on record.

Monsanto's Net Profit Up 77%

Jack Kaskey
Bloomberg

Monsanto Co. (MON), the world’s largest seed company, raised its full-year profit forecast and posted third-quarter earnings that topped analysts’ estimates on higher sales of Roundup weed killer and genetically modified seeds.

Net income climbed 77 percent to $680 million, or $1.26 a share, in the three months through May 31, from $384 million, or 70 cents, a year earlier, St. Louis-based Monsanto said today in a statement. That beat the $1.10 average estimate of 17 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Profit excluding some items will rise to $2.84 to $2.88 a share in the fiscal year through August, compared with a previous prediction of $2.72 to $2.82. The average estimate of 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was $2.82. Monsanto also said the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating customer incentives for Roundup.

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Report Finds Regulators Knew Monsanto's Roundup Caused Birth Defects

Lucia Graves
Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Industry regulators have known for years that Roundup, the world's best-selling herbicide produced by U.S. company Monsanto, causes birth defects, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The report, "Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?" found regulators knew as long ago as 1980 that glyphosate, the chemical on which Roundup is based, can cause birth defects in laboratory animals.

But despite such warnings, and although the European Commission has known that glyphosate causes malformations since at least 2002, the information was not made public.

Instead regulators misled the public about glyphosate's safety, according to the report, and as recently as last year, the German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, the German government body dealing with the glyphosate review, told the European Commission that there was no evidence glyphosate causes birth defects.

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More problems with glyphosate: Rice growers sound alarm

Rady Ananda, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Adding to the natural rice industry’s woes after Bayer CropScience contaminated a third of the US rice supply with transgenic rice in 2006, the widespread application of Bayer’s glufosinate and Monsanto’s glyphosate is reducing crop yields, and burning and deforming rice plants that survive. [Image: Glyphosate deforms the growing points on rice plants.]

The Mississippi Rice Council (MRC) has sounded a national alarm over damage caused by aerial drift of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, calling for severely restricted aerial application.

MRC president Mike Wagner recently told crop dusters at this year’s Mississippi Agricultural Aviation Association annual meeting that glyphosate is wreaking havoc on the natural rice industry where “non-transgenic rice is planted in a sea of genetically modified crops that are tolerant to glyphosate.”

Wagner reported that, “Rice specialists noticed that rice that had no obvious damage through the growing season would yield and mill poorly and would exhibit the classic trait associated with late glyphosate drift — the kernel would be shaped like a parrot beak instead of its normally elongated, symmetrical shape.”

[Image: Glyphosate causes rice to deform from a cylinder into a parrot beak shape.]

Field studies run in 2007 and 2008 by the University of Arkansas showed reduced rice yield by up to 80% from glyphosate, as well as glufosinate, an herbicide produced by Bayer. On top of reduced yield, both herbicides burned the leaves and stunted the growth of rice plants.

In December, the MRC unanimously recommended an annual cutoff date of June 1 for its aerial application, when yield potential for rice is determined.

“Damage occurring at this time does not allow for an alternate crop to be replanted. Consequently, the farmer has two nooses around his neck: (1) he is stuck with a crop that will generate lower revenues, and (2) he has already incurred nearly all expenses that are associated with that crop,” said Wagner.

Because those expenses range from $650 to $900 per acre, “One can see that any losses can be staggering. This is a losing proposition for our rice industry, and one that continues to occur. Our alarm is warranted.”

Lawsuit seeks to invalidate Monsanto’s GMO patents

Rady Ananda, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

“A new invention to poison people … is not a patentable invention.” Lowell v. Lewis, 1817

A landmark lawsuit filed on March 29 in US federal court seeks to invalidate Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seeds and to prohibit the company from suing those whose crops become genetically contaminated.

The Public Patent Foundation filed suit on behalf of 270,000 people from sixty organic and sustainable businesses and trade associations, including thousands of certified-organic farmers.

“As Justice Story wrote in 1817, to be patentable, an invention must not be ‘injurious to the well being, good policy, or sound morals of society,’” notes the complaint in its opening paragraphs.

The suit points to studies citing harm caused by Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, including human placental damage, lymphoma, myeloma, animal miscarriages, and other impacts on human health.
Plaintiffs condemn Monsanto for prohibiting independent research on its transgenic seeds and for its successful lobby efforts to ban GM food labeling. Many raise the specter of allergic reaction to GM foods, proof of which is hidden by lack of labeling. GMO label laws, currently pending in 14 states, would partially remedy this situation. (Please contact your state reps.)

War Over Monsanto Gets Ugly

Mike Ludwig
Truth-Out

A delegation of politicians and community activists gathered on August 7 in La Leonesa, a small farm town in Argentina, to hear Dr. Andres Carrasco speak about a study linking a popular herbicide to birth defects in Argentina's agricultural areas.

But the presentation never happened. A mob of about 100 people attacked the delegation before they could reach the local school where the talk was to be held.

Dr. Carrasco and a colleague locked themselves in a car as the mob yelled threats and beat on the vehicle for two hours. One delegate was hit in the spine and has since suffered lower-body paralysis. Another person was treated for blows to the head. A former provincial human rights official was hit in the face and knocked unconscious.


Witnesses said the angry crowd had ties to local officials and agribusiness bosses, and police made little effort to stop the violence, according to human rights group Amnesty International.

Carrasco is a lead embryologist at the University of Buenos Aires Medical School and the Argentinean national research council. His study, first released in 2009 and published in the United States this past summer, shows that glyphosate-based herbicides like Monsanto's popular Roundup formula caused deformations in chicken embryos that resembled the kind of birth defects being reported in areas like La Leonesa, where big agribusinesses depend on glyphosate to treat genetically engineered crops.

The deformations resulted from much lower doses of herbicide than those commonly found on crops, according to the study.

Biotech chemical giant Monsanto patented glyphosate under the trade name Roundup in the 1970's. The billion-dollar product is a main source of Monsanto's revenue and one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. One Monsanto blogger recently wrote that decades of success has made the Roundup brand name and glyphosate "interchangeable similar to the case of facial tissue and the brand name Kleenex."

Carrasco's report was largely ignored in the mainstream American media, but gained international attention among those opposed to genetically modified (GM) crops like Monstano's Roundup Ready crops, which are genetically engineered to tolerate the glyphosate-based herbicides.

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