Guatemala Rejects U.S. Trade Law Protecting Monsanto and GMOs

Heather Callaghan

Big Biotech's promise to feed the world, by squeezing out every other choice against the will of the impoverished people intended as the target - is beyond cruel and exploitative. It is another way that the U.S. occupies other countries. How else are other people in these countries supposed to view multiple soft-sanctions on food, but as an act of war?

The people of Guatemala caught on to the deceptive nature of a U.S. Trade Agreement with Central America which was marketed as a way to "modernize" them. It also pretends to protect new seed varieties and paints the seed bearers in need of protection as small farmers. It is actually a way for big biotech and seed companies like Monsanto, DuPont, Duwest, Syngenta, etc. to assume power and immunity as owners of their food supply.

Guatemala is calling it "Monsanto Law." It does bear resemblance to the "Monsanto Protection Act" which was a rider slipped into a U.S. financial bill last year, now considered dead.

Controversial ag spending bill defunds local food systems, promotes meat monopoly

Capitol Building - Wiki Commons Image

Rady Ananda, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Plutocrats aimed another weapon at the nation’s poor and at small and midsized farmers, this time thru the 2012 agriculture appropriations bill, H.R. 2112, which the House passed on June 16. The 82-page bill returns some federal spending to 2006 levels and others to 2008 levels.

Now being reviewed by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, the final version of HR 2112 will lay the terrain on which the 2012 Farm Bill will be crafted. The House Agriculture Committee began preparatory hearings on the 2012 Farm Bill this week, reports NSAC.

Key sections provide deep cuts to domestic food programs, threatening food banks, low-income seniors, women and children, and farmers markets supported by WIC vouchers issued thru the Women, Infants and Children program.

Family Farmers Worse Off Despite High Prices (Video)

The Real News

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Factory Farms Produce 100 Times More Waste Than All People In the US Combined

"Factory farms are dangerous to the environment; they are ticking time bombs of manure just waiting to be spilled into public waters."

Jill Richardson
AlterNet

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently delivered a major victory to factory farms. Under a 2008 EPA rule, any confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) "designed, constructed, operated, and maintained in a manner such that the CAFO will discharge" animal waste must apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit under the Clean Water Act. The livestock industry ridiculed the notion that a farm must apply for a permit to discharge manure whether it intended to discharge it or not. And while, when phrased that way, it might sound ridiculous to you too, the details of the case betray a different story.

David Kirby, author of Animal Factory, The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy, and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment, tells story after story in his book of factory farms discharging waste irresponsibly -- sometimes on purpose, and sometimes not. As Karen Hudson, whose story is told in the book, says, "Factory farms are dangerous to the environment; they are ticking time bombs of manure just waiting to be spilled into public waters."

Planet for Sale: Big Ag Buying Up World's Fertile Land (Documentary)

Farm Land Grab

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Eating Healthier, Part 1: Understanding Genetically Modified Foods and Their Dangers

Kevin Hayden, Truth is Treason
Activist Post Contributor

The adulteration and modification of some of the planet’s most widely used crops has changed our food landscape.  Chemicals, preservatives, genetic modification and low-cost substitutions and fillers have wrecked meals that were once healthy for us.  Stepping inside of a grocery store nowadays, we find ourselves in a dangerous and toxic new world.  The introduction of genetically modified organisms into the food supply in the 1990s, coupled with rampant use of carcinogens such as aspartame and substitutes like high fructose corn syrup, set up the perfect ingredients to form a deadly concoction known as processed food.  Sadly, this is what encompasses the average American diet.

Genetically modified foods, or GMOs, are now found in approximately 80% of all food in a typical grocery store.  Corn is the most widely grown genetically modified crop next to soy and canola.  And because corn is now the most common ingredient in American food products, it represents a major threat, especially as it relates to the wide-spread use of high fructose corn syrup.

Over the last few years, organic diets and fads have gained popularity.  Mediterranean cuisines and vegan lifestyles have become mainstream.  Being picky about the source of our food and its ingredients is not as fringe as it once was.  Friends tell me, “I just don’t have the time or energy to sift through all of this jargon.” or “…eating healthy costs a lot!”  Turns out that eating wisely doesn’t cost a lot more and in many cases, will save you money!

Your Guide to the Illegal Farm Photos Bill

factory farming - Wiki image

Editor's Note: A couple of weeks ago, we published an article titled Big Ag Lobbies to Make it Illegal to Secretly Film Animal Abuse.  The following article gives additional details about a new version of the original bill that has been introduced, which is not as watered down as it first appears.  This is in fact a piece of legislation that will allow for animal cruelty to be swept away from the light of scrutiny by compassionate people who wish to know how their food is produced and who demand humane farming practices. Please take action and contact the senator named below and get this bill put into the waste bin where it belongs.

Lois Rain -- Health Freedoms 

SB1246 simply called “Farms” introduced by Jim Norman-R, Tampa, FL

Original bill stated:

• It is “an act relating to farms; prohibiting a person from entering onto a farm or photographing or video recording a farm without the owner’s written consent…”
• In section (1)(1) trespassers on farm property would receive a first degree felony charge.
• In s. (1)(2) any photographs or video recording without written consent (yes, even from a distance) is punishable by first degree felony charge.
• Florida statutes define a first degree felony charge as 30 years imprisonment, possibly life, and $10,000 fine.
• A “Farm” means any land used for agricultural production, cattle, or storage of a commodity (even junk yards).

“The New York Times called it ‘croparazzi,’ and news of the bill gained Internet buzz. But Monday [3/21/11], a heavily amended version of SB 1246 unanimously passed the Senate Agriculture Committee.” Which is why some speculate that the following changes were made to scale back the bill.

New Bill [3/21/11]:

• Section 1.1 creates exceptions for Department of Agriculture employees, law enforcement, investigators, and inspectors.
• The charge of first degree felony now becomes a first degree misdemeanor (one year prison, $1000 fine).
• It also appears the crime is only committed if on the actual property without written consent. That cleared GoogleEarth but still left out greenbelt exceptions. (Would these changes really make roadside pictures and aerial photography okay by law?)
• Section 1 (2)(a) defines “Audio or video records” as any audio or video recording, regardless of the recording medium or format, including, but not limited to, photographs, audio or videotapes, cd’s, dvd’s, or streaming media, whether stored on film stock, hard disks, solid state storage, or any electrical, magnetic, or optical or other form of data storage.

What’s the back story? Norman’s under criminal investigations?

The Agribusiness Juggernaut: Assault on Nature, Threat to Human Survival

"Burning Orchids" by Richard William Posner

Richard William Posner

Activist Post 

Organic food has become one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture.  In all probability, however, it will be virtually impossible to obtain anyreal organic food in the not-too-distant future. 

Monsanto, a giant in agricultural biogenetics and holder of patents on several genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is working to corner the global market on Life. Their genetically modified (GM) crops -- some complete with suicide genes which render their seeds infertile and others genetically resistant to herbicides -- are intended to ultimately overrun all natural crops, making Monsanto quite literally the sole owner of all food crops on Earth.

These GM crops will ultimately be the only game in town and, therefore, every vegetable, fruit or grain you eat will be a genetically modified organism (GMO). The same will apply to every form of feed used for livestock, poultry and any creature whatsoever that is raised as a source of food for humans. It's even quite certain that food animals themselves will be subjected to the same sort of genetic manipulation that is now being used on crops.  In fact, genetically modified salmon could be available at a supermarket near you sooner than you think.