[url]http://rt.com/usa/monsanto-congress-silently-slips-830/[/url]
[quote]The US House of Representatives quietly passed a last-minute addition to the Agricultural Appropriations Bill for 2013 last week - including a provision protecting genetically modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks.
The rider, which is officially known as the Farmer Assurance Provision, has been derided by opponents of biotech lobbying as the “Monsanto Protection Act,” as it would strip federal courts of the authority to immediately halt the planting and sale of genetically modified (GMO) seed crop regardless of any consumer health concerns.
The provision, also decried as a “biotech rider,” should have gone through the Agricultural or Judiciary Committees for review. Instead, no hearings were held, and the piece was evidently unknown to most Democrats (who hold the majority in the Senate) prior to its approval as part of HR 993, the short-term funding bill that was approved to avoid a federal government shutdown.[/quote]
If you are against this, feel free to check this out
[url]http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_the_monsanto_protection_act/[/url]
[B]Fuck you, Monsanto.[/B]
I... think this is good. Is it?
Fuck Monsanto. They drive farmers into debt and have a goddamn monopoly on a lot of fucking crops. You literally cannot grow Soy in any form without giving them money. Even if you grow it off of second generation seeds, it's fucking illegal.
Someone wanna provide some background for the people who have never heard of this before?
[QUOTE=chipset;40064783]Someone wanna provide some background for the people who have never heard of this before?[/QUOTE]
They patent seeds, then flood the market with them and after a while. They sell seeds that only work with their pesticides and they also make it so you have to buy a new batch every time you grow, or else they'll sue you to oblivion.
[editline]27th March 2013[/editline]
They literally patent entire crops and if you don't pay them when you grow them, you can be sent to court.
Explanation, if I understand right:
If a genetically modified plant is accused of a legitimate health risk, a court can stop the production of that plant until it is determined safe. This bill says that courts can not stop the plant's production immediately upon accusation of health risk.
It's a win-lose, because on one side, GM foods are often wrongly accused of their negative health effects. On the other, GM foods that would have real health detriments would be on the market for a while before production/distribution could be halted.
They call it the "Monsanto Protection Act" because Monsanto has a monopoly on GM food plants (and on food plants in general because of gene patents), and it would prevent Monsanto from going to suit or halting production without due cause.
But yea, fuck Monsanto.
Monsanto also worked on Agent Orange.
It honestly kind of scares me how Monsanto has such a stranglehold in the agricultural industry. They have so many friends in high places that they can do pretty much anything and get away with it.
Don't forget how if a seed falls into your crops you're fucked. Either they'll sue you to hell and back or you'll wind up having to buy only their seeds at high as hell prices with all the other stipulations.
[QUOTE=chipset;40064783]Someone wanna provide some background for the people who have never heard of this before?[/QUOTE]
Monsanto - Producer of Agent Orange During the Vietnam War. Sues farmers using there GMO seeds (which can cause major health risks)
They suck,
[QUOTE=chipset;40064764]I... think this is good. Is it?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]strip federal courts of the authority to immediately halt the planting and sale of genetically modified (GMO) seed crop regardless of any consumer health concerns.[/QUOTE]
Basically, if a seedling that is protected by a monsanto farmer sprouts in a farm that isn't owned by monsanto someone gets slapped with hefty fines. It's patent trolling at it's finest.
It should be worth noting that some of there seeds will only work with their brand of fertilizer, and that fertilizer also happens to make fields infertile to everything but those seeds.
My uncle is a farmer and he made the mistake of using some of their seeds and fertilizers because they were cheap, and it ruined a few of his fields. He had to turn them to pastures.
EDIT: I think it is their seeds. Really the point is that genetically modified seeds like this are horrible.
Like to get how strong of a grasp on agriculture they have, even if you breed an entirely new seed, they can argue that you're violating their patent.
[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;40064811]They patent seeds, then flood the market with them and after a while. They sell seeds that only work with their pesticides and they also make it so you have to buy a new batch every time you grow, or else they'll sue you to oblivion.
[editline]27th March 2013[/editline]
They literally patent entire crops and if you don't pay them when you grow them, you can be sent to court.[/QUOTE]
The fuck
[QUOTE=Gnomical;40064852]It should be worth noting that some of there seeds will only work with their brand of fertilizer, and that fertilizer also happens to make fields infertile to everything but those seeds.
My uncle is a farmer and he made the mistake of using some of their seeds and fertilizers because they were cheap, and it ruined a few of his fields. He had to turn them to pastures.
EDIT: I think it is their seeds. Really the point is that genetically modified seeds like this are horrible.[/QUOTE]
It's like toilet paper companies owning hot sauce manufacturers. They make their seeds only work with their fertilizers and those only work their pesticides and yadayada.
[editline]27th March 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;40064889]The hell is wrong with this industry[/QUOTE]
You can thank Industrial Barons.
You know how broken clocks are still right twice a day? Paranoid schizophrenics are right about Monsanto.
Oh can't forget how they also sell INFERTILE SEEDS. The crops literally produce infertile seeds for the next batch to ensure that farmers buy new seeds each time they want to have a harvest.
[editline]27th March 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Appellation;40064913]You know how broken clocks are still right twice a day? Paranoid schizophrenics are right about Monsanto.[/QUOTE]
Monsanto is like the only case ever where nearly every conspiracy theory about them turns out to be true.
Consumer health means nothing! :v:
Thanks for making them more or less immune to the law.
[editline]27th March 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;40064886]The fuck[/QUOTE]
You can't grow anything but monsanto crop too
I've never been really anti-GMO, but this shadiness is ridiculous. Piggybacking a bill that says "it's illegal to sue for health issues" is absolutely disgusting.
And reading about how GM seeds are monopolizing an industry, I'm much much more against them now.
[QUOTE=.Isak.;40065093]
And reading about how GM seeds are monopolizing an industry, I'm much much more against them now.[/QUOTE]
They have great potential, improved harvests, improved food quality. Without GM crops feeding the world is a pipedream. The problem is these corporations with no regard for people's health and massive political influence.
However, if you have any political ambitions, do not speak out against them publicly.
-Current SCOTUS justice Clarence Thomas was formerly Monsanto's lawyer.
-Bush appointee to the Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman was a director in Monsanto.
-Donald Rumsfeld was on the board of directors to Monsanto's pharmaceutical company.
-Bush appointee to the Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Tompson received 50,000$ in campaign finances for governor.
-Former Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee Larry Combest received the highest campaign funds Monsanto has given out.
-Former Attorney General John Ashcroft came in a close second.
-USDA Nat. Institute of Food and Agriculture director Roger Beachy was director of Monsanto's Danforth Plant Science Center.
-Former Deputy Commissioner of the FDA, Michael Taylor, and current senior adviser to the FDA Commissioner, is a former Vice President of Monsanto's Public Policy division.
-Former Secretary of Commerce (1996-1997) and Trade Rep (1992-1993) Mickey Kantor was on Monsanto's Board of Directors.
-Current Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is often accused with merit of being a Monsanto shill, introducing bills that would benefit Monsanto. He has previously traveled in a Monsanto private jet.
Monsanto has made just about everything. You can't get away from them.
Conspiracy theories don't do justice to how large and how much impact monsanto will and does have on our lives and our world.
oh agriculture how have you gone so wrong
[QUOTE=.Isak.;40065093]I've never been really anti-GMO, but this shadiness is ridiculous. Piggybacking a bill that says "it's illegal to sue for health issues" is absolutely disgusting.
And reading about how GM seeds are monopolizing an industry, I'm much much more against them now.[/QUOTE]
GM crops are fucking great. The problem is that instead of benefiting people and potentially ending world hunger, they decide to just fucking make a huge buck off of it and screw people over.
There are tens of thousands of farmers killing themselves each year because of this shit.
[editline]27th March 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=aznz888;40065320]oh agriculture how have you gone so wrong[/QUOTE]
Agriculture is in a golden age. The problem is that corporations are using them to fuck over the little guys.
[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;40064811]They patent seeds, then flood the market with them and after a while. They sell seeds that only work with their pesticides and they also make it so you have to buy a new batch every time you grow, or else they'll sue you to oblivion.
[editline]27th March 2013[/editline]
They literally patent entire crops and if you don't pay them when you grow them, you can be sent to court.[/QUOTE]
What's wrong with this? Nothing's stopping a farmer from using the regular crop if they want. Should they not be allowed to sell a modified plant, even if it took years of engineering to develop?
I mean I get how it's a little scummy to engineer reliance on their own brands of pesticide and fertilizer, but a farmer could always opt not to.
Edit: And they'll likely get stomped out by the corporations with much better crops, but the same thing happened when the cotton gin replaced weaving by hand. An agricultural industry is becoming more industrial.
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