Since the beginning of May, Occupy Monsanto protests have been taking place in cities around the world. Yet, the majority of people have no idea what Occupy Monsanto even is, and it’s no wonder when most major media sources have not even mentioned it.If you haven’t heard of it, millions of people have been protesting against Monsanto’s influence on our food systems through Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). There has been very strong opposition to Monsanto in the U.S. due to the protection of Monsanto by the U.S. government. In late March, President Obama signed the ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ and last month, Senate voted 71-27 against an amendment to the Farm Bill that would give power to each state for the decision to label GMO foods. At the end of May, a list of politicians who were paid off by Monsanto was released, showing the hold that Monsanto has within the U.S. government.
Due to the lack of news coverage on Occupy Monsanto protests, many people are also questioning whether Monsanto has infiltrated media sources as well. Some people have announced that Facebook is restricting people who have been posting photos of the Monsanto protests (http://intellihub.com/2013/05/26/facebook-censors-pictures-of-children-rallying-against-gmos-during-gglobal-march-against-monsanto/). It concerns me that a corporation can hold such power, especially when it comes to our food sources. Are you concerned about how Monsanto is reaching into the government and civil society? Do you think it should be mandatory for GMOs to be labeled on foods?
The developed world is not immune to corruption either. I definitely think foods containing GMOs should be labeled. Foods have to be labelled for so many other things (gluten, allergens, etc.), how are GMOs exempt from this? What you said about the US government signing the Monsanto Protection Act surprised be - what did this act involve?
ReplyDeleteThe Monsanto Protection Act apparently states that if there is any research in the future that proves GMOs/GE seeds do cause health problems, the federal courts won't have any power to do anything about it.
DeleteThe way that Monsanto employees begin to work for the government and vice-versa, sometimes switching several times, has been referred to as Monsanto's revolving door. There are definitely some conflicts of interest here, and the company is rarely penalized for breaking rules. I'd be interested to know what the Protection Act contains as well!
ReplyDeleteI also think that GMOs should be labelled I think it will take a long time for consumers to change their buying patterns even with labelling. It's staggering to think how little media coverage there has been for the opposition to Monsanto and makes me wonder what would it take for solutions to these issues to be solved.
ReplyDeleteI actually think consumers would change fairly quickly if items were labelled as GMOs. I know for myself, it's difficult to know what ingredients are GMOs and what aren't and if an item was labelled, I definitely wouldn't be buying it. I'm not saying everybody would change their buying patterns but I think companies using GMOs would see enough drop that they would change.
DeleteGood topic! I would love for GMOs to be labelled - I think that altogether, they are not subjected to testing that is rigorous enough to prove them safe for long-term human consumption, and the hold that the company seems to have on the government is worrisome. However, in criticizing the American government in this matter, I do recognize that the Canadian government treats mining in the same way, so there are faults on both sides. I am interested to see what happens in the future with Europe banning GMOs. Another point to note is that one of the arguments by Monsanto and food companies is that labelling all the GMO components is too difficult and would cost them a ton of money to complete... but many of them already do this labelling for their products that they ship to countries with stricter regulations!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I didn't know that some of them already do it for certain countries. Which countries do the companies label GMOs for?
DeleteGMOs should definitely be labelled, and I hate that Monsanto has such a vast influence in governments, civil society and our media. I don't really understand how to some people it's not really an issue or aren't more invested in learning what's going on in their food- as the saying goes you are what you eat and by eating GMOs you are literally injecting your body with all sorts of contaminates. Diet is so important to our health but I guess if it makes our Saturday morning shopping harder some people just aren't interested.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that it all comes down to laziness, but at the same time, not having GMOs labelled just makes it much harder for people who do want to avoid them in their food. It requires quite a bit of research to know what exactly is in your food, and it shouldn't be like this at all.
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