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 Millions Against Monsanto March 29, 2005 4:15 AM

JUDGE RULES AGAINST ONE MILLION VIETNAMESE IN FAVOR OF MONSANTO On March 10, conservative Judge Jack B. Weinstein ruled against compensating Vietnamese children and adults who have suffered serious health damage due to the intensive spraying of the herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange was widely applied to remove forest cover, despite being categorized as a highly toxic dioxin to humans. Backed by legal teams that only billions of dollars in annual sales can provide, the Monsanto Corporation (the original producer of Agent Orange), Dow, and others claimed the chemical is not toxic, even though it is now globally banned for that very reason. Over a million Vietnamese suffer serious health problems, ranging from cancer to birth defects, due to exposure to Agent Orange, which still persists in the nation's environment. Birth defect rates are among the highest in the world in regions where Agent Orange was applied. Here, children are frequently born without eyes, limbs, or are even missing internal organs. In making his ruling in favor of Monsanto and Dow, Judge Weinstein claimed that pesticides and birth defects are not related, saying, "There is no basis for any of the claims of plaintiffs. The case is dismissed." http://www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/agentorange031405.cfm MONSANTO HELPS KEEP A NOTORIOUS TOXIC PESTICIDE ON THE MARKET This week, Minnesota became the first U.S. state to attempt to follow the lead of the European Union and ban Atrazine. The commonly used corn pesticide has been directly linked to cancer, low sperm counts and widespread deformities in frogs, and has been showing up at increasing rates in wells and municipal water supplies. In response to the proposed law, chemically-dependent corn farmers and distributors of the pesticide, including Monsanto and Syngenta, successfully flexed their lobbying muscle and convinced lawmakers to reject the bill, claiming that Atrazine is safe, and that a ban would negatively impact profits. http://www.organicconsumers.org/toxic/atrazine031705.cfm Also at http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html : Monsanto Brings Small Family Dairy to Court Multi-Billion$$ Monsanto Sues More Small Family Farmers Monsanto Hid PCB Pollution for Decades Taxpayers Forced to Fund Monsanto's Poisoning of Third World Monsanto Takes Ownership of Public Water Resource Monsanto's GE Seeds are Pushing US Agriculture into Bankruptcy Monsanto's Government Ties A Monsanto official told the New York Times that the corporation should not have to take responsibility for the safety of its food products. "Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food," said Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications. "Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job." It would be nice to think the FDA can be trusted with these matters, but think again. Monsanto has succeeded in insuring that government regulatory agencies let Monsanto do as it wishes. Take a look: Prior to being the Supreme Court Judge who put GW Bush in office,Clarence Thomas was Monsanto's lawyer. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (Anne Veneman) was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto's Calgene Corporation. The Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld) was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto's Searle pharmaceuticals. The U.S. Secretary of Health, Tommy Thompson, received $50,000 in donations from Monsanto during his winning campaign for Wisconsin's governor. The two congressmen receiving the most donations from Monsanto during the last election were Larry Combest (Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee) and Attorney General John Ashcroft. (Source: Dairy Education Board) In order for the FDA to determine if Monsanto's growth hormones were safe or not, Monsanto was required to submit a scientific report on that topic. Margaret Miller, one of Monsanto's researchers put the report together. Shortly before the report submission, Miller left Monsanto and was hired by the FDA. Her first job for the FDA was to determine whether or not to approve the report she wrote for Monsanto. In short, Monsanto approved its own report. Assisting Miller was another former Monsanto researcher, Susan Sechen. Deciding whether or not rBGH-derived milk should be labeled fell under the jurisdiction of another FDA official, Michael Taylor, who previously worked as a lawyer for Monsanto. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Take Note: Organic and Natural Product Companies Associated with Monsanto: •Brand Name(s): Arrowhead Mills, Bearitos, Breadshop, Celestial Seasonings, Earth's Best Baby Food, Garden of Eatin, Health Valley, Imagine Foods, Terra Chips, Westbrae, Millina's, Mountain Sun, Shari Ann's, Walnut Acres Owned By: Hain Food Group Principle Stockholders: Bank of America, Entergy Nuclear, ExxonMobil, H.J. Heinz, Lockheed Martin, Merck, Monsanto, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Walmart, Waste Mangement Inc. Significantly Owned By: Citigroup •Brand Name(s): Cascadian Farms, Muir Glen Owned By: Small Planet Foods Principle Stockholders: General Mills Significantly Owned By: Alcoa, Chevron, Disney, Dupont, ExxonMobil, General Electric, McDonalds, Monsanto, Nike, Pepsico, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Starbucks, Target, Texas Instruments MILLIONS OF CITIZENS COUNTERING MONSANTO'S BUSINESS PRACTICES Given Monsanto's ongoing, criminally irresponsible record of disregarding human health and the environment, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is stepping up the pace in our "Millions Against Monsanto" campaign. If you're talking about Agent Orange, rBGH, water privatization, PCBs, or DDT, you're talking about Monsanto. Sign the "Millions Against Monsanto" petition now, and forward this Alert to your friends and colleagues. TAKE ACTION HERE: http://www.organi  [ send green star]
 
oops.....continued..........;) March 29, 2005 4:17 AM

MILLIONS OF CITIZENS COUNTERING MONSANTO'S BUSINESS PRACTICES Given Monsanto's ongoing, criminally irresponsible record of disregarding human health and the environment, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is stepping up the pace in our "Millions Against Monsanto" campaign. If you're talking about Agent Orange, rBGH, water privatization, PCBs, or DDT, you're talking about Monsanto. Sign the "Millions Against Monsanto" petition now, and forward this Alert to your friends and colleagues. TAKE ACTION HERE: http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.html Good news worldwide: UK SCHOOLS GOING ORGANIC Due to overwhelming pressure from parents of school-age children in the U.K., Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced the establishment of a new government based "School Food Trust," wherein junk foods will be removed from schools while organic "made-from-scratch" meals will be instituted. According to Blair, "If changes are made it will only be a matter of months before British health, education and farming could be affected for the better. It could be one of the biggest food revolutions that England has ever seen." http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/blair032105.cfm EASTERN EUROPE: A sixth province in Poland announced last week it is banning genetically engineered (GE) crops, resulting in roughly half of the agriculture of the nation now being GE-free. In the meantime, Eastern Europe governments have announced the implementation of the world's largest organic research budget. According to Janez Potocnik, the EU Commissioner for Research, "I believe that the importance of research into organic and low-input food production can be a perfect example of how science can unlock potentials for human well-being." AFRICA: Stakeholders in Tanzania are appealing to the government to continue the country's ban on GE crops for the next ten years. JAPAN: Nearly a quarter of a million petition signatures opposing GE farming in Hokkaido, Japan have been submitted to the local government. Of the 5,000 farmers in the region, only ten (along with backing from the Monsanto Corporation) support GE crops.  [ send green star]
 
 March 29, 2005 10:21 AM

Signed and thank you, I'm going to take this to my own grp so more will sign it as well. Companies like this need to be put back in their place.  [ send green star]
 
 March 29, 2005 12:36 PM

As a Minnesota resident, I have my fingers crossed that the new law gets passed.  As my husband's uncle from Wisconsin always says, "No more poisoned cornfields!"  [ send green star]
 
 March 29, 2005 1:42 PM

All signed and I hope it does some good; how does they get away with this?  [ send green star]
 
 March 29, 2005 4:20 PM

Just a Monsanto Tidbit..

 John Bennett started a company called Bennett Environmental Inc. Incinerators is his game now.

 They get contracts from US and Canada to clean up toxic waste sites.

He was a main player in the creation of PCBs at Monsanto and now he's being paid big big bucks to destroy them.

BEI..tried to get a toxic waste incinerator built in my district but we kicked his sorry ass outta here.

Monsanto itself has also changed its name and was awarded the contract to clean up its own mess. (fun world huh?)

 

 

 [ send green star]
 
 March 29, 2005 4:53 PM

Got Pus?  Milk Does.  Thanks Monsanto.  [ send green star]
 
 March 31, 2005 5:02 PM

Thanks, everyone! Lori - I swear, words fail me more and more, day by day. I find myself just walking around shaking my head Patty... now that's a lovely visual  [ send green star]
 
I signed November 15, 2005 1:47 PM

I have modified the letter, so that it is stronger, except in requesting that they make a start on changing course.  I wouldn't flick a fly off my face if someone demanded that I do it. 

I hate them and I hope they poison themselves first.

I always finish my letters saying "It doesn't matter how much you bully my government.  I won't buy your product, and most people in the UK will boycott it" 

I will boycott something I really like to make a point.  I really miss Shredded Wheat.

 [ send green star]
 
Is this Russia!!! November 24, 2009 1:33 PM

I thought that our government was not a communist country!! They are allowing farmers to be told what and what not they can do!! Get Monsanto out of our foods and lives!!

 [ send green star]
 
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