Image by adriansalamandre via FlickrMonsanto are an American chemical company, turned Biotech giant. You might know them from such atrocities as DDT or Agent Orange or Bovine Growth Hormone... Or maybe you've heard about major health problems people have had from living too close to one of Monsanto's chemical waste dumps? Well, that was just the beginning. They may actually be the first ever Nature Haters.
They were the first to genetically modify a plant cell in 1982 and they haven't looked back since! Soon after they came up with a great little pesticide called Roundup. Shortly after, they released a number of genetically modified 'Roundup Ready' seeds - sounds tasty!! So farmers could now grow these Monsanto seeds, spray them all they wanted with this nasty pesticide Roundup, and everything else (plants and insects) would shrivel and die. Obviously an interesting prospect for farmers who had to battle different pests from time to time. Unfortunately, the devastating environmental impacts of this mono farming are now clear to us.
The third (or sixth) part of their great legacy, involves destroying honest farmers who have been doing their best to feed us GM free produce for years. In other words, if you didn't grow Monsanto GM crops your days were numbered. If the farmer next to you was growing Monsanto's GM crops, you could be sure that your farm would soon be contaminated. All it took was one seed blowing into your crops. And because you didn't purchase these patented seeds, Monsanto could argue that you had broken patent laws. And what chance do you, a tiny American farmer, have against a huge multi-national, multi-billion dollar company?? Zero.
Well... when I first heard of Monsanto and their atrocities, I thought "Only in America... Just try that shit in Australia - we dare you". Well I'm eating my words now.
In December, Australian farmer Steve Marsh had his organic farm contaminated by Monsanto's GM seeds - they blew in from a neighbors farm. He was then stripped of his organic certification - which may sound harsh, but it had to be done. Steve has confirmed he is taking legal action, but now faces the full weight of Monsanto head on. This is only one year after the West Australian state government allowed the GM seeds into the state.
Given what has happened in the USA over the last 30 years, the West Australian state government had full knowledge that this type of contamination would happen. And they allowed it. And worse still; West Australian agriculture minister Terry Redman (a farmer himself) has sided with Monsanto. I emailed Terry earlier and asked him what happened... had he sold his soul, was he corrupt? You can tell me Terry - I won't tell anybody".
I'm so angry this has been allowed to happen in Australia. I mean we're Australian for fucks sake! We tell greedy pricks like this to get stuffed don't we!? How did this happen? Why is this going to continue to happen? Will our justice system be more just than that of America and Canada? What can we do about it?
You can donate to Steve Marsh's legal costs to help him take on Monsanto or you can email the un-Australian Terry Redman: Minister.Redman@dpc.wa.gov.au
Image by adriansalamandre via Flickr
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