Is Monsanto The Anti-Christ?
If you have ever seen the movies, "The Omen 3" and "The Omega Code", you might have noticed that the Anti-Christ is into the corporate manufacturing and control of food for the world. One of the largest coporations in that field is Monsanto. They also own Searle, a pharmecutical company, and they are the makers of aspartame, known as NutraSweet. There is an ongoing battle over genetically modified food, which Monsanto is selling around the world. Here's some of the information for you to decide for yourself.
In a jaw-dropping affirmation of Monsanto's monopoly control over commodity crops, one of the world's most notorious patents for genetically engineered [GE] crops was upheld on May 6 [2003] by the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich -- this despite a nine-year battle by civil society (and industry) to have it revoked.
European Patent No. 301,749, granted in March 1994, is an exceptionally broad "species patent" which grants gene giant Monsanto an exclusive monopoly over all forms of GE soybean varieties and seeds, irrespective of the genes used or the transformation technique employed.
The patent, attacked as immoral and technically invalid by food security advocates worldwide, was vigorously opposed by Monsanto itself until it purchased the original patent-holder (Agracetus) in 1996 and switched sides to make the soybean species patent a major ingredient in its global recipe for crop monopoly. Monsanto now controls 100% of the world's genetically engineered soybeans, covering 36.5 million hectares in 2002.
The ETC Group (The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, formerly RAFI) has been opposing the patent for nearly a decade. It regards the maintenance of this patent as a dangerous precedent for other broad claims on emerging technologies, in particular nanotechnology -- the atomic manipulation of matter to create new molecular forms.
"We fear that the EPO descision on Monsanto's soybean patent gives comfort to those who want to establish ever wider legal claims -- including matter monopolies," emphasised Jim Thomas of ETC Group's Oxford, UK, office.
"Monsanto may have won an entire species, but others are seeking to monopolise entire elements of nature. Atomic-level manufacturing provides new opportunities for sweeping monopoly control over both living and non-living matter."
The European Parliament has called for an investigation of aspartame (aka NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel, E951, Spoonful, Benevia, etc.) as part of a drive to make sure that foodstuffs and drinks consumed in the European Union are safe.
A document from the European Parliament says the justification is that: "...the use of aspartame increases the exposure to its metabolites methanol/formaldehyde and phenylalanine and is reported to provoke headaches, nausea and allergic reactions, especially in the case of vulnerable persons. Its widespread use should therefore be re-evaluated by the Commission and the relevant scientific committees, taking into account all available data and respecting the precautionary principle. An historical evaluation is required as there seems to be evidence that original studies did not prove the safety of aspartame."
There is also a call for proposals to improve the labelling of products containing aspartame, and the Parliament wants the new directive to be implemented in the member states within a year of its entry into force. There is concern about a lack of labels warning of health risks to the pregnant woaman and the foetus -- rightly so, since aspartame is an abortifacient and a teratogen. It also stimulates prolactin. It is an endocrine-disrupting chemical. It also changes the menses, triggering infertility. A woman who goes off aspartame and gets pregnant may lose her baby if she goes back onto it.
The manufacturer [Monsanto] and the FDA have steadfastly refused to put a warning on aspartame, even though they have full knowledge of how it can destroy the foetus or trigger birth defects.
Transnational giant Monsanto has identified a new business opportunity because of the emerging water crisis and the funding available to make this vital resource available to people.
As it states in its strategy paper: "First, we believe that discontinuities (either major policy changes or major trendline breaks in resource quality or quantity) are likely, particularly in the area of water, and we will be well-positioned via these businesses [owned by Monsanto and mentioned earlier in the paper] to profit even more significantly when these discontinuities occur.
"Second, we are exploring the potential of non-conventional financing (NGOs, World Bank, USDA, etc.) that may lower our investment or provide local country business-building resources."
Thus, the crisis of pollution and depletion of water resoureces is viewed by Monsanto as a business opportunity. For Monsanto, "sustainable development" means the conversion of an ecological crisis into a market of scarce resources.
[Source: From an article by physicist Vandana Shiva, published in The Hindu, New Delhi, India, 1 May 1999; reprinted in Nexus Magazine, vol. 6, no. 5]
{My addendum: I recall a scene in The Omen 3 where the Anti-Christ Damien instigated a "natural" disaster in order to gain control of providing his "manufactured" food to the needy people.}
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, the United Nations food and drugs safety agency representing 101 nations worlwide, has ruled unanimously in favour of the 1993 European moratorium on Monsanto's genetically engineered (GE) hormone-treated milk (rBGH). This unexpected ruling, revealingly greeted by the US Press with deafening silence, is a powerful blow against US global trade policies which are strongly influenced by powerful multinational corporations such as Monsanto.
The Codex Commission ruling has also forced the US to abandon its threats to challenge the European moratorium before the World Trade Organization later this year (Seattle, 1999). And, as importantly, the ruling represents the first large-scale defeat of genetically modified foods on unarguable scientific grounds, apart fromethical and ideological concerns.
[Source: The Campaign for Food Safety, , 18 Aug 1999; reprinted in Nexus Magazine, vol. 6, no. 6]
Two scientists responsible for independently verifying the safety of the UK Government's controversial genetically modified (GM) food trials are also being paid by a leading GM company.
Bob May and Alan Dewar of the Institute of Arable Crops Research, an organisation subsidised by the government, were appointed in June (1999) to help lead a team of "world-class scientists" to look at the potentially adverse impacts of the farm trials.
They had earlier been commissioned by Norfolk-based GM company AgrEvo to look for the environmental benefits of the company's crops. Dr. May and Dr. Dewar are testing AgrEvo's crops for the Department of the Environment.
In the past year, the UK Government has made great play that all official GM committees should be seen to be completely independent, after it was shown that many of its advisers had direct involvement with the biotechnology industry.
"How can scientists be working for the biotech companies on the benefits of the crops even, as they are supposed to be carrying out independent research on their risks?" asked Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth. "The farm-scale trials are becoming a farce."
[Source: By John Vidal and James Meikle, The Guardian, 4 Aug 1999; reprinted in Nexus Magazine, vol. 6, no. 6]
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