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tagged w/ Agent Orange
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Agent Orange devastates generations of Vietnamese
During the Vietnam War, the U.S. dropped millions of gallons of Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant, on Vietnam in an attempt to remove the jungle used for cover by communist forces.
Decades later, civilians still suffer the consequences. Dioxin still lurks in Vietnam’s soil, causing deformities which are passed on from generation to generation.
Worldfocus correspondent Mark Litke and producer Ara Ayer travel to Vietnam and witness the devastating effects the toxin has left behind.
For more information on efforts to aid the victims of Agent Orange, visit the Vietnam Friendship Village (http://www.vietnamfriendship.org/) .During the Vietnam War, the U.S. dropped millions of gallons of Agent Orange, a toxic... more-
- wierdobeardo
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- 3 years ago
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Will the Obama administration seriously regulate GMOs?
On Nov. 11, Austria's Ministries for Agriculture and Health released the results of a long-term study [PDF] of genetically modified organisms. A widely used strain of GM corn, they found, appears to decrease both birthrates and the size of offspring in mice -- and the problems seem to grow with each generation.
This is a troubling conclusion. U.S. farmers planted the first commercial GMO crops in 1996. Today, upwards of 90 percent of U.S. soy, and 60 percent of U.S. corn, come from GMO seeds. Those crops suffuse our food supply -- they provide the bulk of our cooking oil and sweetener, and feed the animals that feed us. By 2003, as much as 75 percent of processed food available in the United States contained GMO ingredients, according to an estimate cited by the USDA. GM corn and soy acreage have only expanded since then.
Of course, the reproductive function is complex and intimately linked to the body's other systems. If GMOs are affecting our ability to reproduce, then it seems likely they're affecting our health in other ways, too.
Yet the Austrian study dropped with a thud in the U.S. media. The New York Times didn't mention it; on The Washington Post website, it rated a few paragraphs in the midst of a daily health round up.
Nor did it seem to penetrate the world of our president-elect. Less than two weeks after the Austrian study emerged, Obama named the members of his transition team for issues related to the USDA. Among them was Michael R. Taylor, a consultant who has spent the past 30 years bouncing among high-level positions at the USDA, the FDA, and Monsanto, the company that dominates the lucrative market for GMO seeds. Taylor served as director of policy at the FDA during the 1990s, when GMOs began to infiltrate the food supply.
A few days before that, Des Moines Register agriculture correspondent Philip Brasher speculated that Obama will be as friendly to the ag-biotech industry as his predecessor, based on "both [Obama's] statements of policy and the type of people from whom he's taking advice."
Given the startling conclusions of the Austrian researchers and Obama's evident embrace of GMOs, it's time to revisit how the U.S. government regulates the technology.
More at the linkOn Nov. 11, Austria's Ministries for Agriculture and Health released the results... more-
- JanforGore
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- 3 years ago
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- 14 comments
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Virgin Mary in woman's brain?
Thanks Agent Orange. . .
This story is unfortunately one of many. She hopes that getting the message out about her condition might help others in similar situations get the medical attention and help that they need. This is for all the people out there that have crazy medical conditions (diagnosed or undiagnosed) because the government or big corporations leaked toxins into your environment.
Remember Erin Brokovich? How many other small towns have populations affected by the creation and manufacture of toxins?
We need much better health care NOW. Most people with severe conditions can not afford treatment or navigate the system to try to get the medical attention they need.Thanks Agent Orange. . . This story is unfortunately one of many. She hopes that... more-
- goingforawalk
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- 3 years ago
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- 5 comments
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Open letter to Monsanto from Vietnamese Agent Orange victims
Len Aldis is Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society. He recently sent this open letter (item 1) to Monsanto's president and Chief Executive Officer.
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http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/300908/life_le.htm
Mr Hugh Grant
President and Chief Executive Officer
Monsanto
800 North Lindbergh Boulevard
St Louis. USA
Dear Mr Grant,
In 1961, three years after you were born, U.S. forces began their ten-year use of Agent Orange in South Vietnam. Over those years Eighty Million litres of the chemical was sprayed destroying forests, poisoning the rivers, lakes and the land. An even greater crime was the many thousands of Vietnamese people that died from the chemical and the hundreds of thousands that were crippled.
1981, six years after the American War on Vietnam ended; you joined the company that, along with others, was responsible for the manufacture of Agent Orange. Today in Vietnam there are 3.5 million people from new born babies to veterans suffering from the effects of the chemical your company made. Not to forget the many U.S. veterans also affected, like the Vietnamese many have died and are dying.
You were Mr Grant, at the time you joined Monsanto, fully aware of the effects that Agent Orange had had, you certainly knew when you became the company's president and its chief executive. Yet Mr Grant you failed to take any steps to alleviate the consequences of Monsanto's manufacture of Agent Orange. Indeed, not one word of regret to the Vietnamese victims has come from your lips despite facing lawsuit after lawsuit by victims from Vietnam, U.S. and South Korea.
Monsanto is, as you well know, the leading company involved with Genetic Modified (GM) crops. Your company has gone from creating one poison to another, both have and are still killing many thousands of people. Where does it end Mr Grant?
How can you live with the knowledge that you, and Monsanto through the use of Agent Orange and GM seeds etc are responsible for the deaths and physically crippling millions of people in the countries that your products were used and are sold?
I regret that here in my country Monsanto has also left a legacy, by its disposal of tonnes of chemical waste in a number of municipal sites. A particular site, Brofiscin Quarry in Wales, is causing acute concern by your chemical waste leaking into the water supply and into the atmosphere. Farmers nearby have reported abnormal births among their animals. Despite questions to government ministers it would appear that they, like Monsanto, are not concerned.
In August a junior minister Phil Woolas, MP from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), on the instructions of the Prime Minister, met with a group of companies that included Monsanto, Dow Chemical (one of your partners in the Agent Orange crime) to discuss introducing GM crops in the UK. This meeting and proposed policy has met with great hostility from people and organisations anxious about our food being poisoned by genetic engineering.
Thankfully, people here and in other countries are becoming more aware of the products of Monsanto and the danger they hold for the people. They are also becoming aware of the lawsuit brought by the Vietnamese people against your company and others in the U.S. Courts, and know that documents are being prepared to be placed before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking Justice for the crimes that Monsanto, Dow Chemical etc committed on the Vietnamese people.
Mr Grant, there is still time for you and your company to make amends for these crimes. Accept your responsibility for the manufacture of Agent Orange and its use on Vietnam. Make financial compensation to the victims, and their families. For many thousands of Vietnamese it is too late, they have died, their suffering is at an end, but for the present 3.5 million, their suffering continues.
Yours sincerely Len Aldis Secretary: Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society
Len Aldis is Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society. He recently sent... more-
- JanforGore
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- 3 years ago
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Monsanto and Michael Pollan talk about creating a world that can feed itself
This is like 36 minutes long, but it's definitely worth watching...-
- Kati_kat
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- 3 years ago
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- 5 comments
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Monsanto expects Roundup to generate 1.8 billion in profits for 2008
That's a lot of poison in our rivers, streams, food, air and stomachs. Poison for profit. That should be their slogan. And why are these profits so high? Well, because they have bought up close to 90% of the global seed market thus forcing farmers to sign their bogus contracts holding them to buying their seeds and poison every year. They cannot save the seeds, and they have to buy the poison sprays with the seeds yearly. And the pesticides sprayed on crops made by these companies have also been found in higher levels in beehives, suggesting that it is possible that when bees have tried to pollinate GM crops they carry these pesticides back to the hives which makes them sick, thus causing them to desert the hives. Imagine what their seeds with built in pesticides can do for your salad!
And yet, the FDA states there is no difference between this poison and the conventional crops that farmers once grew and could regrow with saved seeds as has been the tradition in agriculture since ancient times. That way they also get out of responsibility from labelling the food you eat. That way you don't know the poisons you are consuming. And even if you are an organic farmer, chances are your crops have also been poisoned by their transgenic pollution. Even without selling you the seeds, you are a part of their big happy poison family.
Oh, and of course, these fake seeds with the poison centers are feeding the world! Don't pay attention to all of the starving people in Haiti, Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Don't let the real truth blind you to their propaganda... profit is good even at the expense of morality, truth, and this planet. That's the Monsanto way.
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From the entry noted:
Monsanto positions itself as a green company.
"Using the tools of modern biology," its website informs us, "we help farmers grow more yield sustainably so they can produce more and conserve more."
Compare that twaddle to this bit from Monsanto's announcement on Tuesday:
[Monsanto's Chief Financial Officer Terry] Crews will indicate that Monsanto's Roundup® and other glyphosate-based herbicides business is on track to be above $1.9 billion of gross profit for the 2008 fiscal year, ahead of the previous forecast. Wow. Nearly $2 billion in profit, from Roundup alone. As recently as February, Monsanto was expecting to make $1.4 billion from its herbicide division this year. I guess farmers applied it even more copiously than expected.
But the company isn't just churning out profit by peddling weed-killer. Its seeds are doing pretty well, too -- particularly corn:
Crews will also note that for the 2008 fiscal year, the company's corn business should exceed $2 billion in gross-profit generation for the first time. Interesting. So it makes nearly as much on herbicide as it does on corn seeds. (Overall, the company expects to make $3.8 billion on seeds in '08).
Investors applauded Monsanto's announcement, sending shares up 7.5 percent Tuesday.
I wonder if they're being short-sighted. Monsanto's success rests on Roundup Ready technology -- selling seeds genetically engineered to withstand heavy doses of its flagship herbicide.
But Roundup-tolerant weeds (so-called "superweeds") are on the rise. Eventully, farmers will have to shift away from Roundup -- Monsanto's $1.8 billion cash cow.
Meanwhile, Bayer is rolling out a new line of herbicide-tolerant seeds, this one designed to withstand doses of Bayer's glufosinate herbicide. Ain't the agrichemical industry grand?
That's a lot of poison in our rivers, streams, food, air and stomachs. Poison for... more-
- JanforGore
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- 3 years ago
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Film review: The World According To Monsanto
The most important documentary you will see this year.
How much outrage can a single multinational corporation inspire? How much damage can they inflict? The breathtaking new film, The World According to Monsanto, features a company that sets the new standard. From Iowa to Paraguay, from England to India, Monsanto is uprooting our food supply and replacing it with their patented genetically engineered creations. And along the way, farmers, communities, and nature become collateral damage. The Gazette says the movie "will freeze the blood in your veins." The Hour says it's a "horrifying enough picture" to warrant "fury." But most importantly, this critical film opens our eyes just in time. The film is the work of celebrated award-winning French filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, whose three years of work on four continents exposes why Monsanto has become the world's poster child for malignant corporate influence in government and technology.
Combining secret documents with accounts by victims, scientists and policy makers, she guides us through a web of misleading reports, pressure tactics, collusion, and attempted corruption. And we learn how the company systematically tricked governments into allowing dangerous genetically modified (GM) foods into our diet-with Monsanto in charge of determining if they're safe.
Deception, Deception, Deception
The company's history with some of the most toxic chemicals ever produced, illustrates why they can't be trusted. Ask the folks of Anniston, Alabama, where Monsanto's PCB factory secretly poisoned the neighborhood for decades. PCBs are Monsanto's toxic oils used as coolants and lubricants for over 50 years and are now virtually omnipresent in the blood and tissues of humans and wildlife around the globe. But Anniston residents have levels hundreds or thousands of times the average. They all know their levels, which they carry as death sentences. David Baker, who lost his little brother and most of his friends to PCB-related diseases such as cancer, says Anniston kids used to run up to him, report their PCB level and ask, "How long you think I got?"
Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group says that based on Monsanto documents made public during a trial, the company "knew the truth from the very beginning. They lied about it. They hid the truth from their neighbors." One Monsanto memo explains their justification: "We can't afford to lose one dollar of business."
snip
Replacing Nature: "Nothing Shall Be Eaten That We Don't Own" Monsanto is the world's largest seed company and many are concerned. Troy Roush says, "They are in the process of owning food, all food." Paraguayan farmer Jorge Galeano says, "Its objective is to control all of the world's food production." Renowned Indian physicist and community organizer Vandana Shiva says, "If they control seed, they control food; they know it, it's strategic. It's more powerful than bombs; it's more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world." The World According to Monsanto is aptly named. It is about Monsanto seeking to recreate the world in its own image, for its own benefit. They intend to replace (and patent) the entire food supply. And since their genetic pollution self-propagates in the environment, it will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste. Such widespread permanent influence may not be safe with any individual or company. With Monsanto's record, the results can only be catastrophic. This powerful documentary might just inspire a global rejection of Monsanto's plans for our world. If so, it will be the most important film in history.
The most important documentary you will see this year. How much outrage can a... more-
- JanforGore
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- 3 years ago
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- 18 comments
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Secret Angel of Death and Injury: Agent Orange
Approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides were used in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to remove unwanted plant life and leaves which otherwise provided cover for enemy forces during the Vietnam Conflict. Shortly following their military service in Vietnam, some veterans reported.Approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides were used in Vietnam between 1962 and... more-
- getcnn
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- 3 years ago
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GM sugarbeets not a sweet proposition, and citizens are fighting back
Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Anthropologist Margaret Mead
Even if you've heard the above quote many times before, the sentiment expressed is so powerful that I think it's worth repeating. All around the world, small groups of people are organizing public support for improved food safety and successfully challenging large corporations to change their behavior.
That's exactly what Flint Michigan residents Kathleen Kirby and Mark Fisher are banking on: their power to influence change. They're participating in a nationwide consumer boycott of Kellogg's Co. instigated by the Organic Consumers Association. By boycotting the world's largest cereal company, they hope to pressure Kellogg's into rejecting the use of sugar from genetically engineered (GE) sugar beets and to spark widespread market rejection in products ranging from cereal to baby food to candy.
As you may know, Roundup Ready sugar beets are genetically altered to resist Monsanto's toxic weed killer, Roundup, and its active ingredient, glyphosate. But here's the scary truth about these beets:
When the USDA first approved GE sugar beets for commercial planting in 1998, the EPA also increased the maximum allowable residues of glyphosate on sugar beet roots from just 0.2 parts per million to 10ppm. That's a staggering 5,000 percent increase of allowable toxins on beet roots. And, it's little surprise that EPA made this policy change at the request of Monsanto.
Sugar beet roots contain sucrose that's extracted, refined, and processed into the sugar used in the foods we eat. What this means is that the more GE ingredients that find their way into our food, the greater the likelihood that we are ingesting more toxic chemicals.
Thankfully, GE sugar beets have never been grown in the U.S. for sale to food manufacturers -- that is, until this year, when Western farmers planted their first crop of Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets. Right now, over half of the sugar used in U.S. processed foods comes from sugar beets, with beet and cane sugars combined in those products. What's most disturbing is that once GE sugar beets hit the market, which could be as early as next year, there will be no way to know if we're eating GE sugar because GE ingredients are not labeled.
Currently, only four major GE crops are sold commercially -- corn, cotton, soy, and canola. Most of these are engineered to withstand repeated, large doses of herbicides. For the most part, these crops and their byproducts are largely fed to animals with the exception of some minor food ingredients and oils. GE beet sugar breaks with this tradition in that it could become the first major GE ingredient added to almost all processed foods on our grocery store shelves.
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Our food supply is systematically being taken over and poisoned by Monsanto.There is no other way to state it now. If sugarbeets are allowed to continue to become a part of our food supply, then you can expect that EVERYTHING you touch will be genetically modified, and it has NOT been proven to be safe for human consumption or our environment. Please, I have been writing on this for months along with others who have been trying to make people understand how URGENT it is that you get involved in pushing state legislatures to require proper labelling of GM sources in foods. Read up on this at the Monsanto tag and take action.
Citizen activism is the only way to make companies like Monsanto back down. Consumers did it regarding POSILAC, and we can do it with this. Current TV is the only place I have been able to get exposure to this so far aside from my own blog, and it is also because of people here voting the information up so more can see it. So thank you to those who fight the good fight here everyday over those who would do anything in their power to keep this down.
Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed,... more-
- JanforGore
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- 3 years ago
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She's talking about Monsanto, but it's not talking to her
Monsanto doesn't want anything to do with French investigative journalist Marie-Monique Robin.
The American biotechnology and herbicide-producing giant wouldn't co-operate with Robin in her three years researching her highly critical documentary The World According to Monsanto and her accompanying, French-language bestseller (with an English translation on the way).
Now that her film is being shown in more and more countries, and advocacy groups are featuring clips of the documentary on their websites, Monsanto still hasn't called Robin.
To many viewers, the company's "no comment" may appear to be damning in itself, given the litany of accusations made against Monsanto by farmers, scientists, watchdog groups, health and agriculture advocates.
Googling for seeds of truth
The documentary shows farmers alleging that Monsanto - a leader in developing genetically modified seed and herbicides - has pitted farmer against farmer, encouraging them to rat on anyone suspected of not buying new Monsanto seed each year. It shows agricultural experts alleging genetically modified corn has invaded indigenous Mexican corn, with monstrous varieties being found. And advocates in India alleging that cotton farmers sometimes commit suicide owing to their dependence on genetically modified crops and the risk of low harvests. The list of accusations goes on.
A spokeswoman from Monsanto Canada, however, did respond to calls for this article. "Any of the allegations that have been made in the movie have been responded to publicly on our website," spokeswoman Trish Jordan said. A segment on the company's website labelled For the Record, she explained, "basically responds to some of the common allegations that are dredged up by activists. And I think that would probably give you our position on most, if not everything, in her documentary."
The film does refer to the website, and the explanations used by Monsanto in response to various criticisms.
Still, Robin said she was astonished by what she found when making the film. "Yes, I was very surprised. It's very difficult to understand how they manage - what they called in the U.S. the revolving door," she said. By this, she means the way in which government officials and elected leaders have often worked for corporations such as Monsanto, only to later pass regulations while in office favouring their former employers.
It was also difficult to get people to talk. "It's very difficult," Robin said, whether officials within regulatory agencies, scientists or other journalists. She said that one regulatory insider told her they didn't want to have any problems with the company, since it's so powerful.
The World According to Monsanto is as disturbing as any Hollywood thriller. Robin's next documentaries will likely be just as heavy, with a film on the U.S. military's use of what many see as torture during interrogations and a documentary on environmental causes of cancer.
So what drives Robin to investigate such dire topics?
"I have three daughters at home," she said, "and I think when I'm doing this kind of documentary, it's for my daughters. ... With what's going on with GMOs [genetically modified organisms] and what it means, in 20 years, if we don't react, it's very worrisome."
Aug.1,2008Monsanto doesn't want anything to do with French investigative journalist... more-
- JanforGore
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India: Farmers, civil societies seek scrapping of GMO bill
'The Coalition For GM-Free India', representing farmers' unions and civil society organisations today sought scrapping of the National Biotechnology Regulatory Bill-2008 pleading that 'its provisions are unscientific, undemocratic and amenable to reduce Indians as 'guinea pigs' for the promotion of Genetically Modified (GM) crops and GM foods.'
The Bill envisages setting up a National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) for ensuring a 'single widow' provision for speedy clearance of GM organisms and products. Such fast clearance mechanism is being put in place to facilitate the approval and propogation in India of GM organisms and products being developed by Monsanto and multinational companies, said a communique issued by the farmer leaders and experts from civil societies network after a-day-long deliberations here.
Being hurriedly pushed through, the Bill fixes a deadline for public feedback on July 30 to circumvent any worthwhile discussion organised in public domain by scientific community or arranged by the Department of Biotechnology (DGT), which has mooted the Bill, said Dr Devinder Sharma, a noted food and trade policy analyst.
''The proposed mechanism is an express clearing house for fast track approvals in favour of the biotech industry, at the expense of health and environment requisites,'' he added.
The NBRA proposals have been drawn up by the wrong people for the wrong reasons with the wrong perspectives, said Mr Yudhvir Singh, a leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union. And the proposed Authority , he said, ''Denies and violates constitutional rights of the states on their agriculture and citizens rights to remain GM-free.'' This also creates a hurdle to progressive decisions made by the states including Kerala on implementating organic farming policies to protect farmers interests and imposes GM crops everywhere, Mr Singh said.
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Firstly, I just want to state that in response to the thread I posted this past weekend regarding paid shills or others voting these threads down to hide them... if there are, you lose. I am not going to be intimidated to stop reporting on this important issue for our very survival. What is being done in India as well as around the world by these biotech companies regarding GM crops is a travesty of Democracy and morality. I will not leave this or any site, especially current.com that gives me the chance to have this information dessiminated to people to hopefully effect change. Vote it down if you wish, but the information and truth of it will remain the same as will my resolve to report this information regardless.
Monsanto is an evil company that is preying upon developing countries as well as our own to shove these GM seeds down the throats of farmers already living in poverty. They will continue to deny them their Democratic right to liberty and our right to proper disclosure all in the name of profit at the expense of our global environment. It is companies like Monsanto that are raising food prices in collusion with the World Bank and WTO to push these seeds as well as privitizing water supplies, and it is companies like Monsanto that must be fought by informed consumers.
We have the right to know what is in our food, where our water comes from, and the right to say NO to any attempt to force these fake toxic foods upon us. If there is any way I and others here can effect that change, then I am going to continue to do it.
Thanks to all who responded in the other thread and also to the staff who explained the situation. Hopefully we will see a resolution. Current has a chance to be a true vanguard network for the people. I am grateful to have the chance to be a part of that.'The Coalition For GM-Free India', representing farmers' unions and... more-
- JanforGore
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- 3 years ago
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- 45 comments
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Agent Orange Used in the U.S.A
Proof that Agent Orange was tested in the US and veterans exposed to it here were and still are being denied VA benefits. In this video one soldier exposed to Agent Orange tells his story. This is an outrage and a travesty.This is what the government thinks about our veterans, as well as what they think of the environment and the people who live here to test this toxic crap here. Monsanto, Dow, and all other companies that perpetuated the suffering caused by this for profit, may you rot.Proof that Agent Orange was tested in the US and veterans exposed to it here were and... more-
- JanforGore
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- 3 years ago
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Monsanto's Sordid History
Monsanto, best known today for its agricultural biotechnology products, has a long and dirty history of polluting this country and others with some of the most toxic compounds known to humankind. From PCBs to Agent Orange to Roundup, we have many reasons to question the motives of this company that claims to be working to reduce environmental destruction and feed the world with its genetically engineered food crops.
Headquartered near St. Louis, Missouri, the Monsanto Chemical Company was founded in 1901. Monsanto became a leading manufacturer of sulfuric acid and other industrial chemicals in the 1920s. In the 1930s, Monsanto began producing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs, widely used as lubricants, hydraulic fluids, cutting oils, waterproof coatings and liquid sealants, are potent carcinogens and have been implicated in reproductive, developmental and immune system disorders.
The world’s center of PCB manufacturing was Monsanto’s plant on the outskirts of East St. Louis, Illinois, which has the highest rate of fetal death and immature births in the state. By 1982, nearby Times Beach, Missouri, was found to be so thoroughly contaminated with dioxin, a by-product of PCB manufacturing, that the government ordered it evacuated. Dioxins are endocrine and immune system disruptors, cause congenital birth defects, reproductive and developmental problems, and increase the incidence of cancer, heart disease and diabetes in laboratory animals.
By the 1940s, Monsanto had begun focusing on plastics and synthetic fabrics like polystyrene (still widely used in food packaging and other consumer products), which is ranked fifth in the EPA’s 1980s listing of chemicals whose production generates the most total hazardous waste.
During World War II, Monsanto played a significant role in the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb.
Following the war, Monsanto championed the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture, and began manufacturing the herbicide 2,4,5-T, which contains dioxin. Monsanto has been accused of covering up or failing to report dioxin contamination in a wide range of its products.
The herbicide “Agent Orange,” used by U.S. military forces as a defoliant during the Vietnam War, was a mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D and had very high concentrations of dioxin. U.S. Vietnam War veterans have suffered from a host of debilitating symptoms attributable to Agent Orange exposure, and since the end of the war an estimated 500,000 Vietnamese children have been born with deformities.
In the 1970s, Monsanto began manufacturing the herbicide Roundup, which has been marketed as a safe, general-purpose herbicide for widespread commercial and consumer use, even though its key ingredient, glyphosate, is a highly toxic poison for animals and humans. In 1997, The New York State Attorney General took Monsanto to court and Monsanto was subsequently forced to stop claiming that Roundup is “biodegradable” and “environmentally friendly.”
Monsanto has been repeatedly fined and ruled against for, among many things, mislabeling containers of Roundup, failing to report health data to EPA, and chemical spills and improper chemical deposition. In 1995, Monsanto ranked fifth among U.S. corporations in EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory, having discharged 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land, water and underground.
Since the inception of Plan Colombia in 2000, the US has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in funding aerial sprayings of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides in Colombia. The Roundup is often applied in concentrations 26 times higher than what is recommended for agricultural use. Additionally, it contains at least one surfactant, Cosmo-Flux 411f, whose ingredients are a trade secret, has never been approved for use in the US, and which quadruples the biological action of the herbicide.
cont...Monsanto, best known today for its agricultural biotechnology products, has a long and... more-
- JanforGore
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Victims of Agent Orange - Vietnam war
Agent Orange is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War, an estimated 20 million gallons of Agent Orange were deployed in South Vietnam.[1]
Agent Orange's usage from 1961 to 1971 was by far the most used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" utilized during the program. Degradation of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) released dioxins, which have caused health problems for those exposed during the Vietnam War. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins.
Studies of populations highly exposed to dioxin, though not necessarily Agent Orange, indicate increased risk of various types of cancer and genetic defects; the effect of long-term low-level exposure has not been established.
Since the 1980s, several lawsuits have been filed against the companies which produced Agent Orange, among them; Dow Chemical, Monsanto, and Diamond Shamrock (which produced 5%[2]). U.S. veterans obtained a $180 million settlement in 1984, with most affected veterans receiving a one-time lump sum payment of $1,200.
American veterans of the Vietnam War were seeking recognition of Agent Orange syndrome, compensation and treatment for diseases that they and their children suffered from; many exposed to Agent Orange have not been able to receive promised medical care through the Veterans Administration medical system, and only with rare exception have their affected children received healthcare assistance from the government.
Vietnam veterans and their families who brought the original Agent Orange lawsuit stated 25 years ago that the government "is just waiting for us all to die". They alleged that most of those still alive would succumb to the effects of toxic exposure before the age of 65.
In Australia, Canada and New Zealand, veterans obtained compensation in settlements that same year. In 1999, South Korean veterans filed a lawsuit in the Korean courts. In January 2006, the Korean Appeal Court ordered Monsanto and Dow to pay US$62 million in compensation. However, no Vietnamese have received compensation, and on March 10, 2006, Judge Jack B. Weinstein of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange against the chemical companies which produced the defoliants and herbicides.Agent Orange is the code name for a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S.... more-
- michiganannd
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- 3 years ago
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The World According to Monsanto Premieres in Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto
Documentary filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin's film "Le Monde selon Monsanto" ("The World According to Monsanto") explores the history and future direction of chemical and so-called "life sciences" industrial company Monsanto. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Monsanto was founded in 1901 to manufacture the synthetic sweetener saccharin. The multinational biotech company in the intervening decades has produced styrene and PCBs; became the leading producer of Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War; manufactures Roundup, the best-selling herbicide; and has advanced the development of genetically engineered seeds and bovine growth hormone. The company has also had a history of mergers and spin-offs, and in 2000 merged with Pharmacia and Upjohn.
"Le Monde selon Monsanto" aired on the French-German television network ARTE earlier this year, and had its premiere in Switzlerland in February. Marie-Monique Robin's film -- based on her book "Le Monde selon Monsanto" -- is the result of three years of research and interviews from around the world, and explores the biotech giant's legal battles and controversies in the manufacture of toxic herbicides and the production of genetically modified organisms. Monsanto currently markets its brand as a "life sciences" company emphasizing its green image.
"Le Monde selon Monsanto" will have public screenings at Ex-Centris in Montreal on Friday, May 23; at Cinéma Le Clap in Quebec City starting Friday, May 23; and at the Toronto Mediatheque on Monday, May 26.
Check out the National Film Board of Canada's newsletter for details:
http://www.nfb.ca/newsletters/20080514/
The NFB / ONF site for further film information:
http://nfb.ca/webextension/monsanto/?ec=en20080514
"Le Monde selon Monsanto" (ARTE.tv official site -- in French)
http://www.arte.tv/fr/connaissance-decouverte/Le-monde-selon-Monsanto/1912794.html
Documentary filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin's film "Le Monde selon... more-
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Agent of suffering
A third generation of Vietnamese are suffering deformities caused by US chemical warfare and still Washington refuses to accept responsibility.
To accept US responsibility for Agent Orange could expose Washington to claims relating to the use of napalm, phosphorous bombs and various My Lai-type massacres.A third generation of Vietnamese are suffering deformities caused by US chemical... more-
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