Monsanto Explained to My Mom (Part 1)

After nuclear waste, I've decided to explain Monsanto to my mother. It's no easy task, as we ourselves know (next up, I'll try fracking and Arctic drilling).

(photo credit Consoglobe)

Anyway, who exactly is Monsanto? They are the world leader in GMOs. There, I've said it, no beating around the bush for years. However, don't think that Monsanto made its fortune by only offloading its GMOs into the food we eat; oh no, you'll find them in PCBs, Agent Orange, dioxin, GMOs, aspartame, growth hormones, herbicides… The list is long, so I'll try to explain it simply.

So, first, GMOs.

We all know about GMOs, even you. But did you know that Monsanto also produces GMO cotton (I'll tell you more about this later because it causes many suicides in India). Anyway, this company produces 90% of the world's GMO crops (easy peasy, a monopoly on seeds). I'm not going to lie, eating GMOs is really not very good for your health (I can give you a list of foods that contain them if you want) (but you might get scared) (they're really everywhere). Do you remember Professor Seralini's rat study (rejected, I know)? Well, if you only eat GMOs... You're already starting to hate Monsanto, wait, this is just the beginning.

You know aspartame, back in your day (I'm talking to my mother, please note), you drank Diet Coke with handsome young men stripping in commercials.

So you drank Diet Coke to stay slim, but in fact, you were slowly poisoning yourself. STUPID, ISN'T IT. That's why I personally never drink Diet Coke. I know the ideal is not to drink soda, no need to say it.

Aspartame is a big joke. This stuff (because I don't know if it's masculine or feminine) was re-evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority in 2012. Because, supposedly, it causes premature births in pregnant women (and probably other things too, but hey...)

Ready to continue? Roundup, you know the commercial with the dog. That commercial was so well done that I wanted my dad to put it all over my garden; remember, according to the commercial, it was biodegradable. AHAHAH WHAT A JOKE. But that's false too.

Indeed, this herbicide is potentially teratogenic, meaning it can cause fetal malformations. That's pretty sobering.

I could tell you about PCBs, Agent Orange, growth hormones, but let's save some for later. No bad news all at once!

The crazy thing with Monsanto is that no matter how many reports we see (I'm thinking of Marie-Monique Robin's), nothing changes.