JUST SAYIN’-Monsanto is in the news again, but for a different reason. There is a beautifully crafted television advertisement that displays family and foods and talks about how important it is to eat healthily … but then it essentially implies, quite ironically of course, that the commercial is brought to you by a very “caring” Monsanto.
What it doesn’t state is that this same company produces GMO products that science has proven to be detrimental to all who consume and/or are exposed to them, even in low doses. It also manufactures the weed-killer, Round Up—equally harmful to the environment including all the creatures in it. In laboratories, rodents that have been exposed to one or both products have grown tumors half the size of their little bodies. Their bodies are so deformed that one can only imagine how painful life has become for them.
Even now, when we are diagnosed with a cancer, asthma, bronchitis, or one of a number of other diseases, we have no way of knowing whether exposure to GMOs is the causative factor. The GMO process alters the cell structure of normal organisms which include bacteria, yeast, insects, plants, fish, and mammals. It sounds like an experiment Dr. Frankenstein would work on—in this case, combining cells from a mix of organisms that are totally unrelated to each other and ultimately creating a totally new hybrid “monster.” Such cross-breeding is unquestionably dangerous. We can only wait in horror to witness what the long-term side-effects will be (symptoms that many are already experiencing are bad enough).
Monsanto-produced Round Up is being used to kill weeds that grow naturally in the agricultural fields, weeds that have become herbicide-tolerant. Thus, farmers are using even more herbicides to try to kill the unwanted weeds. The facts demonstrate that “residues of toxic herbicides. . . are linked with sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer.” The side-effects from GMO-use include the creation of new environmental toxins, as well as increased allergens, carcinogens, and nutritional deficiencies.
Exposure to such man-made chemical elements would do no less to humans and the animals we depend on for our diets. As a result, serious, adverse consequences would yield a variety of cancers, many of which would be terminal. Ironically, the company that claims it is interested in creating healthy foods and a healthy environment is denying the magnitude of the very tangible results from numerous scientific research and studies. It is all about the bottom line. As one source stated recently, “Shamefully, most food companies [and especially Monsanto] are only concerned about their wealth and not your health.”
Evidence has disproven the claim from the Monsantos that GMO products will produce higher crop yields and the increased ability to “feed the world.” The reality is that “yields from small-scale, mixed-crop farms are higher.” In fact, neutral research has shown that these products “can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute waters resources, and are unsustainable.” Furthermore, natural habitats in our symbiotic environment are being disrupted and/or destroyed altogether because of the infusion of these unnatural elements.
It is ironic that America, a country that loves to see itself as a leader in the world on progressive issues, is among the few nations worldwide which has not put restrictions on or banned outright the use of GMOs. As of now, more than 60 countries have implemented and enforced such bans. Where are we in this picture? Where are the states? Where is California? Where is Los Angeles?
The Los Angeles City Council has been working on an ordinance to ban the use of GMO seeds and plants within City borders (a motion for a GMO-Free Zone in Los Angeles). It was neither unexpected nor surprising, however, that lobbyists paid by Monsanto and its sister companies converged on the City and pressed Councilmembers to vote against the plan. When those of us who have been working on this ban were convinced that a majority would support the motion, we were astonished that at the last minute some of our Councilmembers, who had promised to support this measure, voted against it or were absent altogether and thus cast no vote at all.
The problem is that a piece of recent California State legislation (AB 2470) had slipped in a statewide prohibition on such bans, effective January 1, 2015. Two of the three City Council committees, which have oversight over this issue, courageously passed the measure out of committee, forwarding it for a final vote by the full Council.
At the last minute, though, certain members (Cedillo, Buscaino, and Price) in the third committee (Arts and Parks) changed their minds and their votes (after lobbyists made their demands) or maintained their initial opposition, thus precluding the ability for the whole City Council to vote on its merits. Something positive, however, is that Councilmember Cedillo promised me that should the vote come up again, he would support it.
Proponents are left to investigate whether there are loopholes to this statewide ban so that the City of Los Angeles might be able to pass an ordinance that would prevent these dangerous GMOs from being utilized within City limits. In the meantime, we must commend, in particular, Councilmembers Mike O’Farrell and Paul Koretz for their ongoing efforts to protect us from the known and unknown consequences of GMO exposures.
Incidentally, this motion should not be confused with the demand for labelling GMO-produced foods so that consumers would be in a position to purchase products with full knowledge of what they are buying. Such a law would need to come from the State Legislature.
The bottom line is that we must boycott any and all Monsanto products and those of any other company that produce such poisons. We must demand of our officials that they pass laws to ban entirely such products from being grown and used in America, let alone Los Angeles. Unfortunately, since we don’t have control over what transpires abroad, we must further insist that such foodstuffs produced elsewhere must never be permitted to be imported here.
Monsanto is slick and can easily deceive the uninformed. It has the money and the lobbyists to trigger our suspension of disbelief. We must educate ourselves against its propaganda, its deliberate falsehoods and deceptions, its disingenuous and insincere purveyance of untruths.
The next time you see a Monsanto commercial, yell at the screen and exclaim, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
It is a new year presenting many opportunities to act. This is certainly an issue that deserves our attention and involvement.
Just sayin’.
(Rosemary Jenkins is a Democratic activist and chair of the Northeast Valley Green Alliance. Jenkins has written A Quick-and-Easy Reference to Correct Grammar and Composition, Leticia in Her Wedding Dress and Other Poems, and Vignettes for Understanding Literary and Related Concepts. She also writes for CityWatch.)
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CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 7
Pub: Jan 23, 2015
