New: OCA's Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms Truth-in-Labeling Campaign

Consumers have the right to know what is in their food!

OCA is calling on retailers to pledge voluntary compliance with our Truth-in-Labeling campaign by clearly identifying all food products containing genetically modified ingredients with a label or shelf sign that says "May Contain GMOs" and by identifying all factory farmed animal products with a label or shelf sign that says "CAFO."

Stop Monsanto's New Frankencrops

Don't Let the USDA Approve Monsanto's RoundUp Ready Alfalfa!
Stop Monsanto's Frankensugar!

Recent legal victories won by the Center for Food Safetyhave given sustainable agriculture activists an opportunity to stop two new Frankencrops, genetically engineered sugar beets and alfalfa.

Monsanto's alfafa and sugar beets are spliced with manipulated foreign genes that allow them to withstand massive doses of Monsanto's RoundUp herbicide. Not only are these so-called "RoundUp Ready" crops dangerous for human consumption (check out "The Top 10 Reasons to Label Genetically Engineered Food"), but scientists are warning that the RoundUp itself "may have dire consequences for agriculture such as rendering soils infertile, crops non-productive, and plants less nutritious."

The courts have ruled that the USDA (under President George W. Bush), acted illegally when they approved genetically engineered alfalfa and sugar beets without first looking at their potential environmental impacts, like whether Monsanto's crops could permanently contaminate the supply of normal alfalfa and sugar beet seeds with their Frankengenes.

Now, the ball is in the USDA's court (under President Barack Obama). Unfortunately, it looks like Obama's USDA is just as likely to cave to Monsanto's biotech bullying as Bush's. Only massive public opposition to Monsanto's new Frankencrops can turn this around.

TAKE ACTION:

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Haiti's New Earthquake: USAID Delivers Monsanto's Poison Pills
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Millions Against Monsanto

The Case Against Monsanto

Monsanto's RoundUp "May Have Dire Consequences for Agriculture"

"Ignoring potential non-target detrimental side effects of any chemical, especially one used as heavily as glyphosate [Monsanto's RoundUp herbicide], may have dire consequences for agriculture such as rendering soils infertile, crops non-productive, and plants less nutritious. To do so might well compromise not only agricultural sustainability, but also the health and well-being of animals and humans."

Johal, G.S. and D.M. Huber. Glyphosate effects on diseases of plants. 2009. European Journal of Agronomy 31:144-152

Read More...

Animals Raised on Genetically Engineered Feed Are Different

"There is compelling evidence that animals provided with feed containing GM ingredients can react in a way that is unique to an exposure to GM plants. This is revealed through metabolic, physiological or immunological responses in exposed animals."

Report on animals exposed to GM ingredients in animal feed, Prepared for the Commerce Commission of New Zealand by Professor Jack A.Heinemann, PhD, 24 July 2009

Read More...

Monsanto's Crimes

Monsanto Sues More Small Family Farmers

Percy Schmeiser Percy Schmeiser is a farmer from Saskatchewan Canada, whose Canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto's genetically engineered Round-Up Ready Canola by pollen from a nearby farm. Monsanto says it doesn't matter how the contamination took place, and is therefore demanding Schmeiser pay their Technology Fee (the fee farmers must pay to grow Monsanto's genetically engineered products). According to Schmeiser, "I never had anything to do with Monsanto, outside of buying chemicals. I never signed a contract.

If I would go to St. Louis (Monsanto Headquarters) and contaminate their plots - destroy what they have worked on for 40 years - I think I would be put in jail and the key thrown away."

Rodney Nelson's family farm is being forced into a similar lawsuit by Monsanto.

Support Schmeiser, Nelson and hundreds of other farmers who are being forced to pay Monsanto to have their fields contaminated by genetically modified organisms.

Monsanto Brings Small Family Dairy to Court

Oakhurst Dairy has been owned and operated by the same Maine family since 1921, and Monsanto recently attempted to put them out of business. Oakhurst, like many other dairy producers in the U.S., has been responding to consumer demand to provide milk free of rBGH, a synthetic hormone banned (for health reasons) in every industrialized country other than the U.S. Oakhurst Dairy

Monsanto, the number one producer of the rBGH synthetic steroid, sued Oakhurst, claiming they should not have the right to inform their customers that their dairy products do not contain the Monsanto chemical. Given the intense pressure from the transnational corporation, Oakhurst was forced to settle out of court, leaving many other dairies vulnerable to similar attacks from Monsanto.

Monsanto Hid PCB Pollution for Decades

Anniston, Alabama Citizens ANNISTON, Ala. -- On the west side of Anniston, the poor side of Anniston, the people grew berries in their gardens, raised hogs in their back yards, caught bass in the murky streams where their children swam and played and were baptized. They didn't know their dirt and yards and bass and kids -- along with the acrid air they breathed -- were all contaminated with toxic chemicals. They didn't know they lived in one of the most polluted patches of America.

Now they know. They also know that for nearly 40 years, while producing the now-banned industrial coolants known as PCBs at a local factory, Monsanto Co. routinely discharged toxic waste into a west Anniston creek and dumped millions of pounds of PCBs into oozing open-pit landfills. And thousands of pages of Monsanto documents -- many emblazoned with warnings such as "CONFIDENTIAL: Read and Destroy" -- show that for decades, the corporate-giant concealed what it did and what it knew... (Read more...)

Monsanto's Agent Orange: The Corporation Continues to Refuse Compensation to Veterans and Families for Exposure to the Toxic Chemical

The negative health effects, due to exposure to Monsanto's Agent Orange, have been well documented over the past three decades. Child at Vietnam War Memorial The dioxin in Agent Orange has been accepted internationally as one of the most toxic chemicals on the planet, causing everything from severe birth defects, to cancer, to neurological disorders, to death. But Monsanto has successfully blocked any major movement towards compensating veterans and civilians who were exposed to the company's Agent Orange.

Long before Agent Orange was used as a herbicide in the Vietnam war, Monsanto knew of its negative health impacts on humans. Since then, Monsanto has been unsuccessful at covering its tracks and has even been convicted of fabricating false research documentation that claims Agent Orange has no negative health effects, other than a possible skin rash. Thanks to Monsanto's influence, the Center for Disease Control also released a report claiming veterans were never exposed to harmful levels of Agent Orange.

Agent Orange Victim As a note, from 1962 to 1970, the US military sprayed 72 million liters of herbicides, mostly Agent Orange, on over one million Vietnamese civilians and over 100,000 U.S. troops. As a result, within ten years of the close of the war, 9170 veterans had filed claims for disabilities caused by Agent Orange. The VA denied compensation to 7709, saying that a facial rash was the only disease associated with exposure.

In 2002, Vietnam requested assistance in dealing with the tens of thousands of birth defects due to Agent Orange. In order to avoid medical compensation expenses, Monsanto continues to claim this now banned chemical is not toxic. (Read more..)

Taxpayers Forced to Fund Monsanto's Poisoning of Third World

Monsanto has also been implicated in the indiscriminate sale and use of RoundUp Ultra in the anti-drug fumigation efforts of Plan Colombia. Of the some $1.3 billion of taxpayers' money earmarked for Plan Colombia, Monsanto has received upwards of $25 million for providing RoundUp Ultra.

Damaged Banana Crops RoundUp Ultra is a highly concentrated version of Monsanto's glyphosate herbicide, with additional surfactants to increases its lethality. Local communities and human rights organizations charge that Ultra is destroying food crops, water sources and protected areas in the Andes, primarily Colombia.

Paradoxically, the use of RoundUp Ultra has actually increased coca cultivation in the Andes. As local farming communities are increasingly impacted by RoundUp Ultra fumigations, many turn to the drug trade as a means of economic survival. Regional NGOs have estimated that almost 200,000 hectares have been fumigated with Ultra under Plan Colombia.

Monsanto's Roundup Pesticide Killing Wheat

Monsanto also produces the most commonly used broadleaf pesticide in the world, glyphosate--or Roundup. In addition to its inherent toxicity as a chemical pesticide, Roundup has now been found to aid the spread of fusarium head blight in wheat. This disease creates a toxin in the infected wheat, making the crop unsuitable for human or animal consumption. Canada's wheat industry is currently being ravaged by this disease. At the same time, the widespread use of Roundup has resulted in the formation of "super weeds" --- unwanted plants that have developed an immunity to these pesticides. Read study linking Monsanto's Roundup to Cancer.

Monsanto Takes Ownership of Public Water Resources

Polluted Farm Water Over the past century, global water supplies have been contaminated with the full gamut of Monsanto's chemicals, including PCBs, dioxin and glyophosate (Roundup). So now the company, seeing a profitable market niche, is taking control of the public water resources they polluted, filtering it, and selling it back to the people. In short, Monsanto is making a double profit by polluting the world's scarce freshwater resources, privately taking ownership of that water, filtering it, and selling it back to those who can afford to pay for it.

Monsanto's GE Seeds are Pushing US Agriculture into Bankruptcy

Genetically engineered crops are causing an economic disaster for farmers in the U.S. So says a new report released by Britain's Soil Association. The report is a massive compilation of data showing GE crops have cost American taxpayers $12 billion in farm subsidies in the past three years. "Within a few years of the introduction of GM crops, almost the entire $300 million annual US maize exports to the EU had disappeared, and the US share of the soya market had decreased," the report said. In addition, the study says that GE crops have lead to an increased use of pesticides, while resulting in overall lower crop yields. (Read more...)

Cotton Farmers Going Bankrupt from Monsanto's GE Cotton

In India the financial figures for the recent cotton growing season have finally been crunched. Indian Cotton Farmersia Although Monsanto convinced many of India's farmers that buying the more expensive GE cotton seeds would result in higher yields and better cotton, the reverse is actually true. Crop yields for GE cotton were 5 TIMES LESS than traditional Indian cotton and the income from GE cotton was 7 TIMES LESS than conventional cotton, due to Monsanto's cotton having lower quality short fibers. As a result of the insurmountable deluge of debt accrued from paying more for the GE seeds and having a weak crop, more than 100 Indian farmers committed suicide in the last year. (Read more...)

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USDA Recommends "Coexistence" with Monsanto: We Say Hell No! by Ronnie Cummins

Monsanto in the News

11/05/12 - Clifford J. Tasner: You Don't Want to Know What We're Putting in Your Food!
11/05/12 - GMO LABELING: Mercola/Kastel = What's at Stake Tomorrow
11/05/12 - Gates Foundation Should Step Away from Funding Genetically Modified Crops in Africa
11/05/12 - California GMO Measure May Fail After Biotech and Food Industry Fights Back with Dirty Tricks
11/05/12 - GMOs at the Polls: 7 Things to Tell Your Friends Before Election Day
11/04/12 - Christina Pirello: Kellogg's New Pitch: From Seed to Spoon. Really?
11/04/12 - Breaking: Elite Media Try to Destroy 'Yes on 37' Press Conference
11/04/12 - David Versus Monsanto: A Documentary on GMO
11/04/12 - Mitt Romney and Monsanto, 35 years of Mutual Help
11/04/12 - Accusations Fly over Alleged FBI Probe of Campaign Against Prop. 37
11/04/12 - Consumer Groups Document $45 Million Deception to Confuse Voters about Prop 37; US DOJ Refers Complaint to FDA about Alleged Fraudulent Use of Seal
11/03/12 - California Residents: Be on the lookout for Fraud- $100,000.00 Reward for Convicting Those Tying to Steal the Prop 37 Ballot Initiative
11/03/12 - A Geneticist's Take on California's Prop 37
11/02/12 - Debunked: 6 Lies That Biotech and Big Food Are Telling Voters
11/02/12 - Yes: Food Labels Would Let Consumers Make Informed Choices - Scientists from AAAS
11/01/12 - Genetically Modified Soy Threatens the Amazon Rainforest
11/01/12 - Vandana Shiva on Prop 37, GMOs, Food Sovereignty, and More
11/01/12 - Faith and GMOs: Christian, Jewish, and Hindu Congregations Urged To Vote Yes On 37
10/31/12 - Support for California GMO Labeling Proposal Drops Following Industry-Funded Ad Blitz
10/31/12 - Dr. Bronner's Contributes Another $250,000 for Yes on 37 Campaign
10/31/12 - Breaking News: Biotech Bullies Attack Dr. Mercola!
10/31/12 - Monsanto Plans to Plant GMO Corn in Mexico
10/30/12 - All GM Field Trials in India to be Stopped
10/30/12 - "Expert" Detractors on Proposition 37: Confusing the Public on GMOs
10/30/12 - Monsanto's Dicamba-Tolerant Soybeans Approved in Canada
10/29/12 - Debate Pits Companies Against Organic Customers
10/29/12 - The Prop 37 Phenomenon on Facebook
10/29/12 - Seven Things to Tell Your Friends About GMOs
10/29/12 - Serving Science or Monsanto?
10/29/12 - Faith Leaders Endorse Prop 37
10/29/12 - Will the ‘Processed Food’ Definition in Prop 37 really Kill Off ‘Natural’ Claims on Pack?
10/29/12 - Bitter Seeds: What Makes Up Your Food?
10/28/12 - Genetically Engineered Food: Put a Label on It?
10/27/12 - 6 Natural Leaders Speak Candidly About Prop 37
10/27/12 - GMO Eggs & Toxic Ham
10/26/12 - Busted: Food Myths Brought to You by Corporate Front Groups
10/26/12 - Monsanto Roundup-Ready Alfalfa Should Be Blocked, Court Told
10/25/12 - Prop. 37 is in Dead Heat Amid Ad Blitz
10/25/12 - How can we Feed the World-Today and Tomorrow?
10/25/12 - Reviewing History--Machines of War: Blackwater, Monsanto, and Bill Gates
10/25/12 - Inside the Monsanto Information War
10/25/12 - LA City Council Unanimously Endorses Yes on 37
10/24/12 - Food Fight: Debating Prop 37, California’s Landmark Initiative to Label GMO Food: Democracy Now
10/24/12 - Moment of Truth: Is the 'Food Movement' for Real - or Just Talk?
10/24/12 - Buying the Vote on G.M.O.'s
10/24/12 - Do Bayer's Pesticides Make Worker Bees Lazy?
10/24/12 - GMO Labeling: How Vulnerable is Proposition 37 to a Legal Challenge?
10/24/12 - California's Vote on Prop 37 Will Send a Message to the FDA: Can We Trust Our Food System?
10/24/12 - Chefs Back Measure on Labeling G.M.O.'s
10/23/12 - Glyphosate Found in City Dwellers' Urine
10/23/12 - 350 Top Chefs Back Prop. 37 on Food Labeling
10/22/12 - Down with Cargill and their Subsidiaries
10/19/12 - EU Agency Bans EU from Being GM-free
10/19/12 - California Food Fight Pits Corporate Ads Against "Status Updates"
10/18/12 - California Right to Know Calls for Criminal Investigation of No on 37 For Possible Fraud for Misuse of FDA Seal and Fabricated FDA Quote

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Downloadable leaflet (PDF): 10 Things Monsanto Does Not Want You to Know

Monsanto, Dupont & Obama

President Obama knows that agribusiness cannot be trusted with the regulatory powers of government.

On the campaign trail in 2007, he promised: We'll tell ConAgra that it's not the Department of Agribusiness. It's the Department of Agriculture. We're going to put the people's interests ahead of the special interests.

But, starting with his choice for USDA Secretary, the pro-biotech former governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack, President Obama has let Monsanto, Dupont and the other pesticide and genetic engineering companies know they'll have plenty of friends and supporters within his administration.

President Obama has taken his team of food and farming leaders directly from the biotech companies and their lobbying, research, and philanthropic arms.

Michael Taylor

former Monsanto Vice President, is now the FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods.

Roger Beachy

former director of the Monsanto-funded Danforth Plant Science Center, is now the director of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Islam Siddiqui

Vice President of theMonsanto and Dupont-fundedpesticide-promoting lobbying group, CropLife, is now the Agriculture Negotiator for the US Trade Representative.

Rajiv Shah

former agricultural-development director for the pro-biotech Gates Foundation (a frequent Monsanto partner), served as Obama's USDA Under Secretary for Research Education and Economics and Chief Scientist and is now head of USAID.

Elena Kagan

who, as President Obama's Solicitor General, took Monsanto's side against organic farmers in the Roundup Ready alfalfa case, is now on the Supreme Court.

Ramona Romero

corporate counsel to DuPont, has been nominated by President Obama to serve as General Counsel for the USDA.

Monsanto's Government Ties

A Monsanto executive told The New York Times that the safety of genetically engineered foods was the government's problem, not the company's:

"Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food," said Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications. "Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job."

As Angell implies, Monsanto's interest in selling as much genetically engineered food as possible is in direct conflict with the government's responsibility for food safety. Monsanto has induced politicians to abdicate their responsibility to protect consumers through generous campaign contributions and heavy lobbying.

The most telling evidence that Monsanto's strategy has been an overwhelming succes is the number of former Monsanto employees who have been given jobs in the FDA and other regulatory agencies that monitor Monsanto's products.

Margaret Miller is just one example. While working as a Monsanto researcher, she contributed to a scientific report for the FDA on Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone. Shortly before the report was submitted, Miller left Monsanto to work at the FDA, where her first job was to review the same report! Assisting Miller was another former Monsanto researcher, Susan Sechen. Needless to say, the FDA accepted Monsanto's findings, which became the basis for its approval of Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone and its decision not to require labels on milk produced through the use of the artificial hormone.

The FDA official who made the decision not to label Monsanto's milk was Michael Taylor, who had worked as a lawyer for Monsanto. Today, Michael Taylor is in the Obama Administration, in charge of food safety.

The Millions Against Monsanto Campaign · Challenging the Biotech Bully of St. Louis

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