Dear Organic Consumer,

OCA has joined a long list of groups and individuals who are organizing and funding a citizen tribunal to hold Monsanto accountable for inflicting disease and devastation on humanity and the environment we inhabit.

The tribunal will take place in The Hague, beginning October 12, and ending—not coincidentally—on October 16, World Food Day. 

We still need to raise $15,000 by midnight December 31, to take advantage of a matching funds challenge from Mercola.com and Dr. Bronner’s, and reach our year-end goal. Please make a generous donation online, by U.S. mail or by calling our office—details here.

Why spend the time, energy and resources to make Monsanto face a citizens tribunal, some ask?

For us, the answer is clear. When it comes to Monsanto, governments and legal systems throughout the world have failed us at every turn. Failed to protect our health. Failed to protect our planet. 

We, and millions others who refuse to sit by while this ruthless and corrupt corporation poisons and pollutes, are left with no choice.

Citizen tribunals are not “mock” trials. They have a long history of bringing justice to issues where governments either act corruptly, or fail to act at all. Citizens tribunals can’t impose penalties, but their final verdicts do have major influences and consequences.

The Monsanto Tribunal will be led by Professor Olivier De Schutter, a Belgian legal scholar and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food. It will be run according to international legal procedures.

From now until the trial, De Schutter and others will interview witnesses and compile testimony. 

They will hear how Monsanto has destroyed biodiversity, degraded the world’s soils, poisoned farmers, polluted waterways, devastated local economies.

The lawyers and judges who conduct the tribunal will hear how Monsanto’s glyphosate has caused birth defects, kidney disease and cancer. They will hear how Monsanto’s monopolization of seeds and required use of increasingly costly and ineffective pesticides have led farmers to commit suicide. They will hear how Monsanto has attacked scientists that speak the truth, bribed politicians, and manipulated the media. 

They will hear how Monsanto is committing crimes against the climate.

There will be no shortage of witnesses, no dearth of evidence against one of the most soulless, morally bankrupt corporations on Earth. Monsanto’s tentacles reach into every aspect of our lives. 

Not even the octopus, poster child for all that is dark and sinister about the sea, can make such a claim.

You can be certain that our work on the tribunal will not detract or deter us from our bigger mission—to support those farmers who grow the food we actually need, using techniques that restore, renew, rebuild and regenerate—our soils, our health, our economies, our climate.

But we believe history will show that the Monsanto Tribunal, following on all of the work you have helped us carry out over the past several years, will mark a turning point. That’s why we’ve already contributed $5,000 and pledged another $10,000 to fund the tribunal.

If you can help us raise an additional $15,000, we can reach our $250,000 goal by midnight December 31,  Let’s make 2016 the year we bring down Monsanto, and regenerate our food and farming system. Please help by making a generous donation online, by U.S. mail or by calling our office—details here. 

Thank you. 

Ronnie Cummins
National Director, Organic Consumers Association and Organic Consumers Fund

P.S. We have until midnight December 31 to take advantage of this matching grant. Please make a generous donation today. Donations made to the the Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) are tax-deductible. If you don’t need the tax deduction, please consider making a donation to our 501(c)(4) lobbying arm by clicking here. Thank you!