3 ms·

Helping farmers increase their yield, which makes food cheaper for the poor, is "pure evil"?

jayfuerstenberg 14y ago
Monsanto created Agent Orange and DDT, claiming at the time that both were perfectly safe for humans. Now we know better. http://bestmeal.info/monsanto/company-history.shtml http://bestmeal.info/monsanto/company-history.shtml The results for GMOs is mixed but is not looking good for Monsanto at the moment. We don't need to fix the food system, it wasn't broken to begin with.
webreac 14y ago
you are dis-informed.
- lazyjones 14y ago
  no, he/she is a freshly registered M* marketing troll ...
  - penny500 14y ago
    Can I claim that you're an organic food marketing troll?
smutticus 14y ago
1) The problem with poor people not having enough to eat is unrelated to underproduction of food. It's a much more complex problem then that. 2) Ask the thousands of Indian farmers who committed suicide because their crops failed how helpful Monsanto was. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082559/The-GM-genoc... "When crops failed in the past, farmers could still save seeds and replant them the following year. But with GM seeds they cannot do this. That's because GM seeds contain so- called 'terminator technology', meaning that they have been genetically modified so that the resulting crops do not produce viable seeds of their own. As a result, farmers have to buy new seeds each year at the same punitive prices. For some, that means the difference between life and death." 3) Monsant's entire argument rests on taking farmers' rights away. From TFA: "Monsanto contends that the patent violation is Bowman's fault because he took the grains and used them to create new versions of Monsanto's patented soybeans that Monsanto, the patent holder, hadn't sold him." Monsanto wants planting a seed to be patent violation. They want to stop you buying something and putting it into the ground. Fuck Monsanto and everything that they stand for.
- Blahah 14y ago
  Please don't perpetuate the Indian Farmer Suicides fallacy. It's a real and tragic phenomenon but it is not about GM seeds or Monsanto, starting long before they entered India. There's a very good review by IFPRI here: http://www.ifpri.org/publication/bt-cotton-and-farmer-suicides-india http://www.ifpri.org/publication/bt-cotton-and-farmer-suicid....
- penny500 14y ago
  This is completely misinformed. a) False. "However, a 2008 report by the International Food Policy Research Institute showed that there was no evidence for an increased suicide rate following the 2002 introduction of Bt cotton, but instead that the rate had been consistent since 1997." b) If a farmer buys seeds with the condition that they not replant those seeds, what happens if they do replant? Aren't they violating the terms of their purchase? It's like me buying a software license for 1-year, and not renewing but continuing to use the software beyond the expiration. c) If someone knowingly uses a patented product without paying the patent holder, you're saying that they're not liable? "Fuck Monsanto and everything that they stand for." Edgy.
stagas 14y ago
The argument "making food cheaper for the poor" doesn't give you a pass messing with nature and people's health. I can make food cheaper by killing half of the population since there's going to be more left for the rest of us! Does this justify my action? Get real, food has grown and can grow naturally and there are natural ways to have healthy crops that don't need dangerous pesticides. Nature has been working in a balance since ever and they are messing with it. It's MY nature they are messing with. All they're doing is maximizing profits at the expense of everything and everybody else.
- michaelbuddy 14y ago
  no kidding. So glad my food is cheaper. Too bad this cancer isn't.
- penny500 14y ago
  Get real. People can still grow food naturally as they always have. They can't use patented technology that took billions to develop and use it for free without approval of the patent holder.
  - stagas 14y ago
    Really? Ask for approval before planting a seed in the ground? You call that technology? Technology doesn't lock-in, it unlocks potential. Maybe ask for a commission then for the oxygen their GM plants produce. After all, it took billions to develop and I am breathing free air that originates from their patented plants.
    - penny500 14y ago
      Yes, really. It's a patented seed. It's a "special" seed. It needed billions of dollars in scientific research to engineer. It's not your seed. You're not free to use it because you didn't develop it and you didn't purchase a license to use it. You're free to use other seeds however, if you have the rights to it.
    - randomdata 14y ago

Monsanto created Agent Orange and DDT, claiming at the time that both were perfectly safe for humans. Now we know better. http://bestmeal.info/monsanto/company-history.shtml http://bestmeal.info/monsanto/company-history.shtml The results for GMOs is mixed but is not looking good for Monsanto at the moment. We don't need to fix the food system, it wasn't broken to begin with.

webreac 14y ago

you are dis-informed.

lazyjones 14y ago
no, he/she is a freshly registered M* marketing troll ...
- penny500 14y ago
  Can I claim that you're an organic food marketing troll?

smutticus 14y ago

1) The problem with poor people not having enough to eat is unrelated to underproduction of food. It's a much more complex problem then that. 2) Ask the thousands of Indian farmers who committed suicide because their crops failed how helpful Monsanto was. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082559/The-GM-genoc... "When crops failed in the past, farmers could still save seeds and replant them the following year. But with GM seeds they cannot do this. That's because GM seeds contain so- called 'terminator technology', meaning that they have been genetically modified so that the resulting crops do not produce viable seeds of their own. As a result, farmers have to buy new seeds each year at the same punitive prices. For some, that means the difference between life and death." 3) Monsant's entire argument rests on taking farmers' rights away. From TFA: "Monsanto contends that the patent violation is Bowman's fault because he took the grains and used them to create new versions of Monsanto's patented soybeans that Monsanto, the patent holder, hadn't sold him." Monsanto wants planting a seed to be patent violation. They want to stop you buying something and putting it into the ground. Fuck Monsanto and everything that they stand for.

Blahah 14y ago
Please don't perpetuate the Indian Farmer Suicides fallacy. It's a real and tragic phenomenon but it is not about GM seeds or Monsanto, starting long before they entered India. There's a very good review by IFPRI here: http://www.ifpri.org/publication/bt-cotton-and-farmer-suicides-india http://www.ifpri.org/publication/bt-cotton-and-farmer-suicid....
penny500 14y ago
This is completely misinformed. a) False. "However, a 2008 report by the International Food Policy Research Institute showed that there was no evidence for an increased suicide rate following the 2002 introduction of Bt cotton, but instead that the rate had been consistent since 1997." b) If a farmer buys seeds with the condition that they not replant those seeds, what happens if they do replant? Aren't they violating the terms of their purchase? It's like me buying a software license for 1-year, and not renewing but continuing to use the software beyond the expiration. c) If someone knowingly uses a patented product without paying the patent holder, you're saying that they're not liable? "Fuck Monsanto and everything that they stand for." Edgy.

stagas 14y ago

The argument "making food cheaper for the poor" doesn't give you a pass messing with nature and people's health. I can make food cheaper by killing half of the population since there's going to be more left for the rest of us! Does this justify my action? Get real, food has grown and can grow naturally and there are natural ways to have healthy crops that don't need dangerous pesticides. Nature has been working in a balance since ever and they are messing with it. It's MY nature they are messing with. All they're doing is maximizing profits at the expense of everything and everybody else.

michaelbuddy 14y ago
no kidding. So glad my food is cheaper. Too bad this cancer isn't.
penny500 14y ago
Get real. People can still grow food naturally as they always have. They can't use patented technology that took billions to develop and use it for free without approval of the patent holder.
- stagas 14y ago
  Really? Ask for approval before planting a seed in the ground? You call that technology? Technology doesn't lock-in, it unlocks potential. Maybe ask for a commission then for the oxygen their GM plants produce. After all, it took billions to develop and I am breathing free air that originates from their patented plants.
  - penny500 14y ago
    Yes, really. It's a patented seed. It's a "special" seed. It needed billions of dollars in scientific research to engineer. It's not your seed. You're not free to use it because you didn't develop it and you didn't purchase a license to use it. You're free to use other seeds however, if you have the rights to it.
  - randomdata 14y ago