Re: Monsanto and toyed-with soybeans (was spammed)

[Patricia Dines <73652.1202@CompuServe.COM>]

<<   Do you happen to know if Monsanto are funding the Democrats (or 
     REpublicans). How does somebody in the UK find out?
     
<<   I'm interested because they seem to have a stranglehold over the soya 
     bean market at present and are forcing everybody to accept their 
     Genetically Manipulated beans mixed in with normal beans.>>

Pete -

(1) Have you seen the PAN press release on the soy beans?  Could be leads for
information there. (I've put a copy below.)

(2) I've also enclosed outtakes from a Rachel issue about Monsanto funding of
the "Good News" industry (which produces the message "there's really no problem
to worry about" from supposedly independent sources, but funded by the
polluters).

(3) If you want, you can likely get more info from: Multinationals Resource
Center. Free info clearinghouse for activistsr, PO Box 19405, Washington, DC
20005; phone (202) 387-8030; fax (202) 234-5176; email mrc@essential.org.

(4) Public Citizen might know more about where the money to politicians comes
from.

(5) Sept./Oct 1996 "E" magazine has info on money from polluters to politicians
and the way they vote.  I don't see a reference to Monsanto, but they do rate
the worst in Congress, and give stats for the Citizen Fund Chemical Indstry PAC
Takers.  Also info on groups working on this issue who might have more info.
Their web site is http://www.emagazine.com.   I don't know what other info they
might have there as well....

(6) According to a press release calling on people to boycott top 8
poisoning/pesticide companies, these are some of other Monsanto products: 
"NutraSweet, Equal; BGH (aka rBGH, rBST and Posilac); Simplesse (an artificial
butter fat), Simple Pleasures Frozen Dairy Desserts, Salad Dressing and
Mayonnaise, the artificial fibers Astroturf and Wear Dated Carpets; the home
insulation foam sheeting Fome-Cor; garden herbicides Roundup and Dimension;
other agricultural chemicals -- Lasso, Harness Plus, Far Go, Avauer, Machete,
Bronco, Bullet, Crop Star GB, Freedom, Landmaster BW, Micro-Tech Partner, Ram
Rod, Accord, Buckle, Fallow Master, Lariat, Rodeo; the Flavr Savr tomato.  Be
alert for dozens of new Monsanto genetically engineered plants including corn,
potatoes and soybeans."


Hope this is useful to you.  Please let me know if you come up with anything
interesting in your exploration of this.  I think it's so vital that we stop
this genetically-engineered stuff NOW, before it becomes woven into our economy
and our DNA, with who-knows-what result (certainly not Monsanto or the
EPA/FDA/USDA!)....

P. Dines

            =====================================
                         P A N U P S
                             ***
                   Pesticide Action Network
                        North America
                       Updates Service
                 http://www.panna.org/panna/
            =====================================

October 14, 1996

Opposition Grows to Genetically Engineered Soybeans

On October 7, 1996, spokespersons representing more than 300
consumer, health, trade and agricultural organizations from
48 countries announced the launch of a world wide boycott of
genetically engineered soy and corn produced in the U.S.
Monsanto's glyphosate-tolerant soybeans and Ciba-Geigy's Bt
corn will be commercially harvested this season for the first
time. Organizations participating in the campaign will urge
consumers to boycott targeted products containing soy and
corn including Green Giant Harvest Burgers, Nestle Crunch,
Similac Infant Formula, McDonald's french fries, Kraft Salad
Dressings, Fleischmann's Margarine, Fritos, Karo Corn Syrup,
Quaker Oats Corn Meal and Coca Cola. Organizers of the
boycott cite increasing scientific concern over environmental
and health risks associated with genetically engineered
soybeans and corn.

The Secretary General of EuroCommerce, a trade association
representing over one third of the European Union's food
wholesalers and retailers, stated last week that they will
refuse to accept Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" soybeans from the
U.S. unless they are labeled. He warned that several major
members of EuroCommerce would not buy U.S. soybeans without
assurances that they are not genetically engineered.
Approximately 40% of the U.S. soy crop is exported to Europe
annually. Only one to two per cent of this year's soy crop is
genetically engineered; officials expect this amount to
increase by a factor of ten by next year.

Earlier this year, the European Union moved to allow limited
importation of genetically engineered soybeans. A majority of
European ministers, however, recently refused to authorize
import of Ciba-Geigy's Bt corn, citing concerns about
possible health and environmental effects. In response, the
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture sent the department's trade
counselor to Brussels last week in an attempt to argue
against restrictions on genetically engineered crops. The
Secretary stated that European objections to Ciba-Geigy's
corn were based on "unsound science," and that maize could
become a trans-Atlantic trade issue.

U.S. agribusiness representatives and grain distributors
maintain that labeling is not necessary since key U.S.
agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture have already approved the
crops. They state that labeling would involve high costs
since both soy and corn are normally shipped and stored in
huge, interchangeable lots. Corn and soybeans, two of the
most important U.S. field crops, were planted on 144 million
acres this season.

Some U.S. agricultural distributors have already made
agreements with European buyers to provide unaltered
soybeans. These distributors have stated that they will not
accept any genetically engineered soybeans from U.S. farmers.

In other events, Greenpeace activists blocked harvesting of a
field of genetically engineered soybeans in Iowa on October
10. More than 30 activists used a bright pink non-toxic,
milk-based paint to spray an entire Monsanto soybean field
and mark a 100 foot "X" with the words: "Biohazard!
Monsanto." The message could be read from the air and a
similar banner marked the area from the road.

Monsanto's herbicide tolerant soybeans contain a gene that
makes the soybean plant resistant to glyphosate (brand name
Roundup), Monsanto's top selling herbicide. Critics maintain
that the potential exists for herbicide tolerant genes to be
transmitted to weeds, thereby exacerbating weed control
problems. In addition, they point out that glyphosate is a
toxic chemical, (for example, it is the third most commonly
reported cause of pesticide poisoning in farmworkers in
California) and that herbicide tolerant plants merely
perpetuate use of toxic pesticides.

Ciba-Geigy's genetically engineered corn produces an
insecticidal toxin derived from the naturally occurring soil
bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt. Bt is a valuable tool
for organic farmers, and critics state that Bt crops such as
corn will speed development of insect resistance and reduce
its effectiveness.

Sources: Foundation on Economic Trends press release, October
7, 1996; Greenpeace press release, October 10, 1996;
International Herald Tribune, October 9, 1996; "EU, U.S.
continue grain subsidy, biotech talks," Reuters, October 9,
1996.

Contacts: Ronnie Cummins, Pure Food Campaign, 860 Highway 61,
Little Marais, MN 55614; phone (218) 226-4164; email
purefood@aol.com.
Foundation on Economic Trends, 1600 L Street NW, Suite 216,
Washington DC 20036; phone (202) 466-2833; fax (202) 429-
9602.
Terri Johnson, Greenpeace, Chicago; phone (312) 563-6060;
http://www.greenpeace.org/~usa.

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=================================================================
.           RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #504           .
.                      ---July 25, 1996---                      .
=================================================================
HOW THEY LIE, PART 2

<snip>

Serving the interests of the poisoners is straightforward.  For
example, in the 1980s, Monsanto Corporation got a bad name for
polluting every square foot of the planet with noxious PCBs,
dioxin, and harmful pesticides.  In truth, no single corporation
has ever done greater damage to the planet than Monsanto (though
Waste Management, Inc., or WMX, is challenging Monsanto's
record.)  To rehabilitate its image, Monsanto has successfully
employed a good-cop, bad-cop strategy. Monsanto announced, for
example, that it is cutting its toxic waste emissions 90%, at
the same time donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to
support libertarian anti-environmental propagandists like
Elizabeth Whelan, some of whose work we examined briefly last
week. (See REHW #503). Monsanto is Ms. Whelan's biggest
supporter[2] and Ms.  Whelan has made herself famous defending
Monsanto's products such as PCBs, the cancer-causing herbicide
2,4,5-T, the artificial sweetener Nutrasweet, and the company's
genetically-engineered hormone, rBGH, which is now being added
to much of the nation's milk supply (by injection into dairy
cows).  (See REHW #483.)  As we saw last week, Ms. Whelan's
contribution to the Good News industry is her bold discovery
that, if particular historical facts are inconvenient,
completely new ones can be manufactured and will be readily
accepted by the nation's media. This technique was pioneered in
Nazi Germany and perfected in the former Soviet Union but has
recently been developed under free market conditions by the Good
News industry.  John Tierney of the TIMES uses it repeatedly, as
we shall see.)

While Monsanto's approach keeps the public confused (Are they
good? Are they bad? Aren't they really trying to do better?),
Monsanto has quietly developed an entirely new line of
genetically-engineered creations, products it has begun to
broadcast directly into the environment while denying that any
harm will ensue.  (Monsanto has repeated similar denials for
decades.)  The corporation's pledge to cut its toxic wastes 90%
is long overdue, but it is also beside the point. It is this
firm's PRODUCTS, not its WASTES, that have covered the earth with
poisons and soon will disrupt the planet's ecosystems with
genetically-finagled forms of life.  Good News writers like
Elizabeth Whelan serve as a cover for the main source of harm
from a corporation like Monsanto, which is its perfectly-legal
pursuit of the purposes for which it was created: consolidation
of wealth and power, promoting dangerous products, eluding
liability and passing as many costs as possible on to the public.

Secondly, of course, writers like Elizabeth Whelan and John
Tierney serve a purely ideological master.  Most Good News
writers are dedicated to the extremist libertarian proposition
that government's only valid role is to enforce private property
laws, to establish conditions under which the free market can
operate without restriction. Monsanto broadcasting
genetically-finagled creatures into the environment, while
insisting that nothing can go wrong, is the libertarian model.
Government sits by while Monsanto populates the environment with
forms of life that the Creator saw fit to not make, and the
public will be required to "prove harm" before government will
lift a finger to protect the environment as it was originally
created. By that time, of course, it will be too late to put
things right.

<snip>

.               Environmental Research Foundation               .
.              P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD  21403              .
.      Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@rachel.clark.net       .
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