…..Aaron's EnvironMental Corner…..

The World According to Monsanto

Filed Under: Environmental News on June 29, 2009

monsanto_dvd The question of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), specifically foods and crop seeds, is becoming more and more of a hot-bed issue. The world’s leader in GMO production is Monsanto, makers of other products like RoundUp weed killer, Bovine Growth Hormone, and the infamous Agent Orange.

Most genetically modified crop seeds coming from Monsanto’s laboratories are being modified to be resistant to the pesticides and herbicides that Monsanto also sells (namely RoundUp and several of its derivatives for full-scale farming).

Two huge questions come from this practice: will these modifications cause resistance to the herbicides by spreading their genes to the very weeds they are meant to kill off? Second, will these GMO plants, by being so ubiquitous in massive-scale corporate farming, virtually wipe out all heritage and time-proven hybrid plants already being used?

Either of those questions is troubling, especially given the squirrely answers that Monsanto gives to them when asked. Those questions, however, become almost secondary once you begin to realize how much political and financial clout Monsanto has put into suppressing any real research or inquiry into answering those questions.

The World According to Monsanto is a documentary film asking those questions and exploring the power that Monsanto has over farming world-wide. This documentary is available on both DVD and for free, online, through the twilightearth.com website.

I’ve taken the liberty of posting the first of the series of YouTube videos which comprise the entire video. To watch teh whole thing, I suggest going to TwilightEarth.com (the makers of the movie) and watching it there or purchasing a DVD from them for home viewing.

After you’ve watched the movie, go to Shelly Roche’s information at Bytestyle.tv and take the Roundup Challenge!