O’bummer Obama

On March 26^th , despite a petition signed by 250K Americans calling for President Obama to veto the Senate & House approved bill known as the Farmer’s Assurance Act, the bill was signed into law. Buried 78 pages within the much larger HR 933 bill, a bill predominantly focused on homeland security and defense, section 735 came along for the ride, and this is one government-stamped, hitchhiker Americans should fear as much as their politicians. The text of the bill is available here: 933/text.

First things first. Let’s call the Act for what it is: the Monsanto Protection Act, because this rider isn’t about assuring farmers as much as protecting the behemoth biotech corporation from litigation. That’s right. Our federal courts are now powerless to halt the sale & continued planting of GMO crops should these Franken-seeds prove to present health hazards to the populace, and there’s certain to be many related health hazards, if the initial findings on laboratory animals are any indication. Rats and mammals forced to consume these seeds have developed cancer, sterility, and seizures, while a goodly portion have suffered miscarriages and death—a consequence the government has evidently come to terms with, and we should to.

The makers of the pesticide Round-Up, the Monsanto Group used to make DDT & Agent Orange among other poisons, and is currently best known for wanting to control the world food supply! In a nutshell, or better said, in a seed hull, since they already control an obscene percentage of the crops produced in the US. From soya, canola, and wheat–to cotton, corn, sugar beets & alfalfa, none of these crops have passed USDA muster, interestingly enough, even though almost any food that contains corn syrup contains syrup derived from Monsanto corn. Almost any product containing oil contains oil derived from Monsanto soya, canola or cottonseed, and not just a little, either. 100% of that vegetable oil you’re using is GMO oil, while an enormous array of other products are subject to “stealth appearances” from GMO’s, as well. From processed foods & baked goods, to fresh vegetables & fruits, to second-hand GMO’s contained in animal proteins harvested from livestock raised on GMO crops, the Franken-seed is everywhere.

The why of this boat seemed to have sailed. Why did President Obama sign this horrendous bill? (cha-ching!) Why do monoculture crops dominate the American farming industry? (cha-ching!) There is no greater yield, no higher profit to farmers (rabbit ears) but there’s certainly a greater need for systemic pesticides to contain the pests that set up camp in such crops. Literal camp, since the bugs can count on the same cover, the same food, and the same conditions in a monoculture, and who doesn’t like a little quality control in their living conditions? Why, it’s the American ideal, but this picket fence is guarding the wrong people! It takes only a new strain of pest to which the crop is vulnerable to be introduced for the entire harvest to be plagued, as the genetic diversity in monocultures is pretty much non-existent. (so that’s what mono means!) One goes down for the count, they all do, but at least the soil becomes more fortified by the planting and re-planting of the same seed…right?

Wrong! Monsanto even puts the squeeze on dirt, since using the same soil for the same crop year after year after profit-making year leads to plant pathogens and diseases. Basically, if bugs don’t blight the plants, the standardization of the monoculture will–by way of poor, plant health–and since repeated use of pesticides will result in the soil becoming resistant to those pesticides, still more and stronger insect and weed killers are sure to be needed. Good thing Monsanto makes pesticides, eh? Eh? Good for their bottom line, but not so much the farmer’s, and our poor health can only benefit another corrupt system in America: its health care.

Obama signed it, and Republican Roy Blunt worked with top brass at Monsanto to craft the rider in language this side of gibberish, but the public had its apathetic hand in it, too. We have to demand action from our congressmen and women before it’s too late—we have to get out there and inform ourselves—we need to vote! Had California Prop #37 passed last November, Monsanto would have been compelled to at least label the Franken-food flooding our grocery stores since the mid 90’s, but it was defeated, and not surprisingly. I can’t tell you how many produce sellers I talked to at both farmer’s markets and grocery stores that had no idea what the proposition referenced.

To sum it up from a consumer’s perspective, I advise you buy organic while you still can, before bird-poop & wind-driven seeds contaminate all the world’s crops, or relocate to any of the myriad European countries that have banned the production of Monsanto crops outright, or strictly regulated them. And hey. Get out a vote next time, America. That is to say…if you’re feeling well enough.