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A Month Without Monsanto
April Dávila wondered what it would take to cut the GMO giant out of her family's life. She found that it was far more entrenched than she'd ever realized.
In January of this year, while procrastinating on Facebook, I followed a link to an article reporting on evidence that there may be health effects associated with consuming Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) corn. Clicking on that link was one of those moments on which I look back and laugh. I had no idea how my life was about to change.
Monsanto's Reach
The article I stumbled onto concerned a study done in 2009 by a group of French scientists investigating the safety of genetically modified food. Their results, as published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, pointed toward kidney and liver damage in rats fed GM corn.
I began to research where exactly Monsanto corn appeared in my
family's diet. With a little online sleuthing, I learned that in
addition to producing the genetically modified corn, Monsanto produces
several other genetically modified crops such as soy, sugar beets, and
cotton. Many of these crops form the foundation of our diets: 70 to 80
percent of American processed foods contain genetically engineered
ingredients, according to the Grocery Manufacturers of America. A large
percentage of the cotton in our clothes and homes begins in Monsanto's
labs.
Probing a little deeper, I was surprised to learn that a company specializing in genetically modified plant crops also had an enormous influence on America's meat industry. Sixty percent of genetically modified corn goes to feed America's beef cattle. Additionally, Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is used to increase milk production in many dairy cows.
Tracing Foods Back to their Source
I decided to see if I could go the entire month of March without consuming any Monsanto products. I committed to an all organic, vegan diet, and reluctantly invested in a small organic cotton wardrobe. It was an experiment born of curiosity: I wanted to know just how deeply my life was influenced by Monsanto, a company I knew little about before that click of my mouse in January.
By day two of my attempt to remove Monsanto from my life, I realized I was in way over my head. For the past 10 years Monsanto has bought up seed companies around the globe. They now own a majority of the seed lines in America, including a large percentage of organic seeds. For everyday purposes, a Monsanto seed that is grown organically is still organic, but in my attempt to avoid Monsanto, I was left without any easy way of knowing what foods fit my experiment. I retreated to subsisting on wild-caught fish while I dug deep to try to figure out where exactly my foods came from.
With the help of sustainable food advocate Cassie Gruenstein, I got in touch with dozens of health food stores and manufacturers to ask where they sourced their products. I spent hours at the farmers' market asking farmers what seed companies they bought from, googling on my iPhone before making purchases. It took several weeks, but I slowly built a somewhat normal Monsanto-free existence.
Unfortunately, with the exception of a few national brands (check out Annie's, Inc. Massa Organics, and Lundberg Farms for a good start), there is no easy way to avoid Monsanto. It requires talking with the person who grew your food--every ingredient of every bite.
Good First Steps
While it's extremely difficult to entirely avoid Monsanto, there are some basic guidelines that anyone can use to minimize the genetically modified organisms in their lives.
- Avoid processed foods. In particular, eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) from your diet and be sure to read labels. HFCS appears in everything from sodas to wheat bread.
- Consider going vegetarian, limiting your meat consumption, or buying grass-fed varieties. Over 60 percent of genetically modified corn goes to feed cattle on polluting concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in America.
- Buy organic dairy products to make sure animals weren't given Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormone.
- Buy organic cotton when you can. Monsanto is a major player in the cotton industry. Even though cotton makes up only 2.5 percent of the world's crops, it is doused with 16 percent of the world's pesticides. Cotton pesticides, most of which are listed as "extremely hazardous" by the World Health Organization, turn up regularly in water sources around the globe.
What most amazed me during my month without Monsanto was the influence that one corporation had in my daily life--without me knowing anything about it. Once I started looking, Monsanto was everywhere. Once I started making the effort to avoid it, I found something else that surprised me: the confidence that comes from really knowing what I'm eating.
- Posted in
60 Comments so far
Show AllVery appreciative of the efforts put forth by the author of this article. On a cynical note however, a quick call to one of her congressmen/women would all too likely have uncovered the dirty detail that they too are caught up in the Monsanto food web. To quote Dennis Kucinich: "Wake Up America!"
Monsanto first claim to fame was in the 50s when after paying off gov. the nation sent farm ag agents out to push Monsanto's new chem.fertilizer and sold its use to family farms by telling farmers that by using this they could feed the world which of coarse never happened how ever it opened the market for Monsanto to sell their pesticides to help the farmer with the out break of insects due to the over grow of crops and of coarse dont forget their magic fix for all those weeds that came along with the chem fertilizers. Monsanto has been in bed with washington for many many years now.
albertwillam, that's exactly what Monsanto has been doing in India where they are trying to co-opt the government programs (some of which have been pretty helpful to the farmers) to push their GM crops. The farmers hear about these seeds and chemicals from the local "agricultural extension" or "farm outreach" workers, and so there is an element of trust that is being misused. And now there is an arrangement between the US and India called the "Knowledge Initiative" that gives American agro companies fantastic access to not only the Indian market but to the tremendous biodiversity and plant research material that exists within the country. The elite in India are pushing through this set up, in effect selling their country's interests short.
As a gm farmer who was watching a mama deer and her 3 triplets clean up some spilled corn kernels this morning, I wanted to mention a couple of things. First, I'm certain that Monsanto does not "own" 85% of the seeds in America. It is possible that they may have their fingers in that market share through licensing agreements, however. Second, how about the recent news that scientists have discovered that inserting 2 green pepper genes into a banana plant, seems to make the plant immune to a disease that is destroying African bananas? It seems like wonderful news to me, but I'm sure many CDers will find it horrible.
Deers are famously stupid.
They'll eat just about anything.
Kind of like people...
Certain,possible,seems.
Your words. Not mine.
Good luck deer hunting!
Now that you mentioned being a GM farmer, it isn't hard to see where your conflicts of interest lie. Thanks a hell for making American farmers the laughing stock batch. I hope you realize what a great disservice you're doing to the lives of our younger generation here in this country. Consider yourself "lucky" for now that the same "pro-life" conservatives who are against stem cell research, against gun control, and against women's reproductive rights aren't holding the GMO scams accountable ! Quickstepper and Bliss Doubt were right about you. Doesn't it ever haunt you to be a shamelessly paid GMO shill like that?
About that "good news" you mentioned, there's no guarantee that they'll do it. In fact, there are plenty of reasons to assume worst case scenarios about GMO, another profiteering con artist scam. Monsanto would never want any disease to go away unless it threatened its bottom line. In fact, they are ready to reduce the nutrition in the crops they grow and force consumers into believing the same old lies about "eating vegetables alone doesn't provide the nutrients" just to get them to buy into those scam pills. I can see Big Pharma, Big Insurance, and Monsanto and its ilk going all out to keep the war against health care alive. Please tell us that you're proud of that.
I have often mentioned that I'm a gm farmer, Stanley. I'm surprised you did not know. I would hope for a bit more civility from you, but I understand your strong feelings. I'm not certain, but I don't think Monsanto has anything to do with the work on bananas that I mentioned. Outdoor trials are the next step. Neither one of us like it that it's all about the money with nearly all corporations. Anyway, keep on tilting at those windmills.
I knew you were a farmer but specifically a GM farmer I didn't fully know or I must have forgotten if you did mention it. About all this and that on farming, if more people could get into the basics of gardening and make a great hobby and possibly grow with it, our farmers in this country wouldn't be what they are today. You would have been a hell of a lot better as a farmer for one. As far as farming goes, it has gone to dogs for the last 50 years.
SO, stopped eating have you? Good theres another we won't have to triage, when the time comes.
Kick the Farmer and the corporations all you want. Without them your life would be a whole different story.
This sorry planet went past sustainability at just 1 billion, thats the point plagues usually breakout and cut back the population. But sometime in the 1700s people began expirmenting on plants and fertillizers and year by year have gotten so good at it this poor world can almost support it's six-and-a-jalf-billion souls. But without new discoverys, new plants, new chemicals. Without everyhand working 24/7 we start to die. It wouldn't be that noticable for a few years. we still have famines here and there. a few hundred thousand get wipped out. It hardly makes the papers. But those "people" are still dead, they shurly had dreams and goals too.
We have become dangerously smug about the realities of life, too used to going to the grocery store, Watching your cute little plants grow, like they were enough to sustain you. Grow up! theres no fair, no unfair, just life or death.
Bfore you jumb on any GM farmer know without them being up front on making changes. everything and everyone behind them will collapse. Belive me death by slow starvation is no joke. It can happen here, unless we stay vigiallant.
We favored creatures of god.
>^^<
"Kick the Farmer and the corporations all you want. Without them your life would be a whole different story. "
We were doing just fine without GMO or the corporatization of agriculture. We will do just fine without them.
As for the rest of your post, are you telling me to blame everyone while exonerating the Monsantos of this world?
This planet has 6 billion people. Global agriculture produces enough for 9 billion people, yet there are starving populations in the world. Countries with starving populations export food. Chemical agriculture won't end hunger in this world any more than organic agriculture will. Hunger in the world is a matter of politics.
Agribusiness corporations are not about feeding the hungry. They are about profits, and they will defend their poisonous ways with all their might.
You grow up!
Your no farmer. You are probably sitting in your monsanto orafice collecting a paycheck for lying on the internet. You sound more like a St. Louis County urban 30's republican with an attitude whose main focus in life is golf and gutter politics when your not too busy chasing the secretary at the local Farm Bureau office. Fraud for profit is likely your game. Have a good lie.
I'm amazed by how far off your imaginings are. I even learned to hate golf about 40 years ago. I'm really very lucky. I was born with a silver scoop shovel. My farm has been in the family for 134 years. By the by, I loved your subtle golf-lie bit.
Bull! Your false superiority is exposed by your being here. You have no business here except to spread disinformation regarding you OCD attitude and anti-people viewpoints. Get this, we won't eat your bull! Get out of your monsanto bubble. Know this too, life is not linear it is circular. What harm you do to others comes back to you and your family. God doesn't need to get people like you, you get yourselves. Go ahead, laugh you way to hell. Look for self imposed trouble arriving soon.
Get thee to your church. You need some peace time. Your inner Nazi is rearing.
Being a GM farmer won't make you popular here. I know you want to end the poverty and starvation but GM is not the way to do so. I would not push people to churches either. They can be too evangelical and wing-nutty.
You ain't seen nothin' yet.
Well, what other conclusion should we expect from an obviously deluded GM farmer? It seems like wonderful news to you because you're too shortsighted to see past your own wallet, nevermind your own lifetime.
One of the means by which Wolf Hunters slaughtered all the Wolves in the Lower 48 was with poison such as strychnine put into meat.
I guess using your logic there nothing wrong with strychnine.
Greg R,I believe the gene used to give resistance to Roundup(TM) ready Soya came from a Petunia.But that said I think Glyphosate is over used and abused.The good uses for GMOs like the Vitamin A fortified rice,and other dream crops have never materialised.Novel proteins and viruses that could cause new alergic reations have.
peace
Do you have any idea as to the damage the neonicotinoid pesticides used on GMO seeds is having on pollinators, in particular the honey bee? We used to maintain several thriving bee hives. Within the last four years several thousand acres of forage land near us was planted in GMO soy and GMO corn---I've counted less than a handful honey bees this year. Of the dozens of other wild bees and wasp species that once prospered in this area, only a few remain and in drastically reduced numbers.
Neonicotinoids are also used on non-gm seeds. Most experts disagree with your conclusions. I've used gm seed for close to 2 decades. I think you and I both know there has been a parasite that has been very damaging to bee populations. Anecdotally, I would add that twice in the last 3 or 4 years a colony of honey bees has tried to make my home into their home. This had not happened in the previous several decades.
Neonicotinoids have been banned in the EU for just this reason.
Another issue we have to contend with is farmers unwilling to observe application protocol. It is not uncommon for fields to be sprayed in mid-afternoon while bees and other pollinators are working. Additionally, there exists little concern about spraying during windy conditions. Herbicide drift and trespass happens all too frequently.
Good luck keeping your adoptive swarm alive through winter. As you know, neonicotinoids do not kill outright, they function on the central nervous system to alter survival behavior patterns. At issue is the inability of house bees to developed into the later stages of maturation to act as foragers for the hive. As much as I appreciate your anecdotal story, I can tell you that all of the bee keepers in my county are presently experiencing devastating losses, and, it has coincided with the introduction of the GMO crops to the area.
And yes, you are correct about the other applications for neoniconoids. It might serve those readers not familiar with the subject to elaborate a bit more on the topic. Very persistent forms of neonicatinoids are allowed for use on green house ornamentals. They are generally used to combat root parasites and whiteflies in the greenhouse environment. Since they are so persistent, consumers inadvertently introduce these compounds into their gardens when they transplant ornamental starts. As it has been demonstrated that neonicatinoids in the soil can be taken up into the plant and contaminate pollen, this too, becomes a concern for those interested in providing a safe habitat for bees and other pollinators. Caveat emptor!
NON P: Thank you for keeping alive the connection between the "failing bee colonies" and the likely culprit (or one of the key ones), Monsanto.
I've said this before, but it bears repeating. A company that made its fortune on killer war chemicals like Agent Orange is not a wise one to trust with any staple food supplies. Since they have never made any effort to pay for the cancers in Vietnam, they should not be granted the legal leniency that allows them to monopolize seeds.
In my view, they are war criminals!
Allowing Monsanto to determine what's in your breakfast cereal is like hiring a serial killer to babysit for your kids.
Let's call it a "trust" thing.
Oh yes; your so smart and the rest of us are just stupid, Well have you considered that bees have run their evolutionary course? That bees are simply going extinct on their own. But I've never played god not even on TV. I don't claim to know how the whys what and maybes come togther to do anything. I can barely figure out the machinations of humans.
I do know that hundreds of species go extinct every day and that humans have nothing to do with it!
Enjoy nature as it is, I'm sure whatever repalces bees will be just as interesting. Monsanto is not the end all be all. We as humanity are not, when our time runs out we'll disappear too.
>^^<
Try trust, sometime
You can't equate bees with dinosaurs. Most forms of species that used to go extinct did so naturally but in the last century, most cases of extinction have been proven to be directly linked to man-made causes. Unless this new species can work with pollen and make honey, I'm afraid that no species can replace bees. But killer bees are on the rise. They don't make honey easy for us to plunder and they will go on the offensive at will. Read this on the killer bee.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee
They may have been temporarily subdued but there's no telling when they'll be back in full force rebellion mode. The Mars and Venus description Sioux Rose has talked about can be respectively applied to killer bees and docile European bees. The consequences of trying to interbreed the European and African bees has resulted in costly operations of trying to keep the bees disciplined on honey production. Similar consequences could exist if Monsanto and company continue to experiment with breeding and GMO. It doesn't have to end this way.
Check out the video "The Future of Food." It has a section showing how Monsanto is patenting the genetic materials in govenment seed banks. Yes, it is legal to do this. I think the video is a free instant-view at Netflix. You could also try Hulu.com, if the new Flash 10.1 hasn't screwed your computer.
As to the doe and fawns...there is actual research showing that some butterflies cannot pupate after eating gm corn pollen, that some gm genes have transferred to the bacteria in bee stomachs, and that internal organ damage has been observed in animals eating gm corn.
And stop, will you, with the banana guilt trip? Children and small farmers don't need crazed gm plants, they need sustainable agriculture. Check out the process of gene insertion...first, it does not hold that one gene = one characteristic. Second, it is not an exact science. That gene can land pretty much anywhere and muck up the transcription.
23 percent of the global proprietary seed market, which is scary enough.
93 percent of soybeans and 80 percent of corn grown in the US are from Monsanto's patented seeds.
Yes, deer are beggars. They eat practically anything. That doesn't mean the gmo corn is good for them. A gmo corn fed doe might as well have triplets now, since testing shows that the generations down the line will be expected to have decreased fertility.
Which species was it that produced babies with fur inside their mouths in the third generation of gmo feed testing? Hampsters? I'll have to look it up.
Anyway, lots of facts and links to articles at www.organicconsumers.org where you can just put Monsanto in the search engine, or Monsanto monopoly, or monsanto seed market, or antitrust investigation of monsanto, and get lots and lots of truth.
But don't they say that humans are like the ultimate rats or pigeons on this planet? Maybe we should eat the gmo seed and non-produce ourselves into oblivion.
About the banana, as with other Monsanto plant mutilations in the past, the wilt may be controlled, for a while, but some other pox or rot or virus will break out in that same banana, owing to the genetic mutilation of it. It becomes like the lady who swallowed the fly. Besides, it's chemical farming, including the use of herbicides, which makes plants vulnerable to these diseases in the first place.
GREG R: Every time Monsanto makes a claim its PR holds till a generation or two of its "product" shows up to demonstrate the unfailing ability of nature to seek after what is real. In other words, the boasts implode! If Mother Nature wanted to combine a banana with a pepper, she had millions of years to have tried that combination out.
When the REAL gets screwed with, there are always unforeseen consequences.
Ray's comment about lawyers learning how to pimp for corporations as they make more and more "progress" in their ownership-of-life claims is THE item that drives me over the edge this evening. Fortunately, it's not raining so I can bike. Natural therapy at its best!
Unforeseen consequences will happen. It's not going to stop human inquiry. It is good to keep the pressure on for enough regulation to forestall possible catastrophes. The potential for good is great, however. Another way to look at this is to imagine yourself apologizing to Africans 20 years from now when they no longer have local bananas as a food staple.
There's a problem with that logic of yours. How can we be sure that Monsanto won't play tricks with Africa the way it's trying to do with Haiti? Monsanto is free to give them bad seeds unless their government restricts them from doing so. If they have bad "local" bananas 20 years from now, they'll start hating even good bananas than if they weren't to have any bananas but there's no reason to believe that they have to depend on Monsanto to keep bananas as one of their food staples 20 years from now.
Look, I may be wrong, but I do not think Monsanto has anything to do with this gm banana technology.
Monsanto has news of that banana all over their website. As parasites, if they think it works, they will want the patent, and the control of it. The idea that the genetic mutilation of the African banana will preserve a local food for Africans is pure marketing nonsense. It will preserve profits in the biotech industry while making African farmers indentured corporate servants, at least during the time it works, before something else goes wrong with the same plant as a result of tampering with its genetic make up.
Greg, we've already done the arithmetic. When we add up the pluses and minuses of Monosonto, the result is a big net negative.
For starters, Monosonto follows the "fabulous" Merkan Way of not consulting with the people in determining production. We're supposed to passively accept the garbage that was produced to fulfill the profit agenda? What a joke!
That is called "supply side economics" and it was fully discredited ten years ago. As you can see, in order to perpetuate mega-rackets against a population that now sees through the camouflage, the elites have resorted to naked aggression, stealing elections (2000), stomping out the renewable energy revolution, wiping out regulations (Glass-Seagall), defying the laws of the land (international treaties) and rewarding mega-corporations for catastrophic screwups (bankster bailouts). In California they banned counting third party votes in the elections!
And you find reasons to support the rackets!
Perhaps you don't realize that people greatly enjoy diversity in food varieties, and greatly appreciate the nutrition of heirloom varieties, which are under assault by Monosonto and the "perpetual growth/concentration" camp.
You must be numb, because almost everyone has been disgusted all their lives after discovering that the rivers, lakes and oceans are dangerous to swim in and eat from.
You don't get that people are connected to the planet. Probably don't get the people are connected to people. Maybe in the kapitalist's model people can only be connected with kapital.
Congratulations. Very few people have all the answers. I hope you have the time to post on most of the CD articles. That way the rest of us won't have to bother.
A deer with triplets doesn't happen. A deer will have one or two at most. So why don't you take some hot pepper genes and add them to your banana.
The use of GM technology as an artifical method of plant and animal reproduction eliminates reciprocity in the cycle of life, when you interact with this process the lack of reciprocity is magnified. This article attempts to evaluate the pervasive effects. Proprietary secrets aside, there is now a new awareness.
Davila indeed deserves commendation for doing the basic legwork on this subject. As she indicates, she's only scratched the surface of this corporation's insidious penetration into the most fundamental aspects of our lives.
We need to address the question about what to do about Monsanto. These bastards are determined to gain control of the world's food supply, putting the very survival of humanity at risk with their greed-driven engineering.
The truth is that no one knows the long-term implications of sudden genetic modification.
q
The major problem with GMO is that are owned by, researched by and instigated by corporations.
They are not regulated (well)
See Richard Manning's book "Food's Frontier" for an alternative analysis of the development use and ownership of GMO.
In addition, many attorneys are shifting their career focus to intellectual property which includes seeds and other agricultural necessities.
Vegan =life.
Meat(and dairy)= death.
Does your two year old got milk?
Your Soy milk may not be good for baby boys.Breastfeed harry!Does your two year old got teeth?
peace
Drinking the milk of another species, wierd!
Rat milk anyone?
When soy beans grow tits. I'll try soy-milk.
>^^<
It is the most insidious kind of corporate/profit generating evil that some bastard would even have the thought of producing seeds that cannot replicate themselves. It is no coincidence that this is known as "terminator" technology. You remember the Terminator, don't you. Inhuman, bloodless killing machine.
I've seen a lot of talk about Monsanto's 'terminator' technology which they purchased when they bought another company many years ago. To this point, I don't believe they've ever made any use of this technology. Does anyone know any actual facts on this?
Monsanto acquired Delta & Pine Land, the US seed company conducting greenhouse trials of terminator technologies, on June 1, 2007, a little over three years ago. Not "many years ago" by my reckoning..
Thanks for inquiring. People should be more aware that Monsanto is doing this destructive, venal research.
The Delta and Pine Land shareholders had approved a merger with Monsanto in 1998. I didn't realize that the government had fought and held up this merger for so long. I believe I am correct in thinking that D&PL were seriously working on this terminator technolgy in 1998 and probably longer ago.
Farmers in Haiti are trying to kick Monsanto as well:
http://dyinginhaiti.blogspot.com/2010/06/seeds-and-water-common-patrimony-in.html