Have You Paid Monsanto for the Right to Grow Those Tomatoes?

Last Sunday, Melissa Harris-Perry had a segment on the fight for labeling of genetically-modified (GMO) foods.

Unfortunately, the segment concentrated on the question of whether GMO food is safe to human consumption. The studies are far from conclusive, but that's not the point.

The real danger of GMO foods - and specifically GMO seeds - is twofold:

• GMO seeds are genetically agressive, taking over and crowding out non-GMO seeds, especially open-pollinated heirloom seeds that are the foundation of the planet's food supply.
• GMO seeds are patented products wholly owned by the company that created them - primarily Monsanto - and thus are never freely available in nature but must be purchased from Monsanto at whatever price it chooses to charge.

The consequence is straightforward: One giant corporation - Monsanto - will very soon own the entire global food supply.  We won't be able to feed ourselves without paying a ransom to Monsanto.

From the LA Times on February 19th:

On Tuesday, attorneys for the largest agrochemical corporation in the world, Monsanto, will present arguments before the Supreme Court asserting the company's rights to the generations of seeds that naturally reproduce from its genetically modified strains. Bowman vs. Monsanto Co. will be decided based on the court's interpretation of a complex web of seed and plant patent law, but the case also reflects something much more basic: Should anyone, or any corporation, control a product of life?

The journey of a 75-year-old Indiana farmer to the highest court in the country began rather uneventfully. Vernon Hugh Bowman purchased an undifferentiated mix of soybean seeds from a grain elevator, planted the seeds and then saved seed from the resulting harvest to replant another crop. Finding that Bowman's crops were largely the progeny of its genetically engineered proprietary soybean seed, Monsanto sued the farmer for patent infringement.

The case is a remarkable reflection on recent fundamental changes in farming. In the 200-plus years since the founding of this country, and for millenniums before that, seeds have been part of the public domain — available for farmers to exchange, save, modify through plant breeding and replant. Through this process, farmers developed a diverse array of plants that could thrive in various geographies, soils, climates and ecosystems. But today this history of seeds is seemingly forgotten in light of a patent system that, since the mid-1980s, has allowed corporations to own products of life.

Meanwhile, Congress is making sure any court decision against Monsanto doesn't count.

Aviva Shen at Think Progress:

Liberals and Tea Party members alike are up in arms over the so-called “Monsanto Protection Act,” a provision snuck into the emergency budget bill that essentially exempts biotech firms like Monsanto Company from judicial review. Now that President Obama has signed the law, Monsanto may plant genetically modified seeds even if a court of law orders them to stop. While this is blatantly unethical, and possibly unenforceable, the newfound public outrage over the Monsanto Protection Act ignores the fact that Monsanto has already been above the law for decades. 

The Monsanto Protection Act is merely a drop in the bucket of government-embedded protections the agricultural giant already enjoys. The company has spent decades packing the US Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency with its own members. A new Food and Water Watch report maps out the many ways the company stacks the regulatory deck in their favor:

Check out these two links, both via Firedoglake:

“A dietitian working on a panel [of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics] charged with setting policy on genetically modified foods . . . contends she was removed for pointing out that two of its members had ties to Monsanto”.

“Monsanto and its products are keeping farmers stranded on what ecologists call a ‘pesticide treadmill’–never-ending chemical warfare against fast-adapting ecosystems.”

That giant octopus controlling your life isn't the government; it's corporations like Monsanto.