Monsanto's Legacy

 

Monsanto's Legacy of Death

By Chautauqua

Fresh out of high school in 1968, and rated 1A in the draft; I enlisted in the navy, figuring if I was going to see Vietnam it might as well be from offshore!  Before I could say "this might have been a mistake" I found myself aboard the logistical support ship USS Platte, off the coast of south Vietnam; pumping fuel and hauling ammunition.  We carried all manner of explosive and dangerous ordinance, but none with more respect than we gave those 55 gallon drums of Agent Orange, the notorious defoliant used to deprive the enemy cover.  Whenever those drums with the orange stripe around the middle came aboard everyone was extra jittery; we were never told anything about the drums contents officially mind you; yet the scuttlebutt in the fleet said the stuff had a nasty reputation & not to go near it if we could avoid doing so.

Five years after my enlistment ended I was living in Ketchikan Alaska; and was one of the founding members of a Vietnam vet outreach center.  In another hasty decision, I became the groups advocate for filing Agent Orange claims with the VA.  Over the next five years I assisted several dozen fellow veterans with their Agent Orange claims.  Part of my job description was to absorb everything available on the subject.  I only mention these things because we're gonna talk about Monsanto again, and maybe it's important to know I have some skin in the game as they say.

Every story needs a beginning; and for Agent Orange that would be in a Monsanto factory explosion ironically located in Nitro West Virginia back in 1949, (the year of my beginning as well.)  Monsanto was manufacturing a compound called 245T which when combined created the highly toxic by-product Dioxin.  Following the explosion 228 workers developed acute cases of chloracne, an extremely disfiguring illness directly linked to dioxin exposure.

Agent Orange is what you get when you mix 235T with another toxic compound, 24D.

During the Vietnam war over 45 million liters of agent orange was sprayed, containing over 600 kilograms of pure dioxin.  Dioxin is a human carcinogen, and mutagen in that serious genetic malfunctions occur as well as cancer.  The spraying program contaminated over 3 million people, including many thousands of American servicemen; and is still claiming victims 45 years later.  When humans are contaminated with dioxin, it is primarily stored in the fatty tissue.  When you get discharged from the military and become a civilian again, your entire lifestyle changes dramatically; and sudden weight loss is often the first of such changes, which releases the dioxin back directly into the veterans bloodstream and activating it.  As you can imagine, reunions with loved ones also happen a lot, with lots of lovemaking in the first weeks especially.  So, not only is the dioxin now active in the returning veterans bloodstream, but he is also passing it along to his wife, & is guaranteed to infect any children conceived during homecoming intercourse.

Monsanto's own research into dioxin showed the toxicity & lethality of the stuff; so they cooked the books, skewed the results and decreed that there were no harmful effects from using agent orange or dioxin.  For the next ten years, the Veterans Administration denied every single agent orange claim, based on Monsanto's own false reports.  Only after a decade of relentless effort by veterans support advocates, did the government finally relent, a little, and grudgingly begin granting limited benefits for dioxin contamination.

After I'd assisted in so many agent orange claims being filed and heard firsthand of the horrors these men had to live with, seen their disfigured kids; you can maybe imagine my disgust, outrage and horror when the home & garden weed killer Roundup was first introduced, what with it having dioxin as an active ingredient!  Since that time, Roundup has become Monsanto's flagship product for both consumer and industrial applications.  Making Roundup the world's leading agricultural pesticide was just Monsanto's first step towards the introduction of GMO crops, which would be immune to the pesticide.

It's important to make the distinction here, that Monsanto does not make GMO food crops in order to somehow make the food better, or more nutritious- not in the least.  The genetic alterations are done to make the crops immune to the deadly poisonous dioxin sprayed on them.  They have other stuff to spray on us, but that's another (horror) story.  Monsanto likes to brag that what they do is some huge benefit to all of humanity; but the ever so clear truth is that where ever they go, whatever they grow; a legacy of death follows.  The dioxin mutates the DNA of the food we eat, then it mutates our DNA!

Back in the 1940's there was some concern over Monsanto PCB's (a hydrocarbon derivative of petroleum used in medicine, plastics & dyes) because they were linked to cancer, hepatitis and diabetes.  The health risks of PCB's was well documented at the time, including in the findings of Monsanto itself, which summarily burned their documents. With the companies future as a transgenic giant at stake, Monsanto wasn't about to let bad press over dioxin ruin things; so they created a full court press disinformation campaign, and created solid connections to Washington, and the FDA.

What makes dioxin so nasty is that affects cell division; not the cell division mechanisms themselves, but those which control cell division.  This is one of the reasons birth defects and deformities result from dioxin contamination.  As I said, Roundup was just phase one, and with the roll out of GMO's waiting in the wings as phase two; the Monsanto propaganda machine was going full tilt.  When Roundup Ready soy beans were introduced in 1994 Monsanto had already cleared all major obstacles from the field to ensure a seamless assimilation into the world food chain.

How Does it Work?

To create the genetically modified Roundup Ready soy bean Monsanto goes right to the core of the soy bean cell, where the DNA is encoded.  Next, they break the species barrier using a roundup resistant gene harvested from a bacterium.  This gene is then placed on microscopic particles of gold, which are fired into the soy bean cells with a gene gun.  The gene penetrates the DNA and creates a protein making the plant resistant to roundup pesticide...making the plant resistant, but not the humans who consume the poison sprayed plant.  A point worth making!  Meanwhile, roundup ready soy beans constitute over 90% of the American market; and 70% of all food in American stores contain bio-engineered elements.  Something to ponder.

Don't take my word for it.  If you want to see the Monsanto legacy just hit up google images for Vietnamese Monsanto victims, and the truth will soon be apparent.  The images are deeply disturbing.  I originally thought to include a couple with this post; but the world is awash with ugliness just now, and I don't feel like adding to it.  Closer to home; many Vietnam veterans are still suffering from dioxin related cancer and chloracne; as are their children who they passed it on to.  The suffering continues even as Monsanto simultaneously denies responsibility and rejects the labeling of their products.   

Once Monsanto became a multi-national corporation it automatically received some degree of special treatment in the legal system and ever since has sought to entwine itself like poison Ivy, deeper and deeper into the government; to the point where today we cannot tell where the government ends and Monsanto begins.  By way of example: if you want to start using a new food color additive, you must first navigate a bureaucratic quagmire of tests, permits, certifications and approvals.  In contrast, Monsanto had to undergo none of those steps before marketing GMO food-like-products in America under the "Grass" umbrella, an acronym for Generally Recognized AS Safe.  Every American president since Bill Clinton has afforded Monsanto special waivers and privileges, right up to Obama who gleefully signed into law the Monsanto Protection Act which essentially holds the corporation exempt from lawsuits stemming from the use of their products.  Don't you think Smith & Wesson would just love a deal like that!!?

"They are in the process of owning all food" - Troy Roush

Monsanto also has a long history of intimidation, threats, lawsuits and general bullying to get what it wants.  What it wants is total monopoly and control over the worlds food production & distribution, plain and simple.  They get laws passed to make it illegal for farmers to have or keep non-GMO seeds, forcing them to buy Monsanto Terminator Seeds every year.  These terminator seeds are called that because they're genetically programmed to die after one crop, leaving no seed, forcing farmers to buy only what Monsanto offers; terminator seeds of death.    Between 1995 and 2005, Monsanto acquired over 50 seed companies around the world, getting several steps closer to the global monopoly it desires.

Monsanto gene police employees routinely trespass on farms to inspect for violations with impunity; harassing farmers with their heavy handed intimidation.  Monsanto seeds and crops are protected by various bio-tech patents; and they tend towards pre-emptive protection.  Monsanto singles out "independent" farmers who don't wish to grow GMO crops, then persecutes them into bankruptcy.  When every farm surrounding you is growing GMO crops, there is always going to be transgenic migration of GMO seeds to the non-GMO farm.  What Monsanto cannot achieve "legally" they force thru intimidation.  One recent omen for worse to come was Monsanto's purchase of the Blackwater mercenary corporation.  Now, whatever could they possibly need mercenaries and trained killers for?  Doesn't this make your skin crawl?  Why do we the people, allow this?

 Over the last several administrations in Washington DC, there has been a revolving door between the government, the FDA and Monsanto; with Monsanto big wigs becoming politicians and politicians becoming Monsanto executives.  They are keeping the lines deliberately blurred to the point where today Monsanto is the government, and the government is Monsanto.  The most unholy alliance the world has ever seen is just getting started; as Monsanto is currently conducting GMO research on over 20 food crops.

          More powerful than guns & bombs; Food is how to control world populations.

Mexico has long prided itself on their varieties of corn, and strongly resisted the incursion of GMO crops.  Thanks to subsidies and some slimy underhandedness, Monsanto GMO corn made it into the Mexican market, and it sells for half of what the native Mexican corn sells for, pushing Mexican farmers into eventual bankruptcy.  Cotton farmers in India are going bankrupt and committing suicide because of crop failures caused by Monsanto BT cotton.  The Monsanto Franken-crops are choking out non-GMO cotton plants; devastating dozens and dozens of local cotton farmers.  It's so bad there, that in one six month period there were 83 farmer suicides; a great many of these killed themselves by drinking Monsanto pesticide.

If you google Monsanto falsified scientific studies, you will get 174,000 hits, which together tell quite a story.  If Monsanto products are safe for humans and the environment then why all the effort to falsify scientific studies and doctor their reports?  One would think that having the government, laws and judges in their pocket, Monsanto wouldn't need to go to all that trouble covering their tracks.  Whether it is PCB's, rGBH bovine growth hormone, dioxin, or aspartame - the truth is clear; Monsanto sells poison.  Monsanto is a merchant of death and lingering illness across the planet, operating with impunity under the protection of the American government and congress.

Former Monsanto CEO Robert Shapiro once said: "Bio-tech itself is neither good or bad, it is a tool, and as such can be used well or used badly."  Well Bobby, the same thing can be said for guns, knives, & nuclear radiation; and like your products, they all kill people.

Like lobsters slow cooking in a pot of water, we have failed to react as the water temperature has gradually reached a boil over the years.  Self absorbed in our own comfort as chemtrails & other pacification technologies have marginalized us even more; the monsters have run amok, and too late we realize that we are on the menu. 

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