Following news made just weeks ago about Monsanto slashing 2,600 jobs and ending $3 billion to buy back shares from investors, the biotech giant is now reporting that it will be closing 3 research and development centers in order to cut costs in the agricultural commodities market.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a biotechnology hearing for the first time in 10 years last week to discuss the future of food technology as the industry responds to increased demand, production challenges, and consumers’ calls for a safe and transparent food supply. But the meeting came up short on transparency and carried on more like a Monsanto share-holders meeting than an unbiased inquiry into the pros and cons of biotechnology where it concerns the food supply.
GM and biotech companies responsible for inflated pharmaceutical prices were already taking a beating on the stock market, but after the latest report from Citron Research classifying Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc as a “pharmaceutical Enron,” the whole sector has come tumbling down like the house of cards it truly is.
Monsanto has pressured the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) to “reassess” their best-selling herbicide, glyphosate. This came after the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) declared that Roundup (glyphosate) was ‘probably carcinogenic.’
A glaring omission from almost all biotech discussions of genetically engineered crops is the fact that not one, but a host of chemicals is required to grow them. Perhaps the word ‘required’ is overwrought with cynicism, but “over 75 percent of GMO crops are engineered to tolerate being sprayed with herbicide.” This means that if one were to honestly and accurately portray the safety of GM crops, they would also have to prove that the herbicides and pesticid
Lawsuits filed against agribusiness giant Monsanto are mounting, with the latest one being filed last week in Delaware.
In a world where natural beings simply can’t measure up to biotech scientists’ unnatural desires, a Chinese biotech firm has recently announced plans to launch a genetically modified micro pig which would stay forever small.
More than 34,000 pesticides derived from about 600 basic ingredients are currently registered for use in the United States by the EPA. Industrial agriculture (meaning about 75% of all land used in the U.S. to grow food or raise animals) relies on these chemicals to grow food. Where, exactly has this gotten us? [1]
Billions of pounds of pesticides and herbicides used has resulted in:
Could it be that premier scientific journals are finally conveying the truth about GMOs? In a relatively recent exploration of ‘ubiquitous’ GMOs that have taken over our food supply, the New England Journal of Medicine tackles 2 new concerns over genetically modified organisms and the pesticides used to grow them.
Stating a concern that the proposed law would lead to the reintroduction of border controls between GM and non-GMO-growing countries, the European Parliament news service reported that Members of the Environment Committee shot down a draft EU law that would allow member states to restrict or prohibit sales of genetically modified crops.
