The kid above gets it; Monsanto is the bain of my existence.  Monsanto is the producer of Round-Up … a weed killer that most Americans are familiar with, but they’re also one of two companies that control the vast majority of seeds used for growing crops.  Since these genetically modified seeds are created in a lab or warehouse … Monsanto has a patent on their “product”.  So – when Monsanto sells seeds to a farmer … not only does it kill off natural producing foods like a virus (or weed) … they require farmers to purchase new seeds every time they harvest.  Because they’re patented – Monsanto does not allow them to use seeds from prior harvests.

Well – 5 million Brazilian farmers sued Monsanto for being evil and won.  And the problem is – in America … you don’t know what foods you are eating are actually genetically modified.  America is one of the few countries not to require labeling of GMO’s in the food you eat.

You can read more about Monsanto’s evilness HERE.

QW Magazine has the story HERE:

In April this year, a judge in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, ruled in favor of the farmers and ordered Monsanto to return royalties paid since 2004 or a minimum of $2 billion. The ruling said that the business practices of seed multinational Monsanto violate the rules of the Brazilian Cultivars Act (No. 9.456/97).

Monsanto has appealed against the order and a federal court ruling on the case is now expected by 2014.

About 85% of Brazil’s massive soyabean crop output is produced from genetically engineered seeds. Brazil exports about $24.1 billion worth of soyabeans annually, more than a quarter of its total agri-exports.

Farmers say that they are using seeds produced many generations after the initial crops from the genetically modified Monsanto seeds were grown. Farmers claim that Monsanto unfairly collects exorbitant profits every year worldwide on royalties from “renewal” seed harvests. Renewal crops are those that have been planted using seed from the previous year’s harvest. Monsanto disagrees, demanding royalties from any crop generation produced from its genetically-engineered seed. Because the engineered seed is patented, Monsanto not only charges an initial royalty on the sale of the crop produced, but a continuing two per cent royalty on every subsequent crop, even if the farmer is using a later generation of seed.

And while America is one of the few countries that does not require labeling of genetically modified foods … North America has the highest # of cancer cases per capita than anywhere in the world.  There are a lot of factors that affect that … but we know that these Monsanto seeds have shown in labs to create cancer in rats … why not humans.  Source for map HERE.

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