'The World According to Monsanto'
_http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0623-06.htm_
(http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0623-06.htm)
CONTACT: _The Real News Network_ (http://www.therealnews.com/)
Alain Latour, 416-916-5202
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June 23 - Monsanto is a world leader in industrial agriculture, providing
the seeds for 90 percent of the world's genetically modified crops. In an
interview with The Real News Network, filmmaker Marie-Monique discussed her
recent film 'The World According to Monsant'o in which she exposes many of
Monsanto's controversial practices, from concealing knowledge of toxicity of
PCBs to
producing genetically modified seeds and related herbicides.
Monsanto has long history of manufacturing dangerous products. In 1949, an
explosion in Nitro, a Monsanto factory in the US, caused 228 workers to
develop an extremely disfiguring illness caused by dioxin, a highly toxic
by-product of 2,4,5-T, a powerful herbicide manufactured in the factory.
Monsanto product Roundup, an herbicide which Monsanto advertised as
biodegradable, is still sprayed on crops by unprotected farmers in Paraguay
even
though Monsanto has already been convicted twice of false advertising for the
product.
Robin also denounces Monsanto for not only denying that it ever heard of
Agent Orange, a herbicide sprayed by the US Army on crops during the Vietnam
war
and which Monsanto had in fact manufactured, but also for manipulating
scientific studies to hide links between Agent Orange and cancer.
According to Robin, Monsanto has bought fifty seed companies in the last
year ten years. In a clip from Robin's film, physicist and ecologist Dr.
Vandana
warns: "Once [Monsanto has] established the norm that seed can be owned as
their property (…) we will depend on them. If they control seed they control
food (…). It's more powerful than bombs. This is the best way to control the
populations of the world."
In a Monsanto declassified file "we can't afford to lose one dollar" even as
toxicity of PCBs was discussed. This, Robin says, sums Monsanto's philosophy
rather well.
Watch the full interview here: _"The World According to Monsanto"_
(http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=
1582&updaterx=2008-06-22+09:47:01)
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8-06-22+09:47:01)
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
Monsanto is a world leader in industrial agriculture, providing the seeds
for 90 percent of the world's genetically modified crops. Once a chemical
company based in the US, Monsanto has transformed into an international life
sciences company, aiming to solve world hunger and protect the environment.
Filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, however, exposes the company's troubling past,
in
her recent film, The World According to Monsanto. In an interview with The
Real
News Network, she discusses Monsanto's controversial practices from a
producer of PCBs and Agent Orange to genetically modified seeds and related
herbicides.
Bio
Marie-Monique Robin is an award winning French journalist and filmmaker who
specializes in social and political issues. She is also the author of several
books including Le monde selon Monsanto, De la dioxine aux OGM ,which
coincides with the launch of her documentary by the same name.
Transcript
ZAA NKWETA (VOICEOVER): Providing the seeds for 90 percent of the world's
genetically modified crops, Monsanto is a world leader in industrial
agriculture. Filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin exposes the company's troubling
past in her
recent film, The World According to Monsanto.
MARIE-MONIQUE ROBIN, FILMMAKER: I've been working as a journalist for 25
years, and I have a lot of pharmacy friends. I mean, I have a big interest for
agriculture. I made a lot of documentaries all over the world about this issue
and about human rights. I mean, Monsanto is a question of agriculture right
now and human rights.
DR. VANDANA SHIVA, PHYSICIST AND ECOLOGIST: There's nothing they're leaving
untouched—the mustard, the okra, the brinjal, the rice. Once they have
established the norm that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be
collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow.
If they control seed, they control food. They know it. That's more powerful
than bombs. It's more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the
populations of the world.
ROBIN: Monsanto is now the big—it's the first seed company in the world.
They bought up, in the last ten years, about 50 seed companies, and they are
the
first leader in GMOs. I decided to make this documentary because, you know,
Monsanto is saying that GMOs are safe for consumers, safe for the
environment. And I thought, my God, can we trust a company when it is saying
that? And I
proposed to Arte, which is a Franco-German channel, a very good one, a
public one, I said, "I would like to make a documentary about this company.
Who is
this company?" I began with the beginning, because Monsanto has been
created, you know, at the beginning of the 20th century exactly, in 1901, in
Missouri, in St. Louis. It used to be a very big chemical company, and they
made
very nice products like PCBs, for instance. They could reveal that Monsanto
knew
from the very beginning that these PCBs were very toxic, and they're so
toxic that they're forbidden, you know? But Monsanto concealed the data. There
was a very interesting internal file, which is declassified now, which says,
"We can't afford to lose one dollar of business." I think this sentence is a
very good summary, you know, of their practices.
DAVID BAKER, PRESIDENT OF COMMUNITY AGAINST POLLUTION: Terry was my bigger
brother. He died in 1971 from a cancer of the brains, a tumor of the brains,
cancer of the lungs, [inaudible] of the heart. He was 16. In the last three
years, I have lost more friends, and they died from illnesses—cancer,
[inaudible] diabetes, hepatitis, all these different illness that comes with
PCBs and
that have been related to PCB.
ROBIN: They did the same with Agent Orange. Ancient Orange is a defoliant,
an herbicide used by the US Army during the Vietnam War. They used to spray
the herbicide, you know, in South Vietnam. Monsanto knew that it was very
dangerous, very toxic, because it contains dioxin. They not only concealed the
data they had about this product; they manipulated a scientific study to hide,
you know, the link between Agent Orange exposure and cancer.
VOICEOVER: The story began in Nitro, in a Monsanto factory that produced a
powerful herbicide called 2,4,5-T. In 1949, an explosion in the factory
provoked unexpected side effects. Two hundred twenty-eight workers developed
an
extremely disfiguring illness caused by dioxin, which is a highly toxic
biproduct of 2,4,5-T.
ROBIN: And one example more, maybe, because it's really the link between
GMOs: Roundup. It's an herbicide sold everywhere in the world. And Monsanto
always said its biodegradable, it's good, good for environment. One lie more.
It's not true.
VOICEOVER: Today, Roundup is sprayed all over Paraguay by plane or
mechanical spreaders driven by unprotected farm workers.
JORGE GALEANO, FARM ACTIVIST (VOICEOVER TRANSLATION): It destroys the
biodiversity of the countryside. It brings death, poverty, and illness, as
well as
destruction of the natural resources that help us live.
ROBIN: The company has been convicted, first in New York ten years ago and
last year in France, for false advertising. It's not biodegradable; it's not
good for the environment. And I have an interview of scientists in France, who
made a study which showed that Roundup leads to the first steps of cancer.
It's important to understand that, because 90 percent of GMOs grown in the
fields belong to Monsanto, and 70 percent of the GMOs grown in the world have
been manipulated to resist Roundup. The goal of my investigation is what is
called principle of substantial equivalence. What does it mean? It means it's
a
principle that a GMO is supposed to be similar to its conventional
counterpart. This principle of substantial equivalence was not based on any
scientific
data. And the person who tells it in front of my camera is not everyone; I
mean, it's James Maryanskyi, who used to be the chief of biotechnology in the
FDA. And he recognized that this principle wasn't based on any scientific
data; it was based on a political decision taken by the White House to push
biotechnology in the world.
MAN: And I would say, quite frankly, we have no complaint about the way USDA
is handling it. They're going through an orderly process; they're making
sure as they deal with these new things they do them properly. And now, if
we're
waiting until September and we don't have our authorization we may say
something different.
GEORGE H. W. BUSH, US PRESIDENT: Call me. We're in the de-reg business.
Maybe we can help.
TEXT ON SCREEN: Scenes from The World According to Monsanto
Courtesy of:
ARTE France
National Film Board of Canada
Image & Compagnie
WDR
DISCLAIMER:
Please note that TRNN transcripts are typed from a recording of the program;
The Real News Network cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.
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