Monsanto has launched a blog with multiple contributors and they start right out being pretty open about “things.” I think this is great and look forward to how it develops. I’ve been following Kathleen (Ms Monsanto) on Twitter for a while now so it looks like this is one ag company that is not only understanding social media but not afraid to take part in it. Here’s some excerpts from their first post:
This blog will address issues related to Monsanto, our business, and technology in agriculture.
The title Monsanto According to Monsanto is a spoof of The World According to Monsanto, a horribly biased documentary which portrays Monsanto in a very negative light. Aside from the shoddy journalism, we at Monsanto found it incredibly arrogant that the filmmaker would present her own twisted view of Monsanto as the company’s view of the world.
If anyone should speak to Monsanto’s vision of the world, it’s those of us who come to work here every day and collectively make this company what it is. This is the main reason for this blog.
Monsanto has a fair number of critics. Technology in agriculture is an emotional topic and there are organizations or individuals who generally oppose modern agriculture or biotechnology. This blog will be used on a rather frequent basis to respond to criticism leveled against Monsanto and the use of technology in agriculture. On occasion we’ll use the blog to levy some criticism ourselves. We expect that some of these postings will generate controversy. Creating controversy isn’t the intention of this blog, but it’s inevitable.
ZimmComm has had the pleasure and honor to work on various projects with Monsanto btw. It’s great having them more involved in the online conversation!
I’ts about time
Have any of the gmo food crops that Monsanto thinks we DO need been studied long (or even short)term by independent scientists for feeding humans? Have those results been published in peer-reviewed journals? If so, would you please direct me to them?
Have any long-term feeding human/mammalian studies been done on the the stacked gene varieties–or do Monsanto and the USDA just assume that since the individually altered plants were considered GRAS that the combination of genes would therefore be safe as well?
One more question along that line: Monsanto has successfully petitioned the USDA/APHIS to deregulate many gmo crops. But how do we know that the hybrids of gmo crops with non-gmo crops or other gmo crops are safe as well? We know these hybrids exist from public USDA information. Have all the possible outcomes that are out there and that are being consumed by humans, livestock, and wildlife been deregulated without any safety data?
Thanks for the feedback and the plug on the blog, Chuck.We are excited to get out there and give a voice to those of us who are pro-biotech and get rid of a lot of the fear and unknown surrounding this aspect of agriculture, as well as Monsanto! Keep up the great work, and see you on Twitter!
Hello, I keep hearing how it was revealed by the British Parliment, that Monsanto was involved in field testing their GMO foods on Canadians for 10 years without our knowledge or consent.
As a Canadian, I just wonder if you can tell us, what provinces were chosen and what your company learned from us guinea pigs? Can you at least share the lessons?
Andrew
THE TRUTH ABOUT MONSANTO is difficult to find because so many people without a basic understanding of chemistry and toxicology get involved. Caffeine,Aspirin,Salt and many other items you come in contact with daily are all far more toxic than Roundup.
Toxicity is provided in reference to mammals and to fish. LD50 is the lethal dose of a chemical required to kill 50 percent of a test-animal (rat) population. It is expressed in milligrams of chemical for each kilogram of test-animal weight. For reasons of comparison, the following toxicities are provided:
Caffeine LD50 = 200 mg/kg (extremely toxic)
Aspirin LD50 = 1,240 mg/kg (moderately toxic)
Table salt LD50 = 3,000 mg/kg (moderately toxic)
LC50 is the lethal concentration in water at which a chemical becomes lethal to 50 percent of a test population of fish.
Monsanto was responsible for Agent Orange but that is another issue.
I believe millions more people would be starving today without Monsanto. In my mind this more than counteracts the sins of the Vietnam era.
Roundup
Toxicity: LD50 – 5,600 mg/kg (slightly toxic)
LC50 – 86 ppm (slightly toxic)