Monsanto is one of the largest multinational corporations in the world and is also one of the most ruthless. Behind the false image of innocence created by their lawyers and public relations, this company is as evil as they come. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against this corporate giant worldwide, but because of their incredible wealth and political connections they are usually able to settle out of court for large sums and pay off the media so their crimes are not exposed to the public.
Their current goal is to completely dominate the whole agriculture industry using their genetically modified food and seeds. Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds only produce one plant cycle, what this means is that once a seed has sprouted there will be no more seeds produced by this plant. If their plan works, which it is, farmers will have no choice but to buy every seed for every crop directly from the Monsanto Corporation. To make matters even worse, Monsanto has used their political pull and financial backing to take independent farmers to court for using their own seeds!
This is a measure that the company and their supporters have been pushing for all over the world for a number of years. India was one of the first places on Earth to adopt these types of policies, and in recent years there has been a surge in suicides among farmers as a result. Forcing GMO seeds on farmers has also not been proven to be beneficial in any way, in fact, most farmers would reject GMO products if they had the choice.
Now the company is moving their way into a number of territories in Africa, infiltrating local governments and forcing them to implement their controversial farming laws.
In Ghana, for example, the national parliament is due to vote on the government’s “Plant Breeders Bill,” which would heavily control and regulate farming practices that people have been using for generations. Farmers would no longer be allowed to swap or breed seeds under these new laws, and even collecting seeds could be considered a crime.
The new bill has become known as the “Monsanto Law,” because Monsanto is the patent holder who would be taking these farmers to court for violating the so-called intellectual property of seeds and crops.
The new law in Ghana has been heavily protested by many farmers and citizens, but the government is insisting that it is necessary for them to steer the market according their needs.
“This system aims to compel farmers to purchase seeds for every planting season,” Duke Tagoe of Food Sovereignty Ghana said.
“The economic impact on the lives of farmers will be disastrous,The origin of food is seed. Whoever controls the seed control the entire food chain,” he added.
Activists had a short-lived victory back in November when the national parliament put the issue on the back burner for a second reading, but now they are awaiting news on the pending legislation.
John Vibes writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.
