Prop 37, Labeling GMO Foods, and the Evilness of Monsanto

Okay that's it.  I've had it up to HERE with Monsanto and their shenanigans.  Who is Monsanto, you may ask?  The giant biotech company producing most of the genetically modified foods here in this country (and probably the world).  Yes, genetically modified foods, or GM foods, or GMOs.  Any of those.  Those franken-foods created in a lab and fed to the United States citizens without their knowledge.  If you're slightly confused and need a basic education on GMOs, look through my previous blog post here.

In case you haven't been paying attention, the state of California had the opportunity this past week to vote to have genetically modified foods labeled.  Seems like common sense, don't the people have a right to know what they're eating?  Shouldn't you and I have the right to know if what we're eating came from nature, or if that tomato was created from DNA found in a maggot eating the feces of a retarded sloth?  I'd like to know.  But they voted NO!  They voted to allow Monsanto, Dow, and the big food producers to feed YOU genetically modified foods, and NOT tell you about it.  This makes me very angry.  Which makes my writing significantly more interesting to read.  So read on.

Why on earth, you may ask, would anyone be opposed to labeling GM foods?  It seems like an obvious right-to-know case.  And quite frankly, it is.  Unless... somebody has a shit ton of money lying around to change that.  Somebody who would lose a great deal of that money if Californians happened to vote yes on that ballot.

After reading my man Sean Croxton's article here, entitled "Lessons from the No on Prop 37 Vote", I feel a little more enlightened on the topic.  According to the article Sean sites, here, the big agribusiness folks like Monsanto shelled out $45 million in advertising to convince Californians to vote AGAINST labeling GMOs.  On the flip side, the YES campaign only raised $6.7 million, mostly from the organic industry, consumer groups, and alternative medicine organizations.  In sum, there were far more anti-labeling commercials on TV than pro-labeling commercials.  FAR more.  Sean, a California resident, says he never once saw a commercial supporting Prop 37.  But he saw plenty of ads funded by Monsanto to shoot it down.

What really peeves me?  Grinds my gears?  Steams my clams??  It's that the only reason this bill got shot down is because of a LACK OF EDUCATION!  If every California resident were given the cold hard facts (something that's almost completely lacking in politics, by the way, and the reason I can't watch the shit), the only person voting against it would have been that 17-year-old kid with a dog collar and a penchant for eating Downy.  The fact is:  Feeding Americans genetically modified foods without their consent is a science experiment.  And it's flat out unethical.  We have NO IDEA whether these foods are safe in the long-run.  No, we don't know for sure that they're harmful.  But we don't know for sure that they're not either.  The very least that we could do is label it COME ON PEOPLE!

And what else peeves me?  Chaps my ass?  It's that Monsanto runs the whole fucking world with their money.  They pay politicians, they implant their own people into the FDA (thus tampering with the very purpose of the FDA), they put innocent small farmers out of business.

Okay, quick story time.  In case anyone hasn't seen Food Inc. (I think it was Food Inc.), here's an idea of the straight up evil politics Monsanto plays.  Say there are two farms on the same street.  One grows Monsanto's Round-Up-Ready GMO corn, and the other grows non-GMO corn.  Now, let's say, the wind blows one of Monsanto's GMO corn seeds onto the other farm, and it starts to grow.  Monsanto will, no joke, sue that farmer for growing their corn without their consent.  They will take them to court, until that small farmer can't afford to defend himself anymore.  And they will put him out of business.  They are that kid in 4th grade who had pubic hair and a mustache stealing your lunch money, but on a grander scale.  They put innocent, hard-working small farmers out of business, and they have no remorse. 

AND CALIFORNIA JUST VOTED NO TO LABELING GMOS???


Maybe you can see why I'm upset.  This could have been the first big blow to Monsanto and their fucking evilness.  This could have been the people fighting back with good old democracy, the system that is SUPPOSED to protect us against things like this.  But no.  It was shot down.  Because once again, Monsanto had more money and more power to brainwash the minds of California voters.  It's capitalism working against itself.  Just fucking peachy.  

It's not over.  This is just the beginning.  I don't have the answers, this is but an off-the-cuff rant.  All I know is, next time... we had better be prepared.  And stand up to these fucking assholes before they fuck our food supply completely.  Burn, out.