Hendrik A. Verfaillie and Monsanto are wanted for crimes of genetic pollution.
The environmental criminal:
Monsanto is wanted for questioning in relation to the genetic
pollution of the planet Earth, force feeding global citizens
genetically engineered foods and the global take over of the
planet's food sources.
It is armed with the arrogant belief that genetic engineering is
safe, both for the environment and human health. Monsanto is the
same company that brought us such safe, healthy products as Agent
Orange and PCBs.
The accomplice: The US
and Canadian governments not only ignored the inherent risks of
genetic engineering, they have aided Monsanto setting up an
inadequate regulatory system that relies on risk assessment,
industry science and voluntary compliance.
The environmental crime:
As if polluting the planet with noxious PCBs, dioxins and harmful
pesticides wasn't enough, now this leader in the genetic
engineering industry is threatening to alter the genes of every
food crop on Earth.
Monsanto's Robert Fraley testified: "What you are seeing is not
just a consolidation of seed companies, it's really a consolidation
of the entire food chain."
Through a spending spree of billions of US dollars acquiring
seed companies around the world and the contamination of the global
food chain with GE crops, Monsanto's diabolical plan of global food
take over may soon be a reality.
But since meeting resistance from people in developed nations,
Monsanto has turned its focus to developing nations. They claim
that they can help meet the world's growing food needs and feed the
hungry. But they ignore the fact that most hungry people live in
countries that have food surpluses rather than deficits.
Innovative, environmentally responsible farming
practices are already in the ground, offering food security and
sustainable livelihoods without drawing farmers into more
dependency, threatening biodiversity or endangering human health.
Food security, the ability of a community to feed itself
consistently on a diverse and healthy diet, is a complex problem
that will not be solved overnight, it depends on people having
access to land and money. Monsanto is offering neither.
And why should we believe that this move to sell genetically
engineered crops to developing nations to help them with hunger and
malnutrition comes from the goodness of their hearts. If their
relationship with farmers in developed nations is any indication,
farmers in the developing world will be trampled by the coercion
and censorship tactics of this agriculture bully.
Monsanto promotes a farming model of snooping and snitching on
your neighbours. The company employs a small army of private
investigators to check up on farmers and advertises a toll-free
informer line. They have tried to censor journalists questioning
the safety of Monsanto's bovine growth hormone and stop the
printers of the Ecologist from publishing a special edition
attacking Monsanto.
Instead Monsanto spends millions on public relations campaigns
of misinformation and warm fuzzy feelings.
The victim: Percy
Schmeiser is a farmer from the prairie food belt of Canada. His
canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto's Round-Up Ready
canola seed. Monsanto's position is that it doesn't matter whether
Percy knew it or not, his canola field was contaminated with the
Roundup Ready gene and he must pay their technology fee. Percy and
his wife Louise stood up to Monsanto in a classic battle of good
versus evil, David versus Goliath, but in this round it was
Monsanto that won out in the Canadian court battle. Percy is
appealing.
Monsanto quotes Gandhi "we must be the change we wish to see in
the world" in their propaganda. But it was Percy who received the
Mahatma Gandhi Award while he was in India in October 2000. The
award is given in recognition of working for the betterment and
good of humankind in a non-violent way.
Listen to
Percy's story>>
The verdict: Oh so
guilty, their arrest is overdue. Monsanto has already polluted
every corner of the planet with PCBs and dioxin, they must be held
accountable before all crops and genetic resources on the planet
are contaminated and our food supply forever under their
control.
The US and Canadian governments must hold Monsanto accountable
for their crimes against the environment and the global food
supply. World governments need to agree on legally binding rules
for corporations that hold them responsible for the actions next
week at the Earth Summit.
The Reward:
A safe and secure global food supply, a healthy environment and
the chance to properly tackle the inadequate distribution of food
to the world's hungry.