Monsanto in Montana Unwelcome

All informed consumers of food should be vigilant and organized regarding the purchase of WestBred by Monsanto, and the continued push to release GM wheat on the farms of this state. This issue is of great importance to the future of a healthy and sound organic wheat market within our state. Widespread plantings of GM wheat in our state will compromise the integrity of our organic wheat crops because the modified genetic material spreads uncontrolled in the environment, and contamination of a certified organic crop will result in loss of certification, most assuredly without the consent of the organic farmer.

Are transgenic varieties really more attractive to actual farmers, slick marketing campaigns aside? We might know, if the company didn’t require them to sign a legal gag order forbidding public discussion of their experience with the seeds and the company. Doesn’t it stand to reason that a wheat crop genetically modified to withstand applications of a highly toxic and potent herbicide like Round-up would simply allow farmers to be more careless about the applications of the herbicide, since they would have nothing to fear in damaging the crop?

USDA statistics from 1997 show expanded plantings of gene modified Round-up Ready soy beans resulted in a stunning 72% increase in the tons of herbicide applied in the U.S. How is spending more of their already non-existent profit margin on more chemicals attractive to farmers? Higher profits, on the other hand, are the sole driving force behind every effort of the Monsanto Corporation. Monsanto is very adept at squeezing every last penny from a struggling farm economy while imposing legal servitude on farmers through patent laws, at the expense of our environment.

The tonnage of this chemical applied on millions of acres of farmland across the U.S. is staggering, and where a chemical is liberally applied on top of the soil, it will be found in high concentration in ground water and surface water downstream. Round-up, and its main chemical ingredient glyphosate, have been shown to cause liver damage, impairment of lymphatic and respiratory systems, damage to DNA in red blood cells, renal gland failure, endocrine disruption, and have been linked by a Swiss study to Non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

All of the still-unknown factors determining whether a gene-modified food is safe to consume as food aside, we know that continued release of dangerous chemicals into our shared environment and chemical contamination of our food supply must be halted for the safety of ourselves and our children. The cavalier and cowboyish attitude with which the purveyors of these dangerous technologies continue to try to foist them on an unwilling public is sickening, and the purchase of a local seed company that once used the time-tested and environmentally benign method of traditional plant breeding by a corporate predator is nothing to celebrate.

Allison Rooney owns and operates Cloud Nine Farm in Wilsall, Montana.