Product Description
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Monsanto's controversial past combines some of the most toxic
products ever sold with misleading reports, pressure tactics,
collusion, and attempted corruption. They now race to genetically
engineer (and patent) the world s food supply, which profoundly
threatens our , environment, and economy. Combining secret
documents with first-hand accounts by victims, scientists, and
politicians, this widely praised film exposes why Monsanto has
become the world s child for malignant corporate influence
in government and technology. A film by Marie-Monique Robin. This
DVD also includes a bonus film on rbGH by Jeffrey M. Smith, and
the audio CD, Don t Put That in Your Mouth.
Review
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The World According to Monsanto is an in-depth look at the
domination of the agricultural industry from one of the world s
most insidious and powerful companies. A bold, brilliant film and
a definite must-see for anyone who is interested in learning more
about the multi-billion dollar, omni-powerful, and highly
dangerous Monsanto.
French filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin spent some 20 years hearing
about Monsanto before she set out to understand just what
Monsanto was all about. Robin posits that perhaps the company s
past can shed some light on what the company is all about today.
Monsanto started out as one of the world s largest
companies and is responsible for the creation of Agent Orange
(used during the Vietnam War), Aspartame, Bovine Growth Hormone,
Polystyrene, PCBs and GE crops (genetically-engineered).
No other filmmaker has ever created such a compelling and
damning case against Monsanto. The only other individual to come
close to exposing the ugly reality of Monsanto s contribution to
the planet is best-selling author Jeffrey Smith with his book
of Deception .
Monsanto s leading product is Roundup - the world s best selling
icide for the last 30 years. Monsanto is also the world s
leader in biotechnology, with over 90% of the genetically
modified organisms grown on the planet belonging to them. Most
are modified to resist the application of Roundup technology
Roundup Ready Soy Beans account for 90% of all the soybeans
grown in American.
When Roundup as introduced in 1974, the success of the product
was, in part, due to its cls of being biodegradable, and that
the product leaves the soil clean and is good for the
environment. Monsanto was twice found guilty of false
advertising. Monsanto has now removed the word biodegradable from
its labels.
Monsanto's PCBs also have a lethal legacy. Robin interviews
individuals in Pennsylvania who suffered serious affects
from Monsanto s PCB production . In 2001, 20,000 residents
filed two lawsuits against Monsanto seeking compensation for the
negative effects of the PCBs. Monsanto settled by paying $700
million dollars to build a special hospital, compensate the
victims, and clean up the contaminated site. David Carpenter, the
foremost expert on PCBs explains how the entire world is now
contaminated with PCBs. They have gone into the water and into
the air.
70% of the food in American stores contain bio-engineered
elements.
Monsanto s GMOs, perhaps the products that are causing the most
concern with activists around the globe, were only introduced in
1996 when their Roundup Ready Soybeans were approved for use in
the USA. Today, less than 12 years later, Roundup Ready Soy Beans
account for 90% of all the soybeans grown in American. 70% of the
food in American stores contain bio-engineered elements. There is
no labeling of genetically modified foods in the USA.
[Filmmaker Maria-Monique Robin] Monsanto also created the
controversial Bovine Growth Hormone (rBHG), which is a
transgenetic hormone injected into cows to increase milk yield.
Monsanto was involved in a major bribery scandal in Canada over
their attempts to bribe Canada workers into suppressing
rBHG data. Eventually, Canada did not approve the drug for use in
Canada. The European Parliament has disapproved its use.
Marie-Monique Robin has left no stone unturned in the Monsanto
story. She interviews every authority on the subject (both pro
and anti-Monsanto), traces American policy-making that allowed
Monsanto to prosper and shows how many individuals who have
worked to approve the technology.... --Green Muze
By all means, the deluge of damning information, string of
political intricacies and overall ominous tone of the latest
documentary by French journalist and director Marie-Monique
Robin, "The World According to Monsanto," should have put me to
. But it didn't. In fact, it kept my stomach literally
churning. The film, a National Film Board of Canada
co-production, meticulously details the manipulative deeds of
Monsanto Co., one of the world's biggest agro-biotech
companies, on its route to global domination by tracing a trail
of evidence, cover-ups and tragedies from the American heartland
and beyond. Notorious for its development of hazardous s
such as Agent Orange, PCBs (now banned) and the recombinant
bovine growth hormone (rBGH), Monsanto is now also known for its
monopoly on genetically modified (GM) of food crops such as
corn, wheat and soybeans. Despite the uncertainty of the
long-term effects of consuming and growing GM foods, the
company's GM are now widespread in much of North and South
America. Non-labeling and genetic contamination The film
documents the beginnings of the company as a start-up in
the early 1900s, producing saccharin, caffeine and vanillin. As
we watch Robin Google up unclassified documents and interview a
bevy of officials, scientists and farmers, we see that today's
Monsanto is a giant multinational wielding its considerable
financial, political and marketing clout to influence government
officials, ruthlessly sue farmers using patent laws all the while
surreptitiously lobbying to keep their potentially toxic products
unlabelled or falsely advertised. Monsanto cls that their
genetically modified will solve the food crisis, especially
in developing countries, where it will provide significant
economic benefits, higher quality and better yield. Nevertheless,
the film compellingly shows the unsettling possibilities of
genetic contamination of conventional or local varieties of
by their genetically-engineered cousins, pointing to a horrific
future where global biodiversity is nil and farmers are not
able to grow anything but genetically contaminated food. It's a
terrifying thought. But perhaps Monsanto's agenda is even simpler
than all their lofty cls put together. As one farmer puts it,
"The reason they do it is control. They want to control seed.
They want to own life. I mean, this is the building blocks of
food we are talking about. They are in the process of owning
food, all food." Genetically modified seed "more powerful than
bombs" And what of the future of global food security? In one
interview, eco-activist Vandana Shiva asserts: "The second Green
Revolution has nothing to do with food security ... it is about
returns to Monsanto's profits... patenting is the real . If
you look at Monsanto's research agenda, they are testing
something like twenty crops at this point with BT (Bacillus
thuringiensis) genes. There's nothing that they are leaving
untouched the mustard, the okra, the rice, the brinjal
(egg), the rice, the cauliflower once they have established
the norm that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can
be collected, and we will depend on them for every seed we grow,
for every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control
food... it's strategic, it's more powerful than bombs, more
powerful than s, and it's the best way to control the
populations of the world." Importance of labelling genetically
modified foods Despite the rather dismal picture it paints, the
film does an excellent job in digging up and piecing the facts
together, much of it easily available online (Robin also wrote a
book, Le Monde Selon Monsanto, based on her investigations)...
--Montreal Mirror
