#prop37

Monsanto + evil corporation go together hand in hand, so how did they earn their shameful reputation? 

Monsanto created a Genetically Modified (GM) variety of soy that has two main properties:

1⃣ Farmers need to buy it each season.

2⃣ It is resistant to RoundUp. (RoundUp is an herbicide made by Monsanto that kills pretty much anything.)

Monsanto has convinced farmers to use their GM seeds and then, rather than weeding, spray their crops with RoundUp. Only the GM plants survive and can be harvested much more easily than regular soy crops. In order to close the loop, they have sued every farmer that tries to reuse soy seeds claiming patent infringement. The end result is that all soy in the US is not only GM, but has been sprayed with RoundUp. Most soy is converted into vegetable oil, widely used for processed foods and and livestock feed.

Monsanto’s superweeds have become a threat to farming in the US South. Monsanto and the industry’s response is to ask farmers to spray their crops with a cocktail of potent herbicides 💨while they work on new GMO varieties that are resistant to the new stuff. You can also thank Monsanto for contributing to the ever dwindling bee population. The ultimate irony, Monsanto calls refers to their tyrannical corporation as "a sustainable agriculture company." 

Farmers are hooked into herbicide ready crops, while Monsanto is hooked on the large amounts of money created by their market. Together with other companies like ADM, they have lobbied Congress and made it impossible to add GM labeling to foods in the US. How else would #Prop37 fail and the Monsanto Protection Act pass? 

Give Monsanto the finger, EAT ORGANIC! #VegansofIG

I hope you’ve all recovered well from election buildup stress. Personally I feel mentally, emotionally, and physically relieved just for the fact that it’s over. So many things made me happy Tuesday night. Tammy Baldwin made history as the first openly gay person elected to Senate. There are now more women than ever in the Senate. Overall, when I look back four years ago, I see our country has come a long way. The people threatening our basic freedoms with their fanatical cries from the religious right ended up having the equal and opposite effect that they desired by inspiring the rest of us, igniting our desire to protect our basic rights. Rooms full of powerful men discussing the definition of ‘rape’ and the politics of a woman’s body, made us more motivated than ever to voice our right to choose. What we do in the privacy of our own bedrooms being decided by government legislature has made us more unyielding in our fight for equality. And having our basic voter rights suppressed seems to have made us more determined than ever to cast our vote. This is what happened on election day when the majority of Americans chose a path to lead us into the future on the right side of history, instead of down a slippery slope of repeating past errors and repealing progress of generations.

That being said, the one giant déjà vu-inducing thorn in the side of all this is the failure of Proposition 37 to pass in California. If Prop 37 had passed, food labels in California would have had to indicate whether they contain GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) or not. It seems pretty straight forward, the more you know the better, right? America is the only industrialized country that doesn’t require GMO labeling so it would seem like a no-brainer that liberal California would easily pass Prop 37. Not the case. Instead California voted NO on Prop 37 essentially banning only one thing: public knowledge. That’s right, the people of California voted to not know what is going in their food. How is this possible, you may ask? Let’s break it down:

MONSANTO - the single largest contributer to the defeat of Prop 37. Producer of genetically modified seeds that have monopolized crops and farmers. Monsanto were also the first producers of DDT and PCB - pesticides now banned in the US. To understand the reach of this corporation, take a look at the list of high up government officials who have worked for Monsanto or who still work for Monsanto.   

$45 million - The amount of money spent by Monsanto, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, General Mills, and countless other corporations on a campaign against GMO labeling. Compare that to the mere $9 million spent in favor of GMO labeling. Many companies known for being "healthy" and "natural" funneled money into the campaign against GMO labeling. Take a look...  

Fraud - In the month leading up to the election, the campaign against Prop 37 sent out mailers fraudulently replicating an FDA seal and containing fake quotes from the FDA. Other mailers fraudulently represented themselves as being from police organizations.

Bullying farmers - Hollywood makes us forget that most of California is a state of agriculture and the jobs of much of the population depend on these farms. Monsanto and company's dirty tricks easily bullied people into thinking their jobs and livelihoods were at risk if Prop 37 passed. Monsanto has a history of bullying farmers such as suing into bankruptcy the few farmers that refuse to use their genetically modified seeds on the basis that the wind carries some of their seeds over to every farm. 

In 2008, California passed Prop 8 to ban gay marriage. It was the state wide error that put a damper on an election that was filled with hope for the future. But then a wonderful thing happened - everyone in the US knew about Prop 8 overnight. Gay marriage came to the forefront of almost every political discussion. People demanded equality more than ever and now we have a president who is publicly in favor of gay marriage, something that would undoubtedly be too risky and taboo to pronounce just four years ago. LGBT issues have made so much progress in this country over the last four years and, although they are far from being solved, the trajectory is pointed in the right direction.

This year, California has made another gaffe in voting no on Prop 37. And now everyone will know about it. Everyone in this country will know the name Monsanto and learn about their dirty tricks to monopolize and wipe out small farmers to gain more profit. History has shown us that suppression on the national stage will lead to rebellion. People will demand the right to know louder than any corporation. Once GMO labeling is mandated in the US, more food and medicine labels will follow. Prop 37 on the California ballot was the crack that will one day open the flood gate to a healthier United States. Monsanto will have to fall in line right behind the tobacco industry.