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Monday, April 16, 2012

Monsanto’s weapons of real mass destruction


Monsanto’s weapons of real mass destruction

Our politicians and  policy makers take money from MNCs who are harmful to humanity;

Our media gets advertisements; unfortunately most of our farmers are illiterate; Why, even many in the academic circles are as ignorant as the farmers;

While the majority of people are indifferent till the problem knocks at their door affecting their own kith and kin;

Our community of scientists are dependent on the funding from these companies so they cannot afford to speak against them ;

Most of the so-called NGOs are busy hunting for foreign funds and promoting activities which have no direct bearing on human beings and does not contribute to any form of economic development;

There are many who can only effect some impact through sending e-mails  or posting in Face book groups.

But only a very few can get down to real activity to stop the menace of some harmful MNC products mostly originating from USA like Monsanto like Sofía Gatica [ see her achievement in attachment].
If this mail and message can motivate at least one such person it would be meaningful.

But whatever be it all of us must make it as our religious duty to stop many of the weapons of real mass destruction emanating from Monsanto like its many pesticides, GM crops etc please do educate the villagers and farmers.

Let us make a change in whatever way we can and make the media realize their ineffectiveness.


Mother takes on Monsanto, wins global prize

Courageous mother
Ms. Sofía Gatica is a mother of three from a small rural community in Argentina. Thirteen years ago, her newborn died after being exposed to pesticides in the womb.

Tapping strength she didn't know she had, she turned her family's tragedy into a grassroots movement to protect children in her community and beyond. Over the past decade, Sofía has taken on powerful pesticide industry interests - including Monsanto. And she's winning.

When Sofía lost her newborn, she soon realized that such losses were all-too-common in her small community of Ituzaingó Annex. Aerial spraying with Monsanto's herbicide RoundUp had climbed dramatically in the region as the number of acres planted with the company's "RoundUp Ready" soy crops grew.

Sofía and other concerned mothers went door to door collecting stories about health problems in each family - basically conducting the community's first-ever epidemiological study. "The Mothers of Ituzaingó" discovered the community's cancer rate to be "41 times" the national average, and rates of neurological problems, respiratory diseases and infant mortality were astonishingly high. In response, the mothers launched a "Stop the Spraying!" campaign.

Their efforts bore fruit. In 2008, Argentina's president ordered an investigation of the health impacts of pesticides in Ituzaingó Annex; the resulting study corroborated Sofía's door-to-door research. The Mothers of Ituzaingó then won a municipal "buffer zone" ordinance, prohibiting aerial spraying less than 2,500 meters from residences. Despite few resources and real threats -  including being held at gunpoint in her own home - Sofía and the Mothers of Ituzaingó are now working to expand protections to families across the country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHHS45AJsoI&feature=player_embedded

source:Pesticides Action Network North America

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