If you had a question about how to protect yourself from a criminal known to break into houses in your neighborhood, would you ask him how to protect your home and then take his suggestions, or would you be suspicious he might be answering them in a way that would make your home even easier to encroach?
If you had a question about the honesty and integrity of a person in an authority position, would you ask that person to investigate himself and then accept his findings? (I mean, if you were a normal person, not if your name is Barack or Eric.)
If a company came out with a new medication that promised to cure your ills overnight, would you ask the company that produced it whether it was safe and trust them to be honest, or would you feel that their answer might be colored by their urge to make a buck?
So why on earth would anyone possibly believe that the likes of Monsanto, Dow, and Dupont would be spreading anything but sales-driven propaganda on their new website GMOAnswers?
Are they serious or is this some kind of big public relations joke being played out on a national platform? Are we being punked?
What kind of person would look up their answers on a website SPONSORED by the very people who are putting out the toxic garbage they’d like us to believe is food?
Welcome to the compendium of disinformation!
In the most outrageous, blatant case of the foxes being put in charge of the henhouse that I have ever seen, the big biotech companies got together and launched their propaganda site GMOAnswers today. It is run by the Council for Biotechnology Information, whose members include Monsanto, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience and BASF. The site contains a heavily moderated question and answer forum and a complete compendium of disinformation in the section called “Explore GMOs”.
They purport that the website is an acknowledgement that they need to change:
Genetically modified organisms — GMOs — are a major topic of discussion today. Across our society, media and the Internet, a growing number of people have shared a wide range of questions and emotions on the topic – ranging from excitement and optimism to skepticism and even fear.
GMO Answers was created to do a better job answering your questions — no matter what they are — about GMOs. The biotech industry stands 100 percent behind the health and safety of the GM crops on the market today, but we acknowledge that we haven’t done the best job communicating about them – what they are, how they are made, what the safety data says.
This website is the beginning of a new conversation among everyone who cares about how our food is grown.
Join us. Ask tough questions. Be skeptical. Be open. We look forward to sharing answers. (source)
And they tout these 5 principles:
- Respecting people around the world and their right to choose healthy food products that are best for themselves and their families;
- Welcoming and answering questions on all GMO topics;
- Making GMO information, research and data easy to access and evaluate and supporting safety testing of GM products; including allowing independent safety testing of our products through validated science-based methods;
- Supporting farmers as they work to grow crops using precious resources more efficiently, with less impact on the environment and producing safe, nutritious food and feed products;
- Respecting farmers’ rights to choose the seeds that are best for their farms, businesses and communities and providing seed choices that include non-GM seeds based on market demands.
The most notable things that I saw about the “discussions” there is that the “experts” are all pro-GMO. There is a very subtle bias against those with concerns, despite the fact that many of them are quoting real statistics and genuine peer-reviewed studies. How many “experts” that are anti-GMO are being moderated right out of the discussion using the “House Rules“?
This website, sadly, is nothing more than an indoctrination vehicle for furthering the myths that Monsanto wants you to believe.
Biotech is on the defensive now – they have been backed into a corner by activists who insist that the GMOs in our food supply, at the very least, be labeled, so that we can make an informed decision about what we feed our families. This false transparency is their last ditch effort to head off pro-labeling legislation and to keep their toxins hidden in our food supply.
What can we do?
I’ve created my own profile over there so that I can “join the discussion.” If you decide to join me, please follow the House Rules to the best of your ability and additionally, remember that you want to garner respect, not scorn, so:
- Be courteous – we are in the right and we should take the high road in conversations
- Don’t be threatening
- Don’t use foul language
- Don’t be abusive towards others, even when you disagree or when they are abusive towards you
- Use facts and cite sources
- If you are censored unfairly, take screen shots and let those tell your story
If other people who don’t know a lot about GMOs come to the forum and see anti-GMO activists scrapping it out in an uncivil fashion, it will close their eyes to the message we are trying to share. Don’t be afraid to be passionate, but please remember that you are representing all of us who say no to GMO.
Do you remember when Cheerios launched the Facebook App that allowed consumers to share what they really thought about the toxin-laden cereal? That was a PR move that backfired dramatically when users bombarded the company’s page with anti-GMO messages.
Biotech must have missed that, because they’ve invited us to “Be skeptical. Be open. We want to hear from you.”
Let’s give them what they asked for, shall we?
Just the fact that Monsanto had to do a re-education to convince the masses to eat their crap, means they are already LOSING.
Finally people are waking up. I willing to bet all the richest executives at Monsanto probably eats organic food. Just like how I know most owners of McDonalds don’t eat Mcdonald’s food.
Who would even bother to participate in this three-ring circus? You can bet that the forum will be so heavily moderated that critical thought and well-researched posters simply won’t be allowed to contribute.
CJ ~
You are very likely correct, but that is exactly WHY we should bother….because then we can point that out publicly. The alternative is to let them go on their merry way, dispensing whatever disinformation they please, without any call for honesty. In some cases, I feel that being silent is the same as being complicit. It’s just a matter of opinion, of course, but I think it is an important place for activists to contribute.
Best wishes ~
Daisy
I agree with the fact that we have to speak up. No matter what GMO people do, we mustn’t give up in order to get the right answers and ensure we feed our children healthy food. I believe the truth always comes up, it’s just a matter of time.
It’s a matter of time that we may not have…the true impact of this may not be understood for years and then it may be too late.
If GMO/GE foods are so great why the need for protection from lawsuits and why the resistance to labeling foods as being GMO/GE so we can choose if we want to ingest them or not.
I tried to participate but could not make sense out of site at all. I think this is intentional. Good luck to all. This site pure propaganda and I won’t be back there.
I tried to participate but could not make sense out of site at all. I think this is intentional. Good luck to all. This site pure propaganda and I won’t be back there.
It’s like asking a surgeon if you need surgery.
It’s pretty simple – eat GMO foods, you die.
Unless your deaf, blind, and stupid….it’s not hard to understand.
Monsanto is making money by lying.
So, they will keep lying.
People want to believe their lies, then the dumb people are going to die.
Yes, that’s correct. Also there is most likely a lot of them and obviously they are reach so that’s why they are still on the market. But not for long….
We have to deal with this. My better half grows a great deal of our vegetables but I have read recently that we will soon not be allowed to save our own organic seeds for the following year. In Sainsburys, a big UK Supermarket chain, I could only find potatoes from Israel, Cyprus, or Egypt. How am I suppose to know if produce is harmful and GM or if it has been grown in Roundup… another WMD from Monsanto. Is it possible that these companies are making huge ‘gifts’ to various governments to stop them from interfering? This is a newsworthy topic but the media avoid it…. who’s paying? Finally, are these companies responsible for the chemicals sprayed on us via chemtrails….. Who is paying? A new slant on “As above, so below”
I am scared that even if they will be labelling their food, we will still be exposed to this poison because their products are practically everywhere and all products in our stores are so mixed up with other countries that we can never be sure… Country A can buy some GMO seeds from Country B and then Country B will grow plants and sell them to Country C and C will produce smth out of these plants and then our country will buy from country C and put it into our products. Would we really believe that there would be absolutely 0% GMO in products labelled non-GMO? I think it is simply too much of GMO in the world. Governments should get together and somehow make sure there is at least 50-50 share of GMO and non-GMO products in our countries.
I think you mean “principles” not “principals”.
oops! Thank you!
🙂
I am a cancer specialist retired after 50 plus years. I grew up on a farm, have had a life long interest in farming, animal husbandry, nutrition, preventative medicine and health practices. I would like to offer some opinions on the above matters but the minds of almost all of the above blogs are so thoroughly made up and closed that whatever information I might offer would be ridiculed and denigrated to the lowest denominators of the English language so ………carry on.