Monsanto documentary

There’s an interesting documentary from Germany about a Canadian farmer who’s in a legal battle with Monsanto. Neighboring farms were using Monsanto-patented seeds, some of which were carried by the wind into his crops. Now Monsanto is suing him for patent infringement.

The pink-cheeked, plainspoken Schmeiser tells how he first discovered that genetically modified canola seeds were infiltrating his crop — only to get sued by the seeds' designer, Monsanto, for patent infringement. Sounds crazy, yes, but it gets a zillion times worse: Monsanto actually won a $400,000 judgment against Schmeiser, and, when the farmer refused to give up the fight, the company sued him again, this time demanding $1 million. Schmeiser was forced to fight all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court, and even then, his victory was Pyrrhic at best: Monsanto's canola seeds have taken over North America.

It’s not available on Netflix, but there are speeches and other bits about him on youtube and vimeo. You can also get the movie off of his website.

DIY Water Cleanup!

Some people are becoming increasingly frustrated with the levels of pollution in their local waterways. Some are also becoming increasingly disenchanted with the government's dawdling approach to cleanup. Fed up with bureaucratic delays and stagnancy, many are now turning to the DIY remediation movement.



In New York, the Gowanus Canal is often refered to as the "loveliest toxic waterway" (The Earth Institute, Columbia University), polluted heavily with PCBs, pesticides and metals, among other contaminants. Disappointed with the EPA's tardy response to the situation, a local group of environmentalists decided to take action for themselves. Their efforts resulted in Jerko, "a refurbished houseboat, renovated with salvaged materials and fitted with a floating wetland" (The Earth Institute, Columbia University). The boat travels along the polluted canal, showing "how water can be cleaned through relatively inexpensive but surprisingly effective techniques of biological filtration through artificial wetlands. More importantly, it shows how citizens can take the health of their environment into their own hands without waiting for large-scale institutional action" (The Earth Institute, Columbia University).

Click here to read more about this awesome project.

Pesticides

Environmental toxins, such as pesticides, are increasingly being linked to a variety of diseases, such as asthma, ADHD and cancer. In this cartoon, Joe Mohr highlights this disturbing issue:

Interesting study out of Sweden

Earlier today I was reading a disturbing article that talked about how the world's best selling herbicide has a "clear link" to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Here is a link to that article, Nate if you are reading this, then you should check this out.

"New Study Links Monsanto's Roundup to Cancer

PRESS RELEASE - 22 JUNE - New Study Links Monsanto's Roundup to Cancer

A recent study by eminent oncologists Dr. Lennart Hardell and Dr. Mikael Eriksson of Sweden [1], has revealed clear links between one of the world's biggest selling herbicide, glyphosate, to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer [2].
In the study published in the 15 March 1999 Journal of American Cancer Society, the researchers also maintain that exposure to glyphosate 'yielded increased risks for NHL.' They stress that with the rapidly increasing use of glyphosate since the time the study was carried out, 'glyphosate deserves further epidemiologic studies.'

Glyphosate, commonly known as Roundup, is the world's most widely used herbicide. It is estimated that for 1998, over a 112,000 tonnes of glyphosate was used world-wide. It indiscriminately kills off a wide variety of weeds after application and is primarily used to control annual and perennial plants.

71% of genetically engineered crops planted in 1998 are designed to be resistant to herbicides such as glyphosate, marketed by Monsanto as Roundup. Companies developing herbicide resistant crops are also increasing their production capacity for the herbicides such as glyphosate, and also requesting permits for higher residues of these chemicals in genetically engineered food. For example, Monsanto have already received permits for a threefold increase in herbicide residues on genetically engineered soybeans in Europe and the U.S., up from 6 parts per million (PPM) to 20 PPM."

http://www.safe2use.com/pesticidenews/roundup.htm