MONSTER MONSANTO GROWS MEANER

MONSANTO SEEKS TO BAN THE TRUTH

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc. is now owned by a conglomerate, but the company's luscious ice cream still is made from milk that contains no synthetic growth hormones in it – a fact the company proudly advertises right on its cartons. And that really POs Monsanto.

Monsanto is not in the ice-cream business, but it is in the deadly serious business of trying to ice anyone who disses the synthetic hormone that it manufactures. Some dairy farmers inject their cows with Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormone product, which forces the animals to give more milk. It isn't good for the cows, and there are unanswered questions about its impact on human health, so many consumers don't want milk products with this stuff in it, preferring not to have their families used as guinea pigs for corporate profit.

Thus, Monsanto has waged a long campaign to keep consumers from knowing, opposing efforts to label any dairy products as being free from the synthetic hormone. Last year, however, Monsanto lost its effort to get the Food and Drug Administration to ban such labels. But now there's a new group standing against consumer choice on this issue. It's called American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology.

Sounds very science-y, doesn't it? It isn't; it's a lobbying front that's going state to state, trying to get legislatures to prevent companies like Ben & Jerry's from advertising that their goods contain none of the synthetic stuff. Guess who's behind this outfit? Right: It's funded by Monsanto.

You'd think that any effort to ban companies from making a true statement on their labels would be laughed out of any legislature, but Monsanto is determined to kill the consumer's right to know, already having pushed for bills and regulations in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. To keep informed about where Monsanto's attack squad will strike next, contact www.organicconsumers.org.

Chi's comment: Think twice. Monsanto isn't nice.

Cheaper Labor Does Not Guarantee Jobs

The thinking has been that large corporations seeking ways to maximize profits and minimize costs are relocating to countries where the labor is to be had very cheaply. The news item below, however, belies this conventional wisdom. More than a cheap and plentiful labor force is required. To complete in the modern world, third world countries and developing nations need to invest in much better education and opportunities for learning. Costa Rica has very few, if any, free lending libraries, for example. This discourages reading and lowers the perceived value of books and education. Learning by rote is another Costa Rican educational flaw. Teachers must be allowed more flexibility in their teaching techniques and children need to be taught not only "facts" but more importantly how to think. Creativity, questioning, and logic are all far more important to a future work force than memorizing dates. Why bother memorizing something that can be easily referenced on the Internet or in a book. The trick is in learning that the information exists and is accessible should one need it.

NEWS of the WEIRD - Current News