Vanity Fair Covers…Monsanto?
For people who don’t regularly read Vanity Fair, one might think it’s not much more than a fashion magazine, but VF is known not only for high-fashion photo spreads, but for in-depth exposés as well. This month, Vanity Fair is taking on agribusiness giant Monsanto in Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele’s article “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear”.
We’ve written about Monsanto’s attempts to control both agribusiness and the public perception of agribusiness. Shirley wrote about Monsanto’s attempts to keep dairies from labeling their own milk “rbGH-free” and Beth wrote about Monsanto’s genetically-engineered sugar beets. Barlett and Steele focus on Monsanto’s tactics of attacking farmers for alleged patent violations and their impact on rural communities, and their article is a must-read for those interested in where their food comes from.
Monsanto is a hot-button topic in the slow food community. Does Monsanto provide invaluable research and development that feed entire nations, or are their strong-arming tactics disguised as defense of intellectual property rights destroying rural economies and farmers livelihoods? What do you think?
Kelli,
I haven’t seen the new Vanity Fair, but the more exposure Monsanto’s misdeeds get, the better, as far as I’m concerned. For years I’ve read about all kinds of things they are up to directly threatening public health, environmental protection, and farmer’s well-being. Also, I wanted to let you know that I posted back in March about rBGH, and mentioned that Monsanto has funded a fake “grassroots” organization to try to block our rights to label milk that comes from cows not treated with rBGH: http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/03/13/food-facts-milk-labels-choices-and-rbgh/
Thanks for calling attention to this issue!
Investigations directed toward the judicial system in St. Louis, MO to determine political connections(if any)maintained by Monsanto can help the general public understand the situation…….suing & threatening small farmers & businesspeople needs to be STOPPED NOW, as so many are convinced we do not NEED Monsanto….thank you Vanity Fair for exposing Monsanto but don’t stop now, the real meat of this story may be found in a judge with connections to Monsanto…….putting rumors to rest is always welcome….exposing political corruption….hmm…well……depends WHO is suspect….
Thank you for posting this investigation into Monsanto. It is really disturbing to read about the tactics this company uses to take control of our food supply. They have a history of being a bad corporate citizen and should be exposed. Our world will be forever changed thanks to the Dioxin, PCB’s, Agent Orange, and other dangerous chemicals and GM products that they have introduced. It is really scary that they are still at it, and expanding every day. Why have we allowed this to happen?