This is a Call to Action for a
Non-Hierarchical Occupation of Monsanto Everywhere
Whether you like it or not, chances are Monsanto contaminated the food you ate today with chemicals and unlabeled GMOs. Monsanto controls much of the world's food supply at the expense of food democracy worldwide. This site is dedicated to empowering citizens of the world to take action against Monsanto & it's enablers like the FDA, USDA, EPA, GMA, BIO, and the processed food companies that use Monsanto's products.
Posted: December 5th, 2014 | Filed under: Events | Tags: Cornucopia Institute, Credo, DARK ACT, Demonstration, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, Friends of the Earth, gmo, GMO Labeling, Green America, HR 4432, Koch Brothers, Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association, Mercola, Mike Pompeo, Monsanto, Organic Consumers Association, Protest, Rally, States' Rights, Weston Price Foundation |
The following Call to Action is from the Organic Consumers Association:
The battle for the right to know if your food contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could come to a screeching halt with the signing of one bill in Congress.
We need to stop that bill in its tracks.
H.R. 4432—the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) ACT—was introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) at the bidding of Monsanto, Big Food and the Koch Brothers. If passed, H.R. 4432 will strip your state of the right to pass a GMO labeling law.
The DARK ACT will have its first hearing on Capitol Hill, on December 10. If we don’t turn out in numbers to protest this bill, our voice could be silenced.
The Organic Consumers Association, with help from Friends of the Earth, Credo, Cornucopia Institute, Maine Sierra Club, Weston Price Foundation, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association, Green America, Mercola.com and other groups, is organizing busloads of people to attend the hearing, followed by a rally and an organic lunch. But if we want to have an impact, if we want to attract the attention of Congress and the media, we need a minimum of 1000 people to be there.
Here’s how you can help.
- Organize a bus from your area. OCA will help pay for a bus from your state to Washington D.C., if you can fill the bus. Call us at 218-226-4164 or email campaigns@organicconsumers.org if you want to organize a bus.
- Get on one of the buses that have already been organized. We have bus captains trying to fill buses in in Pennsylvania (one in Lancaster, one in Philadelphia), Boston, Central New Jersey, Detroit, Chicago, Indiana, West Virginia, New York City, Maine, Florida, S. Carolina, N. Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. If you live in one of those areas, please use the links below to find bus schedules and reserve seats.
Here’s what will happen on December 10.
- 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. The hearing on Pompeo’s DARK ACT is scheduled to take place at 10:15 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, 45 Independence Ave SW. We will gather there, with signs and banners, beginning around 8 a.m. As many people as can possibly fit into the hearing will attend.
- 10:15 a.m. When the hearing begins, everyone who didn’t get into the Rayburn Building will move to our permitted rally spot on the Capitol grounds, at the corner of Independence and 1st St. SE. There we will have a number of speakers who will address the crowd and the media.
- 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. After we wrap up the rally and speakers, we’ll move to the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 201 4th St. SE (4th and Independence Ave, SE).
If you can attend, please read:
- Bring a black and red blindfold, to symbolize being kept in the dark. Red and black will tie in with our Stop Monsanto’s Attack on Democracy/Stop Sign image.
- Please try to schedule (in advance) a meeting with the staff of your state representative or senator. Download this flyer, fill in the name of your state, and leave it behind with the staff to deliver to your member of Congress. (Find your senator; Find your representative.)
- Please make a hand-made sign that says: [NAME OF YOUR STATE] Against Monsanto’s Attack on Democracy! We want to show Congress and the media that people have come from all around the country to protest this bill.
If you can’t attend:
- Sign our petition asking Congress to reject Pompeo’s DARK ACT here.
- Help flood the phone lines on Capitol Hill on December 10. We’re asking everyone who can’t be there in person to call their Congress members on December 10, beginning at 9 a.m. When you are connected with a staff person, you can say: “Hello, my name is [FIRST NAME, LAST NAME] and I live in [CITY, STATE]. I couldn’t attend today’s protest against H.R. 4432, a bill that would preempt states’ rights to label GMOs, but I am calling to ask [NAME OF CONGRESS PERSON] to reject H.R. 4432 and to support states’ rights to pass mandatory GMO labeling laws. Thank you.”
- Make a donation to help offset the cost of buses, speakers, the press conference and organic lunch.
States that are already organizing buses:
- New Jersey (Wall township, Robbinsville, Cherry Hill): Reserve your seat here
- Pennsylvania (Lancaster, Philadelphia): Reserve your seat here
- Michigan (Ann Arbor): Reserve your seat here
- Maine (Bangor, Augusta, Portland): Reserve your seat here
- Chicago: Reserve your seat here
- Massachusetts/Rhode Island (Boston, Marlborough, Providence): Reserve your seat here
- Martinsburg, WV: Reserve your seat here
- Fort Wayne, IN: Reserve your seat here
- New York City: Reserve your seat here
- Orlando, FL: Reserve your seat here
- N. Charleston, SC: Reserve your seat here
- Knoxsville, TN: Coming soon!
- Concord, NC: Coming soon!
- Atlanta, GA: Coming soon!
Additional buses may yet be organized, so please check back. If you want to organize a bus, please email campaigns@organicconsumers.org, or call OCA at 218-226-4164.
This could be the most important action you’ve taken yet to protect your right to know about GMOs. Come to Washington D.C. on December 10. Meet other activists! Hear some great speakers! And help us send a clear message to Congress that states should have the right to pass GMO labeling laws!
Posted: November 21st, 2014 | Filed under: Press Releases | Tags: Agent Orange, biotechnology, Coca-Cola, eat-in, food, gmo, GMO Labeling, Missouri, Monsanto, organic, Organic Consumers Association, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, saccharin, seed, St. Louis, Thanksgiving |
St. Louis, MO — On Thursday, Nov. 27 at 1 p.m. EST, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir will enjoy an organic Thanksgiving meal on the lawn of the world’s largest biotechnology seed company—Monsanto.
After a banner year of bringing attention to big corporations’ role in climate disruption, Reverend Billy will conclude 2014 by confronting the company that is responsible for Agent Orange, PCBs, GMOs, Bovine Growth Hormone, Glyphosate and more.
Known by millions as the most environmentally destructive corporation on the planet, Monsanto, for nearly two decades, has been controlling political campaigns and affecting the regulatory process of agricultural systems all over the world. In the U.S. alone, more than 90 percent of soybeans and 80 percent of corn are grown with seeds containing Monsanto-patented genetics.
“Monsanto must be stopped,” said award-winning Reverend Billy, who has been jailed more than 50 times protesting social and environmental injustices. “Monsanto is the devil and what better day than Thanksgiving to remind the world that eating local, organic food is one way to stop this profit-mongering, biodiversity-destroying monopoly.”
Industrial agriculture and the entire globalized food system, which is becoming more large-scale and centralized every day, destroys biodiversity, soils and local food systems, and is responsible for accelerating climate change by contributing more than 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir will premier their new show, Monsanto Is the Devil, with the Not Buying It Band on Sunday, Nov. 23 at Joe’s Pub at The Public in New York City. Then the troupe will travel by bus to St. Louis, meet at a local park on Nov. 27 and march one mile to Monsanto’s world headquarters to have a festive organic Thanksgiving day meal where they will perform songs from their new show. The choir will be dressed in stylish Pilgrim and honey bee costumes.
This event is organized in collaboration with Organic Consumers Association, GMO Free Midwest, Gateway Garlic Farms and The Greenhorns.
“Despite its various marketing incarnations over the years, Monsanto is a chemical company that got its start selling saccharin to Coca-Cola, then Agent Orange to the U.S. military, and, in recent years, seeds genetically engineered to contain and withstand massive amounts of Monsanto herbicides and pesticides,” said Ronnie Cummins, executive director of Organic Consumers Association. “Monsanto has become synonymous with the corporatization and industrialization of our food supply.”
In addition to the Thanksgiving day meal, an online campaign has been launched encouraging people to take a pledge to cook an organic and local meal on Thanksgiving.
Monsanto’s world headquarters is located at 800 North Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, Missouri 63167.
Follow #NoMonsanto hashtag for updates.
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Posted: August 14th, 2014 | Filed under: Research, Resources | Tags: Chemicals, Glyphosate, Herbicide, Monsanto Company, RoundUp, Shareholder Resolution, Toxic |
Unfortunately, the shareholder resolution was withdrawn in October 2014 and will not be voted on at the 2015 Annual Shareholder Meeting. More details of the demise of the shareholder resolution can be viewed here [PDF].
On August 11, 2014, the following shareholder resolution was submitted to the Monsanto Company:
WHEREAS:
Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide and its key active ingredient, glyphosate, have been linked to various health problems, including chronic kidney disease, https://truth-out.org/news/item/24876-monsantos-herbicide-linked-to-fatal-kidney-disease-epidemic-will-ckdu-topple-monsanto autism, https://www.autismone.org/content/autism-explained-synergistic-poisoning-aluminum-and-glyphosate-stephanie-seneff birth defects, https://earthopensource.org/index.php/reports/roundup-and-birth-defects-is-the-public-being-kept-in-the-dark mammary tumors and pre-mature death, https://www.enveurope.com/content/26/1/14 breast cancer, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23756170 blood cancer, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24762670 ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241196/ Parkinson’s, and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0892036212000438 celiac disease and gluten intolerance. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24678255
Roundup has never been tested or assessed for long-term safety for regulatory purposes. However, independent studies show it is highly toxic to animals and humans. Glyphosate alone is toxic, and some of the added ingredients (adjuvants) in Roundup are, on their own, toxic. In addition, some of these adjuvants increase the toxicity of glyphosate by enabling it to penetrate plant and animal cells more easily. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1257596/
Roundup is toxic to beneficial gut bacteria but non-toxic to pathogenic bacteria. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23224412
Roundup depletes the body of macro and micronutrients. https://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/48190923/glyphosate-reduces-shoot-concentrations-mineral-nutrients-glyphosate-resistant-soybeans
Roundup interferes with CYP enzymes, disrupts the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids by gut bacteria, and impairs serum sulfate transport. https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416 The consequences include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
People exposed to the spraying of Roundup suffer https://www.reduas.fcm.unc.edu.ar/report-from-the-first-national-meeting-of-physicians-in-the-crop-sprayed-towns/ increased incidence of infertility, birth defects, miscarriages, cancers, genetic damage (which can lead to cancer and birth defects), toxic liver disease, neurological developmental problems, kidney failure, respiratory problems, and allergies.
In 2014 in Brazil, the Federal Public Prosecutor https://www.gmwatch.org/index.php/news/archive/2014/15365 requested the Justice Department suspend the use of glyphosate herbicides, and ordered the National Health Surveillance Agency to re-evaluate the toxicity of glyphosate.
Herbicide-tolerant Roundup Ready crops increased herbicide use in the U.S. by an estimated 527 million pounds between 1996 and 2011. https://www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24
Roundup is commonly found in streams, rain and air in agricultural areas of the US. https://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2909#.U9vktKi1Z0M
Roundup has been found in the blood, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21338670 urine, https://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/press_releases/foee_media_briefing_glyphosate.pdf and breast milk https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/27/us-monsanto-roundup-epa-idUSKBN0E72IH20140527 of city dwellers.
Parents https://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_30153.cfm and pediatricians https://gmoinside.org/downsides-to-gmo-infant-formula-we-asked-a-pediatrician/ who have monitored children’s exposure to Roundup, have found that health improves when the herbicide is removed from their systems through an organic diet.
RESOLVED:
Shareholders request that the Board establish an independent panel, controlling for conflict of interest, to publish by July 2015, at reasonable cost and excluding proprietary information, a report analyzing the extent to which Monsanto’s Roundup/glyphosate may cause the above health problems, and describing public policy initiatives, and Monsanto policies and activities, to phase out or restrict uses of Roundup/glyphosate that increase human exposure.
Supporting Statement: Proponents believe the report should include all evidence linking Roundup, glyphosate, or Roundup’s inert ingredients or adjuvants, to the above health problems.
— Read the 2014 Shareholder Resolution
Posted: June 20th, 2014 | Filed under: Genetic Crimes | Tags: arrest, California, Demonstration, Direct Action, Genetic Crimes, gmo, GMO Labeling, Occupy Monsanto, Oxnard, Protest |
Back on September 12, 2012, Occupy Monsanto activists conducted a bold direct action on Monsanto’s Oxnard, California facility. Nine activists shut down California’s largest GMO seed distribution facility for a full day and were ultimately arrested. You can watch the inspiring video of the action here:
https://occupy-monsanto.com/videos-of-the-gcu-field-agents-locked-down-at-monsantos-oxnard-facility/
Fast forward a year and a half, the city of Oxnard, California is figuratively throwing the book at these intrepid activists and charging them with over $8,300 in restitution & fines! This means they are being forced to pay Monsanto & the city of Oxnard or they’ll be arrested & forced to go jail! We can’t let this happen!
This direct action made international news and helped inspire countless activists to begin their crusade against the evils of the Monsanto Corporation. Now these courageous activists need your help. Please donate as much as you can to help keep them out of jail.
Photo taken on the evening of September 12, 2012 after the Occupy Monsanto activists were released from jail:
Posted: April 24th, 2014 | Filed under: Events | Tags: #OpMonsanto, Activism, birth defects, Boycott, cancer, civil disobedience, Congress, Demonstration, EPA, FDA, Global Day of Action, gmo, GMO Labeling, GMO Seeds, infertility, March, March Against Monsanto, Monsanto, Monsanto Protection Act, Notes, organic, Organize, Protest, Tumors, USDA |
On Saturday, May 24, 2014, March Against Monsanto in your community! Below is a spreadsheet export made on May 21, 2014 that lists all of the upcoming marches with Facebook Event invites. For the latest spreadsheet of planned marches, check out the official listing on the March Against Monsanto website.
SOURCE: March Against Monsanto — May 21, 2014
Posted: April 8th, 2014 | Filed under: Events, Video | Tags: Divest, Divestment, Fidelity, gmo, GMO Labeling, Monsanto, Protest, Sell, Shareholder Action, State Street, Stock, Vanguard |
Sign the Food Democracy Now! petition
Music by Caught A Ghost
March on Fidelity, Vanguard & State Street – May 9th at 3PM
Divestment Instructions:
Here are three ways to boycott the mutual funds that own Monsanto
1. Close your account.
2. Tell your advisor to sell your funds that own Monsanto stock and hold your money in either a money market or as cash.
3. Tell your advisor to sell your funds that own Monsanto stock and opt for funds that do not invest in Monsanto.
If your company has a 401K plan that you cannot opt out of, call your advisor and tell them you will only invest in funds without Monsanto.
Source: Organic Spies
