GMOs Raises Larger Question of Corporate Influence in Our Lives

A reader sent me this:

Kudos to General Mills for seeing the writing on the wall and releasing GMO-free Cheerios. This is a huge step in the eradication of this highly destructive agricultural “technology” that industrial agriculture has been pushing on an unsuspecting public since the early 1990s, given carte blanche by government agencies practically owned by companies such as Monsanto and Syngenta. That’s one evil empire that’s crumbling thanks to the public finally learning, understanding the truth and taking a stand.

I respond: 

I’d urge you to look into this subject more deeply.  I’m not denying that Monsanto is an evil organization, but the concept of GMOs is 100% necessary to humankind’s ability to feed the seven billion (soon to be 10 billion) people on this planet.  What we need (and do not have) is transparency.  There is no way to tell if GMOs cause health problems because neither the public nor its governmental representatives are invited to the discussion. I.e., neither you, nor I, nor anyone we elected or appointed had anything whatsoever to do with the public policy decision to serve up GMOs; it was made purely by agribusiness – Monsanto in particular.

This, of course, is why we all need to be appalled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision, granting supreme power to the corporations.  Just like Exxon/BP/Shell/Chevron etc. in energy, Monsanto in agriculture can spend as much as they want in influencing our elections, stuffing our Congress with shills who will do anything their paymasters request, in open defiance of the will of the people.

Until this is overturned by a movement like Bernie Sanders’ Saving American Democracy Amendment and/or MoveToAmend.org, it is essentially meaningless to say that we live in a democracy.

Fortunately, the support for these organizations is enormous and growing larger by the day.  I honestly believe that Citizens United will be pronounced dead within the next year or two.  It’s such an outrageous blow to our government of, by, and for the people that folks from all political persuasions are infuriated.