As 2009 comes to an end, we are taking a look back at some of our favorite posts of the year by our guest editors. Today’s entry is from February 8. Here, John Davis writes about a 2008 documentary on the controversial Monsanto corporation. Monsanto was also prominently featured in Food, Inc., an excellent documentary from this year.
John Davis wanted rock ‘n’ roll, but he didn’t want to deal with the hassle. The Superdrag frontman broke up his band in 2003, got religion and issued a pair of solo albums, putting a seemingly tight lid on the legacy of his Knoxville, Tenn., outfit. Apparently, Davis is willing to be bothered again: Superdrag’s original lineup reconvened to record Industry Giants, a new album due March 17. This week, MAGNET celebrates the return of Superdrag by handing Davis the reins to our website, where he’ll share his favorite music, films, food, literature and more. Read our Q&A with Davis about the comeback here.
Davis: The World According To Monsanto is French filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin’s mind-blowing exposé on Monsanto, the U.S. government-sanctioned corporate juggernaut whose “greatest hits” include:
• Genetically modified seeds (90 percent of soybeans grown in America are “Roundup Ready”)
• GMO (genetically modified organism) foods (contained in 70 percent of the food products on American shelves)
• PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls)
• rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, linked to breast, colon and prostate cancers)
• Agent Orange
• Aspartame
• Roundup (herbicide)
If you’re unaware of the toxicity of these products and the dangers they present to your family’s health, I strongly recommend viewing this documentary. The fraudulent means by which many of these substances have been granted government approval is another matter entirely. Try Googling “Rumsfeld aspartame” sometime if you’re interested in some light reading. View the eight-part documentary here. You’ll love the scene where then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, during his tour of a Monsanto lab facility, tells a group of execs frustrated with ”bureaucratic hurdles” (i.e., health- and environmental-safety testing), “Call me. We’re in the ‘de-reg’(ulation) business.”
2 replies on “Best Of 2009, Guest Editors: Superdrag’s John Davis On “The World According To Monsanto””
There isn’t necessarily anything harmful to you in genetically modified foods, as long as the added genetic element doesn’t result in the production of anything harmful. Golden Rice, for instance, is genetically modified to produce vitamin A. This means that this GMO is actually healthier for you than non-genetically modified rice. The fact that a plant is resistant to roundup does not mean that it somehow will be toxic to you. People who don’t understand the concept of genetic modification just have this knee-jerk reaction to the term. It seems that both the right and left wings have their own anti-science movements that are born of ignorance.
And, uh, not everyone has A) access to a Whole Foods store, or B) can afford not to shop at Wal-Mart. How much worse do you think this current recession would be if everyone was buying only organic foods? We’d be living the Grapes of Wrath. Theories can seem right and sound, but the reality is what bites your ass.