Who's your favorite evil corporation? You know, that company that is so slimy, so insipid, you actually love to hate them? We've all got at least one.
Sit back and think about it for a minute. Is it a utility provider? How about an insurance company? (those are real easy to hate) the possibilities are varied and endless.
What kills me is there's a lot of truly nasty companies out there that are also very profitable, have great P.R and 90% of folks either don't know or have completely forgotten about their past crimes.
Today, I'd like to focus on one evil corporation and give you fine folks here a little refresher on all the things they've done over the years. Today, we shine the spotlight on (drumroll please).......
Monsanto!
For anyone not familiar, this company is an absolute giant in the agriculture business. You know roundup? They make that. They came up with Bovine Growth Hormone, that wonderful substance that makes cows produce 20% more milk. They make lot's of stuff, as they've been around for quite some time. They also helped make Agent Orange in Vietnam. Do you know what PCB's are? Polychlorinated Bi-phenyls. They used to make that too, and for decades they knew how toxic it was and lied through their teeth about it.
Now, if you're one of those naysayers that believe that human activity can't have any adverse affect on the planet, go out and google "PCB" This stuff is extremely toxic and it sticks around a looooong time. In fact, in just the last century PCB's have been spread across the entire planet through wind and water circulation and they're here to stay. In humans PCB's can cause all kinds of nastyness from organ failure to cancer to (in the case of a pregnant woman being exposed) children born with extremely diminished mental abilities. In the case of animals and fish, well it usually just kills them outright if the dosage is large enough. Not the kind of chemicals you want in the creek your children will play in, right?
Monsanto bought the company that started making PCB's in the 1930's and shortly thereafter they knew full well just how dangerous and deadly this stuff was. Did they stop making it? Nope. Did they tell anyone about their findings? Nope. Profits were just too damned good! In fact, in Anniston, Alabama Monsanto dumped this stuff completely unfiltered into the local water tables for 40 years all the while telling people that their operations were safe and that nothing was out of sorts. They also did this in Sauget, Illinois for decades.
The results speak for themselves- residents in both communities had much higher rates of all kinds of health problems than anywhere else in the country. Included in the category of "strange health problems" also includes children, teenagers and young adults mysteriously passing away from all kinds of ailments not normally seen in people their age.
Anyways, it's a long, sad story. If you're interested, get the goods on it here: http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/anniston/1.asp
And this is just one example. What's important to remember, is that this company knew full well that what they were doing was killing people and ruining lives. And they kept on doing it, and vehemently denying it, right up until the government finally stepped in in the 70's and banned production of PCB's.
What was the catalyst for the government to do so? In 1966 a Swedish chemist sounded the alarm bell, while Monsanto publicly stated that his findings were flawed. They lied through their teeth in an attempt to continue making their profits, even though they had known for decades.
So, that's all in the past right?
-wrong!!!- Monsanto is still up to all kinds of dirty tricks today.
If you'll remember Roundup used to be marketed as "biodegradable" but now it no longer says that on the container. Why? Because they lied about that too. While they pumped out cute commercials of Rex the family dog digging up a roundup-sprayed plant to get at the bone he buried underneath (implying that the herbicide degrades to a completely benign state shortly after spraying) independent tests verified that in some cases more than 30 days after spraying over 98% of the chemical was still in it's original form. Biodegradable my ass!
Now Monstanto's healthy profits depended on Roundup because it's one of their biggest money-makers, so anytime anyone publicly question's it's effects the Monsanto spin-team screams bloody murder and pulls out all of their scientific studies (all done by scientists on their payroll, just like all the studies they produced in the 60's to show that PCB's weren't harmful) to show that Roundup is harmless.
But lot's of tests have been done over the years by scientists not on Monsanto's payroll and like much of the products out there, once you get past the smoke and mirrors of the advertisements and media-spin, there's a very simple truth.
The reason why Roundup works so well is that it's made of up some really toxic, really nasty shit. That's why it's so incredibly effective.
It also kills all kinds of insects and even earthworms in some cases, that are beneficial to the ecosystem.
It drastically interrupts nitrogen fixation of the soil by killing the bacteria responsible for doing that- this is a BAD thing.
It's incredibly toxic to humans- drinking about 3/4 of a cup will kill an average joe in a short time. And keep in mind that this is NOT biodegradable stuff, as some tests have found it takes up to 140 days or more for 50% decomposition. Residues of the toxins responsible for the magic of roundup have been found on carrots, lettuce and barley more than a year after they were sprayed. Yummy!
Now, I don't know about you, but if there's a product out there that can easily kill a human through ingestion and we're spraying this stuff on the crops we're going to eat (Monsanto's also produced genetically tailored plants that resist roundup) isn't there something just a little fishy about that?
This ties into the next point- Monsanto has another huge moneymaker, genetically modified crops. Now they might be truly evil, but they are also truly genius. One has to give credit where it is due, and these folks are on the cutting-edge of genetic research. They mix and match genes, taking DNA from hardy bacteria and mixing it into plant cells to make them more resistant. They've succeeded in creating "terminator" seeds that allow for only one crop harvest and then the farmer has to go and buy new seeds the following year (talk about messing with nature to ensure profits)
The beauty of it is that using their genetically modified organisms requires signing an End-User agreement that legally denies you from finding out the truth about their product.
Wha?
That's right, not a typo. If you're a farmer and you buy Monsanto seed, you sign a legal document that says that you will not, under any circumstances, allow their product to be tested by any nerdy-scientist folk. What does this accomplish? It means that the only official scientific studies carried out on Monsanto's new products can only be carried out by scientists on the company payroll. Independent scientists, cannot legally obtain a sample of the product and publish the results of their testing.
Oh sure, the EPA and the FDA are also in the picture, but government has NEVER gotten in bed with industry in the past have they? Surely not!
Of course, technically speaking an independent scientist could probably obtain some seeds very easily. But as soon as he'd publish his results, Monsanto, who has VERY deep pockets, would be taking him to court since he either
a) didn't legally obtain their product or
violated the end user agreement if he did buy their product
Ingenius isn't it? So why would a company do such a thing? Naturally the argument has always been that they are simply protecting their competitive interests, just like Coca-Cola supposedly has a recipe that only 2 people on the whole planet know. Just like KFC has a super-secret blend of 11 herbs and spices (newsflash people- it's just black pepper and breading!) and so forth.
Always keep in mind the source. This is a company that has been caught red-handed lying through it's teeth several times over the years. The kind of lies that kill people and ruin entire ecosystems on a near-permanent basis.
Our PCB's are perfectly safe! They helped us win the war you know! (was their line for decades)
Roundup is biodegradable and perfectly harmless! Spray once in your backyard and your kids can romp around with Rex the puppy the next day! (Was the cheery message they conveyed)
Now the new lie is:
Our line of genetically modified seeds are paving the way for a greener, sustainable future! (Just don't ever seriously question how we've done it or any possible repercussions Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain)
As the old saying goes:
"Fool me once, shame on you.... fool me twice.... well... we can't get fooled again!"
-George Bush Jr.
So in closing, who's your evil corporation of the day?