Saturday 25th May 2013 more than two thousand people gathered together in St James Park in downtown Toronto to join the Millions Against Monsanto protest march and global campaign against GMO food labeling. This is clearly an issue that a great many people care about and are willing to give up their Saturdays for...
Unfortunately the sound system sucked! The broadcasting system they had was cut-rate amatuer and inaudible. So someone ran to a nearby car and returned with a maegaphone which they tried to amplify and that didnt work so they used the megaphone alone which sucked. It still wastn loud enough. Even when turned full blast and they shouted into it - it was hardto hear at the back. Indeed the discourse of the speeches remained inaudible for most people at the assembly. So I was there thinking the organizers also didnt expect that many folks to show up ...
Its obvious there was no money for a proper sound system. All these people gave up their Saturday to go listen to inaudible speeches and then march about downtown streets banging drums and chanting. Honestly a basic website fund could have been set up and used to rent a proper sound system, and maybe also paid for two people to set it up. I would have donated $10 twoards that. Was this event entirely unfunded?
Activists in Toronto were joined by like-minded people all over the world, in over 250 other locations as the free thinking folks from across the globe united to MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO. For a complete list of cities participating visit http://bit.ly/ZTDsk8
For too long now Monsanto has been the blushing benefactor of generous corporate subsidies and political favoritism because of their strong lobbyists and the way our government is organized. In both Canada and the United States their activities meet little or no scrutiney from federal regulators or any public oversight. Organic and small family farmers suffer crop losses while Monsanto continues to forge its monopoly over the world’s food supply. The revolving door between government and business ensures new laws benefit corporations first. The people who gathered in St James Park this afternoon believe Monsanto's biological and chemical engineering practises to be detrimental to all mankind.
During the speeches the speakers strained their voices or didnt bother trying to be heard over the noice of the city and two thousand of people with children and animals. It was hard to be heard anywhere.
Most of the speakers simply reiterated the protest organizers' overall mantra and said aloud what we already knew . They spoke aloud our mandate for change when they insisted that politicaians force food companies to label GMO foods so that consumers can make informed decisions about buying the products. Food companies will not do this, and have fought hard to keep government from making them do this, primarily because its unprofitable and would or could raise the cost of food.
Organizers and the crowd, myself included, urge our Canadian policians and American congressmen to repeal or make relevant provisions in their newly adopted "Monsanto Protection Act.' that makes it hard to stop GMOs in the face of growing evidence of health risks associated with their bio-engineered products.
And we call for further scientific research on the health effects of GMOs and esp controlled long term studies. I still cant find a link to any acredited research that shows cancer and ulcers in lab rats as reported and so if someone out there has that link, I'd like to see it in the comments.
And finally we'd all like to be able to better identify and then hold Monsanto -supporting politicians (on both sides of the border) more accountable through direct communication, grassroots journalism, social media, etc. We can make our elected representatives do their jobs and make social democracy work.
Lots of people say that research studies have shown that Monsanto’s
genetically-modified foods can lead to serious health conditions such as
the development of cancer tumors, infertility and birth defects. * I want to see this research. Please leave me a link in comments.
In the United States, the FDA, the agency tasked with ensuring food
safety for the population, is steered by ex-Monsanto executives, and speakers and organizers of today's event feel that’s a questionable conflict of interests and explains the lack
of government-lead research on the long-term effects of Genetically Modified Organisms. It's a fact that farmers in Germany led the grassroots campaign that worked to eventually ban Bayer's pesticides on Europe's seeds for two years after some evidence linked some of their chemical mixtures to Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD in honeybees,
Recently, the U.S. Congress and President Obama collectively passed legislation that is so blatantly friendly to GMOs it has been
nicknamed the “Monsanto Protection Act” because it works to ban
courts from halting the sale of Monsanto’s genetically-modified seeds.
Thats why we marched.
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