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In reply to the discussion: Defending GMOs on grounds that they are not poisonous is like defending manufacturers who exploit [View all]womanofthehills
(8,702 posts)167. Monsanto can go even lower - court records show Monsanto knew the health effects of PCB
Today, 37 years after PCB production ceased in Anniston, and after tons of contaminated soil have been removed to try to reclaim the site, the area around the old Monsanto plant remains one of the most polluted spots in the U.S.
People in Anniston find themselves in this fix today largely because of the way Monsanto disposed of PCB waste for decades. Excess PCBs were dumped in a nearby openpit landfill or allowed to flow off the property with storm water. Some waste was poured directly into Snow Creek, which runs alongside the plant and empties into a larger stream, Choccolocco Creek. PCBs also turned up in private lawns after the company invited Anniston residents to use soil from the plant for their lawns, according to The Anniston Star.
So for decades the people of Anniston breathed air, planted gardens, drank from wells, fished in rivers, and swam in creeks contaminated with PCBswithout knowing anything about the danger. It wasnt until the 1990s20 years after Monsanto stopped making PCBs in Annistonthat widespread public awareness of the problem there took hold.
Studies by health authorities consistently found elevated levels of PCBs in houses, yards, streams, fields, fish, and other wildlifeand in people. In 2003, Monsanto and Solutia entered into a consent decree with the E.P.A. to clean up Anniston. Scores of houses and small businesses were to be razed, tons of contaminated soil dug up and carted off, and streambeds scooped of toxic residue. The cleanup is under way, and it will take years, but some doubt it will ever be completedthe job is massive. To settle residents claims, Monsanto has also paid $550 million to 21,000 Anniston residents exposed to PCBs, but many of them continue to live with PCBs in their bodies.
http://www.barlettandsteele.com/journalism/vf_monsanto_3.php
People in Anniston find themselves in this fix today largely because of the way Monsanto disposed of PCB waste for decades. Excess PCBs were dumped in a nearby openpit landfill or allowed to flow off the property with storm water. Some waste was poured directly into Snow Creek, which runs alongside the plant and empties into a larger stream, Choccolocco Creek. PCBs also turned up in private lawns after the company invited Anniston residents to use soil from the plant for their lawns, according to The Anniston Star.
So for decades the people of Anniston breathed air, planted gardens, drank from wells, fished in rivers, and swam in creeks contaminated with PCBswithout knowing anything about the danger. It wasnt until the 1990s20 years after Monsanto stopped making PCBs in Annistonthat widespread public awareness of the problem there took hold.
Studies by health authorities consistently found elevated levels of PCBs in houses, yards, streams, fields, fish, and other wildlifeand in people. In 2003, Monsanto and Solutia entered into a consent decree with the E.P.A. to clean up Anniston. Scores of houses and small businesses were to be razed, tons of contaminated soil dug up and carted off, and streambeds scooped of toxic residue. The cleanup is under way, and it will take years, but some doubt it will ever be completedthe job is massive. To settle residents claims, Monsanto has also paid $550 million to 21,000 Anniston residents exposed to PCBs, but many of them continue to live with PCBs in their bodies.
http://www.barlettandsteele.com/journalism/vf_monsanto_3.php
MONSANTO KNEW ABOUT PCB TOXICITY FOR DECADES
But as the company's own documents show, Monsanto went to extraordinary efforts to keep the public in the dark about PCBs, and even manipulated scientific studies by urging scientists to change their conclusions to downplay the risks of PCB exposure. Monsanto's conduct, throughout the entire period that the company made PCBs, was less than commendable. Their attempts today to backpedal on the science and shirk responsibility for the global saturation of PCBs is equally discouraging, as are their repeated attempts to "green" their image with flashy, expensive PR campaigns.
Today Monsanto does not deny that everyone is contaminated with PCBs. They argue instead that since they have contaminated the entire planet they are innocent of all liability. In Monsanto's opening statement to the court in the trial of Owens v. Monsanto on April 4, 2001, the company's lawyers acknowledged only one health threat posed by exposure to PCBs: chloracne, a serious skin condition. According to the lead attorney for Monsanto, defending the company against allegations that its PCB pollution poses a health threat to residents living near its Anniston, AL chemical plant.
http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/annistonindepth/toxicity.asp
But as the company's own documents show, Monsanto went to extraordinary efforts to keep the public in the dark about PCBs, and even manipulated scientific studies by urging scientists to change their conclusions to downplay the risks of PCB exposure. Monsanto's conduct, throughout the entire period that the company made PCBs, was less than commendable. Their attempts today to backpedal on the science and shirk responsibility for the global saturation of PCBs is equally discouraging, as are their repeated attempts to "green" their image with flashy, expensive PR campaigns.
Today Monsanto does not deny that everyone is contaminated with PCBs. They argue instead that since they have contaminated the entire planet they are innocent of all liability. In Monsanto's opening statement to the court in the trial of Owens v. Monsanto on April 4, 2001, the company's lawyers acknowledged only one health threat posed by exposure to PCBs: chloracne, a serious skin condition. According to the lead attorney for Monsanto, defending the company against allegations that its PCB pollution poses a health threat to residents living near its Anniston, AL chemical plant.
http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/annistonindepth/toxicity.asp
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Defending GMOs on grounds that they are not poisonous is like defending manufacturers who exploit [View all]
Attorney in Texas
Jul 2016
OP
There are labels that already exist to allow vegans and people who don't want GMOs to decide.
NuclearDem
Jul 2016
#1
It is Monsanto, not organic farmers, who have stigmatized GMOs in my mind.
Attorney in Texas
Jul 2016
#5
Yeah - I paid $1.69 for organic lettuce yesterday in Albuquerque - "I'm going broke"
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#72
How about this reason- sublethal exposure to Glyphosate causes changes in antiobiotic susceptibility
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#169
Actually we've been eating genetically modified food for as long as people have been around
mythology
Jul 2016
#23
None of what you posted is accurate, and posting a video from a debunked scientist isn't...
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#69
What does this have to do with glyphosate? See, the conflation of issues, not to mention ignorance..
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#46
This is an interesting video about how mice and squirels avoid GMO corn
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#75
Plus, when the GMO cross pollinates with a crop grown on a neighboring non-GMO farm, the cross-
Attorney in Texas
Jul 2016
#9
You do realize that Monsanto actually pays the farmers as compensation for the contamination...
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#42
Schmeiser knowingly kept the seed to replant the next year and violated his current seed contract...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#144
and now " the shit load of herbicides" increases as GMO crops need more and more herbicides
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#97
not true - more pesticides than ever are being used because of SUPERWEEDS!!!!
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#145
Why don't all the non-GMO food producers label their food products "GMO Free"?...
SidDithers
Jul 2016
#7
Monsanto vs. the Milkman (2004): A Maine dairy fights for the right to wear its hormone-free label.
proverbialwisdom
Jul 2016
#12
But what about their business model, I am glad they treat their employees that way.
Rex
Jul 2016
#29
I guess it is all about marketing and ultimately the two big players are Monsanto and Organics.
Rex
Jul 2016
#48
The organic food industry puts out a lot of false information to the public.
ZombieHorde
Aug 2016
#135
How do they treat farmers? From what I can tell, the only criticism...
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#36
Monsanto treats some employees very badly - gives them cancer and then sues them
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#154
Monsanto can go even lower - court records show Monsanto knew the health effects of PCB
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#167
And monopolies are unethical, in my book. We have rules against such things for good reason.
Rex
Jul 2016
#35
They aren't even close to a monopoly though, they have less than half the marketshare...
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#37
The thing is that modern Monsanto is actually quite ethical and bends over backward to be fair...
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#51
Don't know if GMOs can stamp out famine, but it doesn't hurt to try...
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#61
Which practices? This is the issue, if there are real problematic practices, then list them for...
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#53
Its not difficult, as long as its not the same recycled and debunked claims of the past...
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#62
An example of this is Golden Rice and Beta Carotene enriched plantains...
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#64
Not the golden rice stuff again - that's been going on for yrs and never came through
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#71
And here you come demonstrating that lack of ethical concern, as long as your percieved side...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#73
Hello! Earth to ZH - Monsanto exposed their workers to Dioxin - how is that ethical?
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#77
So for 40 yrs Monsanto chose not to compensate people with cancer until forced
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#98
The problems you have with GMOs are endemic in all the food industry..
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#34
It isn't even a study, it was a biased meta-analysis that many scientists of the source studies...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#143
And? Even they say they didn't conduct any independent research on this issue...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#212
Demonizing GMOs because of made up bullshit is like being an antivaxxer or a CC denialist.
Dr Hobbitstein
Jul 2016
#41
Considering the BS this poster keeps posting, I don't think their handle is accurate. n/t
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#44
Not saying that, a lot of people have ideological reasons to support one side or another....
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#56
Well I eat both types of food, the organic grown in my garden and of course food from HEB.
Rex
Jul 2016
#63
What practices of Monsanto's do you not like? Can you articulate them?
Humanist_Activist
Jul 2016
#66
How about the practice of giving people cancer from dioxin, pcb's and Roundup
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#81
Roundup doesn't cause cancer, how many times do you need to be told this?
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#90
Roundup does cause cancer - how many times do I have to say this back.
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#107
So do they have every bio-science lab in the world in their back pocket or what?
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#149
GMO's and Roundup = go together like a horse and a carriage, peas and carrots .....
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#111
Putin: Russia Will be World’s Largest Supplier of Healthy Organic Food
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#121
They're both asinine things to do, based in fear and hatred, not facts.
Dr Hobbitstein
Aug 2016
#224
What, stating that a country has draconian laws WRT sexuality and science?
Dr Hobbitstein
Aug 2016
#231
Safety is not putting Roundup on America's food supply and corporations are getting it
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#119
I read an interesting book on the subject, and know some people directly affected by Monsanto.
DFW
Aug 2016
#118
So long as you're not rallying for feel-good legislation with no basis in fact
Dr Hobbitstein
Aug 2016
#225
Monsanto didn't invent Agent Orange, it was invented before Monsanto was even a company...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#151
Correction, Monsanto warned the U.S. government about dioxin contamination in 1952...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#155
Monsanto warned the US government about Agent Oranges harmful effects in 1952...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#183
So when Monsanto became aware that they poisoned an entire town with agent orange
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#156
Certain posters here have yet to produce any substantive arguments for their side.
NuclearDem
Aug 2016
#194
This is a perfect example of the ideological blinders I mention in post 56. n/t
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#166
I would call it bipartisan, mostly, with a slight left leaning slant. n/t
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#165
Why do you hate a woman who has been so successful fighting corporations?
womanofthehills
Aug 2016
#200
"misogynistic"? You mean like your anti-abortion right wing hero, Mercola?
Major Nikon
Aug 2016
#204
Because they display the same lack of critical thinking, reliance on faulty data and ancedotal...
Humanist_Activist
Aug 2016
#234