Bonum Certa Men Certa

Monsanto Plants Its Lies in the Gates Foundation-funded NPR

Sunflower seedlings



Summary: The Gates Foundation, one of the bigger supporters of Monsanto's colonisation of Africa, invests in business-friendly African organisations, including the African Agricultural Capital which supports "plant breeding, seed production"

AS investor of Monsanto, the Gates Foundation has been helping Monsanto privatise Africa's seeds [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. It's a profitable business in the long term and there is PR -- not just money -- to be made. As we showed some months ago, the Gates Foundation also pays NPR, which in turn glorifies the Gates Foundation and currently lies on Monsanto's behalf, based on this new article at least.



Monsanto targets public radio to spread false biotech messages



For years my alarm has been set to pubic radio so I can lie in bed for five minutes and have a grasp on the day's news before I even get up. I, like many other Americans, rely on NPR and other public-radio shows for news that is what I deem to be as unbiased and fair as possible. But this morning my ears burned as I listened to an on the American Public Media show Marketplace sponsored by Monsanto, the world's largest corporate agribusiness chemical firm, touting how its genetically modified (GM) seeds are going to save the world from environmental catastrophe and human hunger. It left me wondering, particularly in tough economic times, how do media ethics hold up? (The GMO seed giant has been bombarding liberal-minded publications with similar propaganda, see image to the right, for months.)


Richard Stallman references this article and says that "NPR presents Monsanto ads that whitewash genetically modified crops and falsely suggest that they help solve the problem of world hunger.

"I stopped giving to NPR in the 90s when I noted the presence of advertisements. NPR is noncommercial, but that no longer means no commercials."

One of our readers told us about another new article about the many casualties of Monsanto's long history of criminal behaviour. They are still trying to hide the poisoning of a poor population in the United States (we have shared some videos about it at the beginning of this year).

For more than 30 years, historic mercury discharges in the Anniston community have gone unprobed, an investigation by The Anniston Star found. Industrial-released mercury entered the environment decades ago, but no one is sure how much is out there or where it is.

Monsanto Corp.'s chemical plant in western Anniston used mercury and lead, both neurotoxicants, to produce the raw materials for PCBs in the 1950s and '60s.

Before the discovery of PCB and lead pollution in local streams, ditches and low-income neighborhoods, Monsanto operated a caustic soda and chlorine plant that sent as many as 40-50 tons of liquid mercury into its waste stream, company records show. Fifty tons is the equivalent of 10 dump truck loads.

Monsanto employees swept mercury spills into drainage ditches leading to the plant's storm sewer, where traps recovered elemental mercury for reuse. Periodically, Monsanto employees cleaned out the mercury ditches and traps, according to documents provided to The Star by Solutia Inc., Monsanto's spin-off company.


This brings us back to the Gates Foundation, which is seeding the patented seeds market all over Africa (it also tries to do this in India these days). The following new article is baffling because it talks about "organic farming" (not organic food), saying that it "improve[s] food production". Is this really about avoiding patented seeds from Monsanto? Or could it be like the tobacco 'prevention' we wrote about in the previous post? Based on Skeptoid, GMO giants often own the organic market too (illusion of choice).

In other news from last week, watch the Gates Foundation alongside Shell (the Gates Foundation invests in its oil production, which kills African children). They give money to some curious entities, including the African Agricultural Capital which they can influence with money.

Funding for the grants was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Lemelson Foundation, and the Shell Foundation.

Organizations selected to receive grants were: African Agricultural Capital, Agora Partnerships, E+Co, the Center for Creative Leadership, Financial Alliance for Sustainable Trade, the Grassroots Business Fund, Mercy Corps, Root Capital, Root Change, the Small Enterprise Assistance Fund, ShoreCap Exchange, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, and TechnoServe.


We have just taken a look at the Web site of the African Agricultural Capital (AAC), only to find that its investment scope includes: "Plant breeding and seed production; companies involved in all aspects of plant breeding, seed production, seed marketing and inputs marketing." Sounds like a good fit for companies like Monsanto. We have not looked at other organisations yet (there are many listed above and AAC is the first), but this would be an interesting exercise given more time.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Open Source Initiative (OSI) is Microsoft, It Presents Microsoft-Controlled Projects Like They're Everything That Exists in the World
They're not assessing the real data, they keep track only of projects foolish enough to choose slavery under Microsoft
Links 08/12/2023: Cyber Resilience Act in EU and Denmark Embracing 'Blasphemy Law'
Links for the day
Linus Torvalds Cannot Easily 'Offend' Companies Anymore, But Weeks Ago He Explained Why (Linux Support and Hardware Documentation Has Significantly Improved)
new clip
Links 08/12/2023: Tidal and Simplilearn Layoffs
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, December 07, 2023
IRC logs for Thursday, December 07, 2023
[Video] The Media Facilitates Microsoft's Abuse, Bribes, and Growing Threats to National Security
The failure of the media to properly and independently explain what's happening will continue to doom the media
[Video] The Next Ten Years of Techrights in a World With Changing Threats and Technological Landscapes (or Trends That Are Buzzwords/Cargo Cults)
The video of today talks about the site's (and capsule's plan) for the future
Wikipedia is Vandalism, Brought to You by Microsoft and Bill Gates
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Lennart Poettering and Fellow Microsofters Turn GNU/Linux Into Windows, Expect Poor Reliability With systemd-bsod
turning Linux into Microsoft Windows
The Effort to Silence (Squash) GNU/Linux Advocates and Press Coverage
If nobody even mentions it anymore, does it still exist?
Links 07/12/2023: Climate Events Occupied by Their Enemy, Workers Going on Strike
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, December 06, 2023
IRC logs for Wednesday, December 06, 2023
A Googlebombing Campaign Targeting "Gemini" Takes on E-mail, Too
Google can do Googlebombing too (the term is even named after it)
[Video] Microsoft Without a So-called 'Common Carrier' (Windows Monoculture)
Windows Has Fallen
[Video] To Combat Efforts to Cancel or Kill the Career (and Reputation) of the People Who Made GNU/Linux We Must Rally the Community
nobody speaks better for projects and for licences than their own founders
Rumour: Major Finance Layoffs at Microsoft Next Week
If the rumour is true, we'll be hearing barely anything from the mainstream media next week
Links 07/12/2023: More EPO Patents Squashed, More Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine "Glitches" Found
Links for the day
Still Not 'Canceled'
Ted Ts'o, Jan Kara, Linus Torvalds last month
Google is Googlebombing the Term "Gemini"
Could Google not pick a name that's already "taken"?
Links 06/12/2023: Bitcoin Rebound, China Downgraded by American Firm, Yahoo! Layoffs Again
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Shooting the Messenger Using Bribes and Secrecy Bonds
We seem to live in a world where accountability for the rich and well-connected barely exists anymore
The Myth of an Aging (or Dying) GNU/Linux Leadership
Self-fulfilling prophecies as a tactic?
Links 06/12/2023: Many More December Layoffs
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 05, 2023
IRC logs for Tuesday, December 05, 2023
PipeWire 1.0: Linux audio comes of age
Once upon a time, serious audio users like musicians and audio engineers had real trouble with Linux
This is How 'Linux' Foundation Presents Linux to the World
Right now it even picks Windows over Linux in some cases