Some people didn’t like the source of a recent post about the toxic effects of agrochemicals and GM plants on the environment, plants, animals, and people. There are plenty of other sources, including:

How big agro causes the problem

• Vandana Shiva on the pesticiders’ strategy, why it’s bad, and what to do about it.
• Some specific U.S. cases of big agro gaming the regulatory system at the expense of the environment.
• International cases of Monsanto gaming regulatory systems.
• How Monsanto leverages patents to dominate the world food supply.
• The Fox-can-lie case, in which Monsanto made Fox rewrite 80 times about RBGH in Florida cows and the courts said that was OK; Fox can lie.
• Monsanto blocking research.

Evidence of the ill effects

• U.S. president’s cancer panel sounding the alarm about “Americans are facing “grievous harm” from chemicals in the air, food and water that have largely gone unregulated and ignored.”
• Scientific American on “The rapid adoption by U.S. farmers of genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton has promoted increased use of pesticides, an epidemic of herbicide-resistant weeds and more chemical residues in foods.”
• Peer-reviewed research on animal miscarriages.
• Sterility and infant mortality in hamsters.
• Liver and kidney damage in rats.
• Research on toxic chemicals from the GM plants themselves polluting streams.
• Pesticides found in the urine of schoolchildren linked to ADHD. More about that, including a link to the actual peer-reviewed journal article.
• A German documentary with research from Argentina and France, plus links I’ve added to that research.
• A French documentary The World According to Monsanto.

There are ways forward

• Remember, even Monsanto is not invulnerable, and in fact had a bad year in 2010.
• Monsanto’s Roundup no longer works on the mutant weeds it’s bred, so Monsanto has to pay farmers to spray rival pesticides and even that doesn’t really work.
• The most profitable crops are non-GM crops.
• Organic Farming Yields often Better Than with Agrochemicals.
• Local agricultural research on how to farm without Roundup.
• How to do organic peanuts in particular.
• They can farm without pesticides in west Africa, they don’t damage the land, and they make more money.
• Even Haiti refuses Monsanto’s seeds, calling them “a new earthquake”.

What you can do

• Things you can do yourself to replace poisoned food with local and organic food.
• Especially vote at the checkout counter. If you don’t know it’s local and non-GMO, don’t buy it. There may be no labelling laws, but local supermarkets know what’s local.
• Protests worked in India.