Monsanto has become infamous for covering up the connection between glyphosate – which constitutes 50 percent of its Roundup weed killer product – and cancer, particularly non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. When the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined in 2015 that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans,” there was an immediate backlash against the company and multiple lawsuits have ensued. Unfortunately, distributing cancer-causing herbicides all over the world is far from this agricultural giant’s only sin. Monsanto and fellow Big Agri villains like Syngenta have quietly been destroying global crop diversity, placing themselves in a position where they are poised to control the entire planet’s food supply.
While the colonization of Africa is supposed to be nothing more than an unfortunate chapter in the history of the continent, the reality is that it has just taken on a different guise. The international aid programs upon which the continent has become reliant are forcing many African countries to become totally dependent on patented seeds supplied by Monsanto, Syngenta and others. In terms of these agreements, the people in these countries may no longer engage in the traditional seed exchanges which have been a part of their cultures for generations.
In Tanzania, for example, new laws have been passed which could mean that anybody selling or even giving patented seeds to friends or neighbors could be subject to fines of up to €205,300 – more than most African people can earn in a lifetime. A simple seed exchange could even land someone in jail for up to 12 years, all to protect the intellectual property rights of agri giants thousands of miles away.
