How GMO Seeds and Monsanto/Bayer’s “RoundUp” are Driving US Policy in Venezuela

With Juan Guaidó’s parallel government attempting to take power with the backing of the U.S., it is telling that the top political donors of those in the U.S. most fervently pushing regime change in Venezuela have close ties to Monsanto and major financial stakes in Bayer.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
Venezuela | Farmers

CARACAS, VENEZUELA -- As the political crisis in Venezuela has unfolded, much has been said about the Trump administration's clear interest in the privatization and exploitation of Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world, by American oil giants like Chevron and ExxonMobil. Yet the influence of another notorious American company,

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With Roundup On The Rocks, Monsanto Hatches New Seeds And A Dangerous New Plan

Monsanto’s promises of a safe, “drift-free” dicamba have failed to materialize, as complaints have flooded into state agricultural departments across the country. So far this year, regulators have received nearly four years’ worth of complaints regarding dicamba-related crop damage.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
A crop dusting plane from Blair Air Service dusts cotton crops in Lemoore, Calif. (AP/Gary Kazanjian)

So far, this year has not been very kind to Monsanto. First, collusion between Monsanto and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was revealed, whereby the company worked in tandem with the federal agency to discredit independent research conducted by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The IARC,

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Study: GM Crops, Touted For Pest Resistance, Rapidly Breed Resistant Pests

Genetically modified crops are controversial because of everything from environmental to human-health effects. Now a new study further calls into question their capacity to resist pests. Over time, the study confirms, it is pests that develop resistance and get the upper hand.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
The cotton bollworm caterpillar has evolved resistance to four Bt proteins produced by biotech crops. (Alex Yelich/University of Arizona)

A new study, funded by the U.S. government and published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, has added to the evidence that pest resistance to genetically modified (GM) crops has been rising dramatically for decades. The study, which examines 20 years of data, focused on a specific class of GM crops that have been bioengineered to produce

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Iraq’s Agricultural Industry Was Pillaged, Its Farmers Devastated, But It’s Still Free Of GMO Seeds

When a video clip of a 2008 presentation on Iraq’s seed industry went viral earlier this year, Dr. Dahlia Wasfi was inundated with questions and concerns from thoughtful viewers. Here, she provides clarifications and updates on the situation in Iraq.

Dr. Dahlia Wasfi
By Dr. Dahlia Wasfi
An Iraqi corn broker walks through his supply while preparing it to be shipped to retail markets Monday, Jan. 5, 2004 in a village north of Baghdad. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

DOVER, Delaware -- I delivered a presentation about Iraq at the Green Festival in Chicago in May 2008. In that presentation, “Ain’t Nothin’ Green About the Green Zone: The Impact of War and Occupation on Iraqi Farmers,” I discussed the history of farming in ancient Mesopotamia and the harm wrought upon modern-day Iraq’s agricultural system by the

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Court Rules Feds Cannot Prevent Local Governments From Banning GMO’s

The US Court of Appeals ruled last Friday that federal law does not prohibit states and counties from passing local laws regulating and banning genetically modified crops.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
A woman attends a protest against genetically-modified foods as she holds a banner which reads: "No GMO!

This past Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a highly anticipated decision on whether federal and Hawaii state laws supersede the authority of individual counties to regulate the use of genetically modified crops and pesticide use. Hawaii, though many Americans don’t know, has been at the center of the GM debate for years

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Despite Ongoing Effects Of Agent Orange, Vietnam Embraces Monsanto GMO’s

Fifty-five years after rendering almost an entire country cancerous, chemical companies like Monsanto are being welcomed with open arms into Vietnam. 

Christina Sarich | Underground Reporter
By Christina Sarich | Underground Reporter
In this photo taken on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012, Le Van Tam, 14, is picked up by his father at a rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam. The children were born with physical and mental disabilities that the center's director says were caused by their parents' exposure to the chemical dioxin in the defoliant Agent Orange. On Thursday, the U.S. for the first time will begin cleaning up leftover dioxin that was stored at the former military base that's now part of Danang's airport. (AP Photo/Maika Elan)

Vietnam — Vietnam’s Agriculture Minister has asked the country to embrace Monsanto 55 years after the company dumped 20 million gallons of Agent Orange there. One of Monsanto’s former companies, among nine contractors responsible for creating Agent Orange, sprayed more than 20 million gallons of the herbicide on an area of South Vietnam about

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