Pharmaceuticals Anonymous

Showing posts with label genetically modified. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genetically modified. Show all posts

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Corporate Corruption, and the Hijacking of Our Food Supply

Image adapted from graphics bank at Cornell U. Link


Health activist extraordinaire HELKE FERRIE tells it like it is regarding the powers in charge of our health, with special focus on Bill C-6 in Canada.
The article begins with a memorable quote:

Corporate Corruption, and the Hijacking of Our Food Supply
by Helke Ferrie
What is wrong with the world today? I’ll tell you what’s wrong – short-term thinking, which is the sign of a disease called arrogance. Those suffering from the disease, however, want us to believe that they are actually the world’s great protectors. The feverish rush for short-term gain is as old as history. The kings, emperors, and popes of antiquity, the dictators of the 20th century, along with big business and the governments they hijacked, all do as their ancestors did: disguise their message inside protestations of safety and offers of protection. But today we have the Internet, an educated distrusting public, and humanity has developed an attitude of disobedience. Besides, we are all getting very bored with this racket.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Who Owns Nature? Pharma, Of Course!

Monsantoland Pictures, Images and Photos

Further extracts from ETC Group's recently released report, "Who Owns Nature?" These are from the section about the pesticde industry. For the full report:
http://www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?pub_id=707

According to the report, the world's six largest agrochemical manufacturers, who control nearly 75% of the global pesticide market, are also seed industry giants.

It's worth breaking this down by company.

Bayer: the world's biggest agrochemical company is also the world's seventh biggest seed company.

Syngenta: the world's second largest agrochemical company is also the world's third largest seed company.

Monsanto: the world's biggest seed company is the world's fifth largest agrochemical company.

And DuPont: the world's second biggest seed company is also the world's sixth largest agrochemical company.

All these companies are gene giants.

Weed killers (herbicides) account for about one-third of the global pesticide market, and around 80% of GM seeds involve herbicide-resistance.

The worldwide market for agrochemicals grew last year by nearly 10%.
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Who Owns Nature?
Report from ETC Group

[Extracts only]

Agrochemical Industry

World's Top 10 Pesticide Firms

Company - Agrochemical Sales 2007 (US$ millions) - % Market Share

1.Bayer (Germany) - $7,458m - 19%
2.Syngenta (Switzerland) - $7,285m - 19%
3.BASF (Germany) - $4,297m - 11%
4.Dow AgroSciences (USA) - $3,779m - 10%
5.Monsanto (USA) - $3,599m - 9%
6.DuPont (USA) - $2,369m - 6%
7.Makhteshim Agan (Israel) - $1,895m - 5%
8.Nufarm (Australia) - $1,470m - 4%
9.Sumitomo Chemical (Japan) - $1,209m - 3%
10.Arysta Lifescience (Japan) - $1,035m - 3%
Total $34,396m - 89%
Source: Agrow World Crop Protection News, August 2008

The top 10 companies control 89% of the global agrochemical market.

The worldwide market for agrochemicals was US$38.6 billion in 2007 - up 8.4% over the previous year. The top 6 companies accounted for $28.8 billion, or 75% of the total market.


Link

Canada - take action on genetic modification here