Samstag, 21. November 2009

Corporate Human Rights Violators - Global Exchange


http://www.globalexchange.org/getInvolved/corporateHRviolators.html
I remember this went viral about two years ago on here... saw it first posted by pranicmegan from Australia, who isn't around much these days. I posted it on a previous site, as did Flavouriam, which is where I just stumbled across it again, via our mutual friend Iri. So thanks to them...

Detailed breakdown of how exactly some of these corporations violate human rights... including Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Kellog, Brown & Root, Wal-Mart, Monsanto... the usual suspects.

Interesting site too, Global Exchange


Extract, on Monsanto:

MONSANTO

CEO: Hugh Grant (yes, the actor)
Contact the Corporation: c/o Kathleen Klepfer, Chief of Staff for Hugh Grant
800 North Lindbergh Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63167
Phone:(314) 694-1000
Fax: (314) 694-8394
kathleen.lee.klepfer@monsanto.com

Human Rights Abuses: Displacement, health violations, and child labor

Monsanto is, by far, the largest producer of genetically engineered seeds in the world, dominating 70% to 100% of the market for crops such as soy, cotton, wheat, and corn. The company is also one of the most egregious abusers of the human rights of food sovereignty, access to land, and health.

Monsanto promotes mono-culture—the practice of covering large swaths of land with a single crop. This practice pushes out subsistence farms and destroys arable land by drastically decreasing soil and water quality for years, draining soil of key nutrients. The company also undercuts food prices by flooding countries like Mexico, India, and Brazil with cheap, genetically modified foods, resulting in the displacement of millions of farm workers, who are forced to migrate to cities or work as landless peasants or share croppers.

Monsanto is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed as "Roundup." Roundup is sold to small farmers as a pesticide, yet harms crops in the long run as the toxins accumulate in the soil. Plants eventually become infertile, forcing farmers to purchase genetically modified Roundup Ready Seed, a seed that resists the herbicide. This creates a cycle of dependency on Monsanto for both the weed killer and the only seed that can resist it. Both products are patented, and sold at inflated prices.

Roundup Ultra, a version of the pesticide that is unavailable on the commercial market, is regularly employed in fumigation of areas of illicit crop production. However, as it destroys fields of drug plants, it also destroys subsistence crops like banana, palm heart, and coffee. Exposure to the pesticide is documented to cause cancers, skin disorders, spontaneous abortions, premature births, and damage to the gastrointestinal and nervous systems.

According to the India Committee of the Netherlands and the International Labor Rights Fund, Monsanto also employs child labor. In India, an estimated 12,375 children work in cottonseed production for farmers paid by Indian and multinational seed companies, including Monsanto. A number of children have died or became seriously ill due to exposure to pesticides.

Monsanto's yearly profits are $5.4 billion.

Who's working on it:
• Food First
• GM Watch
• GRAIN
• India Resource Center
• Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
• Landless Workers' Movement
• Organic Consumers' Association
• Via Campesina

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