1.Paraguayans Protest Against U.S. Multinational
2.Occupy Monsanto starts campaign on movement's anniversary
3.World-wide protests push for labeling GM foods
4.Protestors Gather at Monsanto in Davis
5.Protesters rally against Monsanto in St Louis
EXTRACTS: "We're celebrating the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. We had a lot of concerns about large corporations controlling the government, but it wasn't very focused. Now we're focusing on Monsanto." (item 5)
A broad coalition of groups participated in Monday's protest, including Occupy Woodland, Occupy Sacramento, Occupy Oakland, as well as representatives fighting for the rights of farm workers and indigenous people... (item 4)
Several Thousand Oaks teenagers came after school to their first official protest.
"Hey, hey, ho, ho, we've got a right to know," shouted the teens to passing cars.
Seventeen-year-old Heather Power-Gomez, a Westlake High School student from Thousand Oaks, said she came because she thought food should be labeled.
Actions by the Occupy Monsanto group also took place Monday and were planned for other days this week in Woodland, Gilroy, Davis, Ohio, Hawaii, Australia and Argentina. (item 2)
PICS: Great photos with this article
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/sep/18/occupy-monsanto-starts-campaign-on-movements/
Photo from an anti-GM blockade of a BASF office by protesters on the Good Food March to Brssels
http://goodfoodmarch.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/fortuna-bringt-kein-gluck-aktion-vor-der-basf-zentrale/
Photo from an anti-Monsanto protest in Washington DC
https://twitter.com/gmo917/status/247694838248648704/photo/1
Photo of protest in Paraguay
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=545498&Itemid=1
1.Paraguayans Protest Against U.S. Multinational
Prensa Latina, September 17 2012
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=545498&Itemid=1
Asuncion – Groups of Paraguayans protested today in downtown Asuncion against the U.S. transnational Monsanto and official authorisation for transgenic crops of corn and cotton.
Social organizations that are part of the Campaign for Life and Human Rights, thus joined the international movement called Occupy Monsanto that take place in many countries.
Posters with the motto "Monsanto Out Paraguay" and "We Stand For Life" were peaked by protesters, along with another that referred to Federico Franco, currently holding the presidency of the Republic, with the phrase Monfranco Out.
Some participants spoke near the Pantheon of the Heroes, denouncing the serious damage to the health of farmers, the environment and lands caused by seeds and pesticides sold by Monsanto to the country.
There, it was announced that, throughout this week, there will be activities in the streets to defend national and native seed against the avalanche of crops with GM seeds directly approved by Franco and brought into the country by Monsanto.
As part of the Week of the Seed, an event also takes place with representatives of peasant and indigenous organizations and other civil society to discuss and disseminate the damage caused by the opening to GM seed.
Among them, the damage done by this government decision to national plans for food sovereignty, the indigenous seed used by small and humble farmers and the health of those who work the land.
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2.Occupy Monsanto starts campaign on movement's anniversary
Carol Lawrence
Ventura Star [California], September 18 2012 [extracts]
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/sep/18/occupy-monsanto-starts-campaign-on-movements/
Local food activists chose Monday, the anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street activist movement, to start a global outcry in Oxnard against agribusiness giant Monsanto Co.'s chemicals and genetic modifications of plant seeds.
Less dramatic than Tuesday's protest at Monsanto's seed distribution plant Seminis Vegetable Seeds Inc. on Camino Del Sol, in which nine protesters in chains and shackles were arrested when they blocked the gates, Monday's event at the same site drew about 35 protesters who limited their opposition to signs, masks, and shouting on the sidewalks.
The demonstrators were part of a group called Occupy Monsanto, which identifies itself with Occupy Wall Street.
Monday was the first day of the group's weeklong series of 65 events planned worldwide to protest Monsanto, its relationship with Third World farmers, and the seeds it develops.
Several Thousand Oaks teenagers came after school to their first official protest.
"Hey, hey, ho, ho, we've got a right to know," shouted the teens to passing cars.
Seventeen-year-old Heather Power-Gomez, a Westlake High School student from Thousand Oaks, said she came because she thought food should be labeled.
Actions by the Occupy Monsanto group also took place Monday and were planned for other days this week in Woodland, Gilroy, Davis, Ohio, Hawaii, Australia, and Argentina.
3.World-wide protests push for labeling genetically engineered foods
Peter Smith
Roundup Daily [New Mexico], September 17 2012 [extracts]
http://roundupdaily.com/news/student_organizations/article_1e7d0336-0123-11e2-a159-0019bb30f31a.html
Over 75 locations held protests working against companies, such as Monsanto, connected to the global trade of genetically engineered foods, also known as GMOs. The network conducting the protests is known as Occupy Monsanto and hopes to pass legislation for labeling GMOs.
Genetically modifying organisms have been criticized as tempering with nature and have raised ecological and economic concerns in the past, according to Lesley Hunt, Ph.D. in the agribusiness and economics research unit at the University of Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand.
The primary concern of Occupy Monsanto is the use of Glyphosate (Roundup), one of the most toxic herbicides and third most common cause of pesticide related sicknesses for agricultural workers according to Greenpeace, and its overuse on resistant GMOs.
Because GMOs have higher resistance to the herbicide, Occupy Monsanto says farmers will use the substance more liberally and the consumer may be put at risk.
Danielle Lapiano, an undergraduate student working on her bachelor degree in public health from New Mexico State University headed the protest in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Lapiano said, "occupy Monsanto is trying to get GMOs labeled." She said most GMO products are not properly labeled or are misleading to the consumer.
Lapiano said she came out to "spread the word" on the dangers of GMOs. She had a table set up in the Corbett Center Student Union and wore a full body bio-suit to emphasize the dangers of GMOs.
Rica Madrid, a member of Occupy Monsanto accused politicians and corporations of supporting GMOs at the expense of public health, saying, "People are stirred by the evidence that GMO foods compromise human health. Politicians and their sponsoring corporations ignore public outcry over GMOs to protect huge profits over health."
Since GMOs' introduction to the food supply in the mid 1990s, food allergies have expanded according to Center for Disease Control data.
4.Protestors Gather at Monsanto in Davis
Jennifer K. Morita
Davis Patch [California], September 17 2012 [extracts]
http://davis.patch.com/articles/protestors-gather-at-monsanto-in-davis
*Monday's demonstration included Occupy protestors from Woodland, Sacramento, Oakland as well as Proposition 37 supporters
More than 100 protesters gathered outside Monsanto in Davis Monday morning, marking the one-year anniversary of the Occupy Movement.
"We're here to bring awareness of the business practices of Monsanto and the risks of using genetically modified food and what it's doing to our food supply," Occupy Davis protestor Robin Kozloff said.
Protestors waved signs and walked up and down the sidewalk in front of Monsanto, while passing cars honked in support.
A security guard would not say whether Monsanto had closed for the day. Last March, however, an Occupy Davis protest shut the facility down.
Monday's protest in Davis is part of a series of anti-Monsanto demonstrations taking place at all over the world, Occupy Sacramento's Andy Conn said.
A broad coalition of groups participated in Monday's protest, including Occupy Woodland, Occupy Sacramento, Occupy Oakland as well as representatives fighting for the rights of farm workers and indigenous people, Kozloff said.
"They're all concerned about the business practices that affect our food supply. They want to protect our resources and our planet and bring awareness of the major corporate influence companies like Monsanto have on our national policies on food and agriculture production," Kozloff said.
She added that giant corporations also wield financial influence on the country’s election process.
Proponents of Proposition 37, which would require labeling all raw or processed food that is made from genetically engineered plants or animals, were also among the anti-Monsanto protestors in Davis.
Occupy Davis is part of an international movement against corporate greed, social and economic inequality.
5.Protesters rally against Monsanto
St. Louis Post-Dispatch [Missouri], Sep 17 2012
http://www.menafn.com/menafn/5274f0ae-2011-47b7-aed8-355e2ef1aab6/Protesters-rally-against-Monsanto
Protesters marking the one-year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement gathered at three St. Louis area locations to protest against Monsanto Co., including the biotechnology giant's Creve Coeur headquarters.
The protests here, organized by a network calling itself Occupy Monsanto and by the group GMO-Free Midwest, were among 45 other "actions" held across the country Monday, organizers said.
Calling on the company to more rigorously test and label genetically modified ingredients, the protesters first gathered outside the Millenium Hotel downtown, then outside the Whole Foods Market in Brentwood and finally outside the company's offices.
"We're celebrating the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street," said Barbara Chicherio, of the Gateway Green Alliance and Safe Food Action St. Louis, and a spokesperson for Occupy Monsanto's efforts here. "We had a lot of concerns about large corporations controlling the government, but it wasn't very focused. Now we're focusing on Monsanto."
The protests are the latest in a series of events over the past year in which activists have called for mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients. A petition urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require labeling gathered more than 1 million signatures earlier this year, and a proposition requiring labeling will go before voters in California this November.
According to records filed with the California Secretary of State, Monsanto has contributed more than 7 million to defeat the proposition.
Now, activists say, they are reaching beyond the labeling issue. "Over 1 million signatures were sent to the FDA and they were basically ignored," said Adam Eidinger, a coordinator with Occupy Monsanto. "So what's left to do? It's time for civil disobedience."
Eidinger said the company temporarily suspended operations at two of its California facilities in the past week because of protest actions.
Monsanto would not comment on the suspension of operations, saying only that the safety of its employees was paramount.