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Health & Nutrition
Gates Foundation Invests In Monsanto
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<blockquote data-quote="Vikram singh" data-source="post: 132610" data-attributes="member: 1078"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: Red"><strong>Both will profit at expense of small-scale African farmers [/FONT]</strong></span></span></p><p></p><p>[/FONT]<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Seattle</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">, WA</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"> - Farmers and civil society organizations around the world </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">are outraged by the recent discovery of further connections between the </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and agribusiness titan Monsanto. <strong>Last </strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><strong>week, a financial website published the Gates Foundation's investment </strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><strong>portfolio, including 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock with an estimated </strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><strong>worth of $23.1 million purchased in the second quarter of 2010 (see the </strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><strong>filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission). This marks a </strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><strong>substantial increase from its previous holdings, valued at just over </strong></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><strong>$360,000 (see the Foundation's 2008 990 Form). </strong></span></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">"The Foundation's direct investment in Monsanto is problematic on two </span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">primary levels," said Dr. Phil Bereano, University of Washington </span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px"> Professor Emeritus and recognized expert on genetic engineering. "First, </span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Monsanto has a history of blatant disregard for the interests and well- </span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">being of small farmers around the world, as well as an appalling </span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">environmental track record. The strong connections to Monsanto cast </span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">serious doubt on the Foundation's heavy funding of agricultural </span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">development in Africa and purported goal of alleviating poverty and </span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">hunger among small-scale farmers. Second, this investment represents an </span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">enormous conflict of interests." </span></strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>Monsanto has already negatively impacted agriculture in African </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>countries. For example, in South Africa in 2009, Monsanto's genetically </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>modified maize failed to produce kernels and hundreds of farmers were </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>devastated. According to Mariam Mayet, environmental attorney and </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>director of the Africa Centre for Biosafety in Johannesburg, some </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>farmers suffered up to an 80% crop failure. While Monsanto compensated </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>the large-scale farmers to whom it directly sold the faulty product, it </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>gave nothing to the small-scale farmers to whom it had handed out free </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>sachets of seeds. "When the economic power of Gates is coupled with the </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>irresponsibility of Monsanto, the outlook for African smallholders is </strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="color: Blue"><strong>not very promising,"</strong></span></span> <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">said Mayet. Monsanto's aggressive patenting </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">practices have also monopolized control over seed in ways that deny </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">farmers control over their own harvest, going so far as to sue--and </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">bankrupt--farmers for "patent infringement." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">News of the Foundation's recent Monsanto investment has confirmed the </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">misgivings of many farmers and sustainable agriculture advocates in </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Africa, among them the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, who commented, "We </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">have long suspected that the founders of AGRA--the Bill and Melinda Gates </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Foundation--had a long and more intimate affair with Monsanto." Indeed, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">according to Travis English, researcher with AGRA Watch, "The </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Foundation's ownership of Monsanto stock is emblematic of a deeper, more </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">long-standing involvement with the corporation, particularly in Africa." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">In 2008, AGRA Watch, a project of the Seattle-based organization </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Community Alliance for Global Justice, uncovered many linkages between </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">the Foundation's grantees and Monsanto. For example, some grantees (in </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">particular about 70% of grantees in Kenya) of the Alliance for a Green </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Revolution in Africa (AGRA)--considered by the Foundation to be its </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">"African face"--work directly with Monsanto on agricultural development </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">projects. Other prominent links include high-level Foundation staff </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">members who were once senior officials for Monsanto, such as Rob Horsch, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">formerly Monsanto Vice President of International Development </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Partnerships and current Senior Program Officer of the Gates </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Agricultural Development Program. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Transnational corporations like Monsanto have been key collaborators </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">with the Foundation and AGRA's grantees in promoting the spread of </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">industrial agriculture on the continent. This model of production relies </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">on expensive inputs such as chemical fertilizers, genetically modified </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">seeds, and herbicides. Though this package represents enticing market </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">development opportunities for the private sector, many civil society </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">organizations contend it will lead to further displacement of farmers </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">from the land, an actual increase in hunger, and migration to already </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">swollen cities unable to provide employment opportunities. In the words </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">of a representative from the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, "AGRA is </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">poison for our farming systems and livelihoods. Under the philanthropic </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">banner of greening agriculture, AGRA will eventually eat away what </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">little is left of sustainable small-scale farming in Africa." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">A 2008 report initiated by the World Bank and the UN, the International </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Development (IAASTD), promotes alternative solutions to the problems of </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">hunger and poverty that emphasize their social and economic roots. The </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">IAASTD concluded that small-scale agroecological farming is more </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">suitable for the third world than the industrial agricultural model </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">favored by Gates and Monsanto. In a summary of the key findings of </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">IAASTD, the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) emphasizes </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">the report's warning that "continued reliance on simplistic </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">technological fixes--including transgenic crops--will not reduce </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">persistent hunger and poverty and could exacerbate environmental </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">problems and worsen social inequity." Furthermore, PANNA explains, "The </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Assessment's 21 key findings suggest that small-scale agroecological </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">farming may offer one of the best means to feed the hungry while </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">protecting the planet." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">The Gates Foundation has been challenged in the past for its </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">questionable investments; in 2007, the L.A. Times exposed the Foundation </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">for investing in its own grantees and for its "holdings in many </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">companies that have failed tests of social responsibility because of </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">environmental lapses, employment discrimination, disregard for worker </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">rights, or unethical practices." The Times chastised the Foundation for </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">what it called "blind-eye investing," with at least 41% of its assets </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">invested in "companies that countered the foundation's charitable goals </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">or socially-concerned philosophy." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Although the Foundation announced it would reassess its practices, it </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">decided to retain them. As reported by the L.A. Times, chief executive </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">of the Foundation Patty Stonesifer defended their investments, stating, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">"It would be naïve...to think that changing the foundation's investment </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">policy could stop the human suffering blamed on the practices of </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">companies in which it invests billions of dollars." This decision is in </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">direct contradiction to the Foundation's official "Investment </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Philosophy", which, according to its website, "defined areas in which </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">the endowment will not invest, such as companies whose profit model is </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">centrally tied to corporate activity that [Bill and Melinda] find </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">egregious. This is why the endowment does not invest in tobacco stocks." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">More recently, the Foundation has come under fire in its own hometown. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">This week, 250 Seattle residents sent postcards expressing their concern </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">that the Foundation's approach to agricultural development, rather than </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">reducing hunger as pledged, would instead "increase farmer debt, enrich </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">agribusiness corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta, degrade the </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">environment, and dispossess small farmers." In addition to demanding </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">that the Foundation instead fund "socially and ecologically appropriate </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">practices determined locally by African farmers and scientists" and </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">support African food sovereignty, they urged the Foundation to cut all </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">ties to Monsanto and the biotechnology industry. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">AGRA Watch, a program of Seattle-based Community Alliance for Global </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Justice, supports African initiatives and programs that foster farmers' </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">self-determination and food sovereignty. AGRA Watch also supports public </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">engagement in fighting genetic engineering and exploitative agricultural </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">policies, and demands transparency and accountability on the part of the </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'">Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and AGRA. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'"></span> </p><p>[/FONT]</p><p>-- </p><p>GENET-forum </p><p></p><p> </p><p> [/FONT]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Vikram singh, post: 132610, member: 1078"] [SIZE=3][COLOR=Red][B]Both will profit at expense of small-scale African farmers [/FONT][/B][/COLOR][/SIZE] [/FONT][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Seattle[/FONT][FONT=Trebuchet MS], WA[/FONT][FONT=Trebuchet MS] - Farmers and civil society organizations around the world are outraged by the recent discovery of further connections between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and agribusiness titan Monsanto. [B]Last week, a financial website published the Gates Foundation's investment portfolio, including 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock with an estimated worth of $23.1 million purchased in the second quarter of 2010 (see the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission). This marks a substantial increase from its previous holdings, valued at just over $360,000 (see the Foundation's 2008 990 Form). [/B][/FONT] [B][SIZE=3]"The Foundation's direct investment in Monsanto is problematic on two primary levels," said Dr. Phil Bereano, University of Washington Professor Emeritus and recognized expert on genetic engineering. "First, Monsanto has a history of blatant disregard for the interests and well- being of small farmers around the world, as well as an appalling environmental track record. The strong connections to Monsanto cast serious doubt on the Foundation's heavy funding of agricultural development in Africa and purported goal of alleviating poverty and hunger among small-scale farmers. Second, this investment represents an enormous conflict of interests." [/SIZE][/B] [FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=Blue][B]Monsanto has already negatively impacted agriculture in African countries. For example, in South Africa in 2009, Monsanto's genetically modified maize failed to produce kernels and hundreds of farmers were devastated. According to Mariam Mayet, environmental attorney and director of the Africa Centre for Biosafety in Johannesburg, some farmers suffered up to an 80% crop failure. While Monsanto compensated the large-scale farmers to whom it directly sold the faulty product, it gave nothing to the small-scale farmers to whom it had handed out free sachets of seeds. "When the economic power of Gates is coupled with the irresponsibility of Monsanto, the outlook for African smallholders is not very promising,"[/B][/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Trebuchet MS]said Mayet. Monsanto's aggressive patenting practices have also monopolized control over seed in ways that deny farmers control over their own harvest, going so far as to sue--and bankrupt--farmers for "patent infringement." News of the Foundation's recent Monsanto investment has confirmed the misgivings of many farmers and sustainable agriculture advocates in Africa, among them the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, who commented, "We have long suspected that the founders of AGRA--the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation--had a long and more intimate affair with Monsanto." Indeed, according to Travis English, researcher with AGRA Watch, "The Foundation's ownership of Monsanto stock is emblematic of a deeper, more long-standing involvement with the corporation, particularly in Africa." In 2008, AGRA Watch, a project of the Seattle-based organization Community Alliance for Global Justice, uncovered many linkages between the Foundation's grantees and Monsanto. For example, some grantees (in particular about 70% of grantees in Kenya) of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)--considered by the Foundation to be its "African face"--work directly with Monsanto on agricultural development projects. Other prominent links include high-level Foundation staff members who were once senior officials for Monsanto, such as Rob Horsch, formerly Monsanto Vice President of International Development Partnerships and current Senior Program Officer of the Gates Agricultural Development Program. Transnational corporations like Monsanto have been key collaborators with the Foundation and AGRA's grantees in promoting the spread of industrial agriculture on the continent. This model of production relies on expensive inputs such as chemical fertilizers, genetically modified seeds, and herbicides. Though this package represents enticing market development opportunities for the private sector, many civil society organizations contend it will lead to further displacement of farmers from the land, an actual increase in hunger, and migration to already swollen cities unable to provide employment opportunities. In the words of a representative from the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, "AGRA is poison for our farming systems and livelihoods. Under the philanthropic banner of greening agriculture, AGRA will eventually eat away what little is left of sustainable small-scale farming in Africa." A 2008 report initiated by the World Bank and the UN, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), promotes alternative solutions to the problems of hunger and poverty that emphasize their social and economic roots. The IAASTD concluded that small-scale agroecological farming is more suitable for the third world than the industrial agricultural model favored by Gates and Monsanto. In a summary of the key findings of IAASTD, the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) emphasizes the report's warning that "continued reliance on simplistic technological fixes--including transgenic crops--will not reduce persistent hunger and poverty and could exacerbate environmental problems and worsen social inequity." Furthermore, PANNA explains, "The Assessment's 21 key findings suggest that small-scale agroecological farming may offer one of the best means to feed the hungry while protecting the planet." The Gates Foundation has been challenged in the past for its questionable investments; in 2007, the L.A. Times exposed the Foundation for investing in its own grantees and for its "holdings in many companies that have failed tests of social responsibility because of environmental lapses, employment discrimination, disregard for worker rights, or unethical practices." The Times chastised the Foundation for what it called "blind-eye investing," with at least 41% of its assets invested in "companies that countered the foundation's charitable goals or socially-concerned philosophy." Although the Foundation announced it would reassess its practices, it decided to retain them. As reported by the L.A. Times, chief executive of the Foundation Patty Stonesifer defended their investments, stating, "It would be naïve...to think that changing the foundation's investment policy could stop the human suffering blamed on the practices of companies in which it invests billions of dollars." This decision is in direct contradiction to the Foundation's official "Investment Philosophy", which, according to its website, "defined areas in which the endowment will not invest, such as companies whose profit model is centrally tied to corporate activity that [Bill and Melinda] find egregious. This is why the endowment does not invest in tobacco stocks." More recently, the Foundation has come under fire in its own hometown. This week, 250 Seattle residents sent postcards expressing their concern that the Foundation's approach to agricultural development, rather than reducing hunger as pledged, would instead "increase farmer debt, enrich agribusiness corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta, degrade the environment, and dispossess small farmers." In addition to demanding that the Foundation instead fund "socially and ecologically appropriate practices determined locally by African farmers and scientists" and support African food sovereignty, they urged the Foundation to cut all ties to Monsanto and the biotechnology industry. AGRA Watch, a program of Seattle-based Community Alliance for Global Justice, supports African initiatives and programs that foster farmers' self-determination and food sovereignty. AGRA Watch also supports public engagement in fighting genetic engineering and exploitative agricultural policies, and demands transparency and accountability on the part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and AGRA. [/FONT] [/FONT] -- GENET-forum [/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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Gates Foundation Invests In Monsanto
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