The World According To Monsanto - Full Length Documentary

Video commentary:

A great documentary exposing the evil agricultural nightmare called Monsanto and the story of Roundup and Roundup Ready Soybeans. A 2004 documentary film which makes an in-depth investigation into unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly made their way onto grocery stores in the United States for the past decade. It voices the opinions of farmers in disagreement with the food industry and details the impacts on their lives and livelihoods from this new technology, and shines a light on the market and political forces that are changing what we eat. The film decries the cost of a globalized food industry on human lives around the world, and highlights how international companies are gradually driving farmers off the land in many countries. Potential global dependence of the human race on a limited number of global food corporations is discussed, as is the increased risk of ecological disasters -- such as the Irish Potato Famine (1845--1849) -- resulting from the reduction of biological diversity due to the promotion of corporate sponsored monoculture farming. The issue of incorporating a terminator gene into plant seeds is questioned, with concern being expressed about the potential for a widespread catastrophe affecting the food supply, should such a gene contaminate other plants in the wild. Legal stories reported by the film related how a number of farmers in North America have been sued by Monsanto; and the defendant of the Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser case is interviewed.

 I think capitalism has its pros and cons, although at the very core of its ideology, I don't agree with its rationale. One may say capitalism benefits humankind by encouraging innovation and healthy competition, through the incentives of higher profits. On the other hand, capitalism may encourage greed and selfishness in people, as they value profits over people's welfare. I think a fundamental flaw of capitalism is that it measures everything according to monetary value, yet in the deepest essence, we are all priceless and valuable. No one or no one's work is actually more valuable than another. Capitalism and economics reduce humans to mere commodities. This is dehumanising. I also think (almost) every company or corporation starts off with good intentions, as they want to manufacture products or offer services to benefit people, but somewhere along the way, as they earn more profits and start expanding their business, many of the businesspeople lose sight of their initial goal or mission, and start to prioritise profits at the expense of the well-being of people's health and the environment.

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