Is Monsanto Using 4-H to Brainwash Your Children About GMOs?
December 31, 2013
Story at-a-glance
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Monsanto is boasting its partnership with 4-H Youth
Development Organization, the country’s largest and most
influential youth organization with more than 6.8 million
members in 80 countries worldwide
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According to the annual reports, 4-H is receiving funding
from Monsanto, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cargill,
DuPont, United Soybean Board, Coca-Cola, and Pfizer
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Monsanto has been hijacking society at every turn, including
government institutions, colleges and universities, media
agencies, and so-called representatives of “science”
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Monsanto recently attempted to brainwash young children with
a 16-page book called ““Biotechnology Basics Activity Book”
full of colorful pages and cartoon characters touting the
“benefits” of GMOs
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If your child is involved with 4-H, please monitor the
messages he or she is getting, rather than making
assumptions that they are based in truth
By Dr. Mercola
Monsanto is boasting its partnership with 4-H programs by giving
a shout-out to “National 4-H Week.”1
This is not the first time Monsanto has used its clever
propaganda to influence our nation’s youth. The Council for
Biotechnology Information widely circulated a Biotechnology
Basics Activity Book for kids, a disturbing and brightly
colored obvious intent to 'educate' the children.
4-H is the country’s largest youth organization with more than 6
million members in 80 countries around the world, involving children
from elementary school age through high school.
The organization is extremely influential to children, impacting
their intellectual and emotional development through their numerous
programs and clubs. Unfortunately, Monsanto is using its partnership
with 4-H as a vehicle to worm its way into your child’s mind in
order to influence her developing beliefs and values.
Children are like little sponges, soaking up everything they see
and hear, which makes them particularly vulnerable to being
sucked in by propaganda.
And the effects could be life-long—at least they’re intended to
be. Indeed you’d be hard-pressed to convince an adult, who from
childhood was taught the merits of genetically engineered foods,
that there’s anything wrong with such alterations of the food
supply.
If your child is involved in 4-H, it would be wise to monitor the
messages she’s getting, given this organization’s corporate
sponsors and alliances.
4-H is really the perfect vehicle for Big Ag to manipulate an
entire generation, using tactics not that different from the youth
indoctrination strategies employed by political extremists in order
to gain children’s trust and then “groom” them however they wish.
Think about it—what better way to control the future of our food
system than to brainwash 6.8 million impressionable youth into
believing that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are safe and
beneficial, if not the answer to all the problems of the world?2
4-H Volunteers are Being Trained by Monsanto
The 4-H Youth Development Organization was originally set up by
the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to train the rural youth of
America in hands-on skills like agriculture and raising animals,
including the promotion of responsible animal husbandry and the
cultivation of food resources in a responsible, ethical way.
The 4-H emblem, a four-leaf clover, is supposed to symbolize four
actions (head, hands, heart, and health) as stated in their pledge:
“I pledge my head to clearer thinking,
my heart to greater loyalty, my hands
to larger service and my health to better
living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.”
However, as noble as their original vision is, it remains
vulnerable to the influences of its funders. Just as the USDA and
other government agencies have a carefully crafted and well
established revolving door arrangement with industry, 4-H is
increasingly in the grips of the corporations that fund
it—specifically, the agricultural, biotech, and junk food
industries.
According to its 2012 Annual Report,3
4-H’s funding comes from a long list of donors that include
Monsanto,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cargill, DuPont, United Soybean
Board,
Coca-Cola, and
Pfizer. It doesn’t take much imagination to predict what sort of
agenda 4-H would need to promote to keep its donors happy.
Pro-GMO propaganda would be easy to weave into 4-H’s program
since they already occupy the role of teaching children the art of
farming, and in their position of authority, children would never
question it. Monsanto is now also training tens of
thousands of 4-H volunteers, according to an article in 4-Traders:
“In 2007, Monsanto expanded its 4-H volunteerism support
by funding state and regional development. More than 52,600
volunteers have attended Monsanto-supported forums and training
events in 50 states, three US territories and four Extension
regional forums.”
Monsanto Hijacks Government, Education and Science
Corporations like Monsanto are employing increasingly underhanded
strategies to spread their self-serving propaganda across broader
segments of society. Here are three prime examples:
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Hijacking Government Regulators: Conflicts
of interest are rampant in government agencies, which have a
revolving door with US federal regulatory agencies like the
USDA, FDA, and EPA.
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Hijacking Higher Education: An
ever-increasing percentage of funding for research at land grant
universities now comes from private corporations, giving big
companies a stronger foothold than ever in higher education.
Corporations wield power over educational institutions by giving
college leaders positions on their corporate boards, and by
hiring scientists as paid consultants. As a result, academic
freedom has gone out the window, conflicts of interest are
rampant, and bias eclipses objectivity.
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Hijacking the Media: Organizations such as Science
Media Centre and American Council on Science and Health feature
scientific “experts” that are anything but independent, and have
undisclosed and far-reaching affiliations with the biotech
industry.
Of course, if you are a large corporation trying to control the
food supply, the younger you Consider the “Biotechnology Basics
Activity Book” for kids, circulated by CBI (Council for
Biotechnology Information).4
Its colorful pages and friendly cartoon characters spew outright
lies about the “benefits” of genetic engineering for health,
environment, world hunger and the future of farming. Monsanto is one
of eight biotech companies behind the release of this 16-page
children’s activity book, demonstrating just how low it will stoop.
CBI claims to promote science-based information but is really just a
shill for the biotech industry, for the purpose of advancing the
pro-GMO agenda. Brainwashing
children is a new low, even for Monsanto. They’re not
satisfied with just poisoning our children’s bodies—now they’re
trying to poison their minds as well. And history is quite clear
about how easy it is to poison the minds of the young.
Hijacking the Minds of Our Youth
It is difficult to ignore the parallels when looking at how 4-H,
the largest American youth organization, is being hijacked by big
biotech corporations to fulfill an agenda—the worldwide takeover by
GMOs. But when you consider that Monsanto has no problem with
poisoning our children,
destroying farmers,
polluting oceans, and
ruining the earth’s topsoil, it seems there is no limit to their
avarice.
If the Nazi analogy seems far-fetched, consider that the German
people would have felt the same way before they realized what was
happening to them. These manipulations can be masterful and
insidious. The best way to protect your child from corporate
brainwashing is with YOUR watchful eye.
If corporations like Monsanto are successful in hijacking the
minds of our youth, they will essentially be in control the
decisions and behavior of the next generation—and there is nothing
to stop them until a great deal of damage is done to you, your
children and grandchildren, and our planet. This is why it is so
critical for you to be involved in your children’s activities and
take an active role in their education. Do not fall into the trap of
assuming that, just because they are involved with a “reputable”
organization like 4-H, that they are getting unbiased and truthful
information.
Vote with Your Pocketbook, Every Day
The food companies on the left of this graphic spent tens of
millions of dollars in the last two labeling campaigns—in California
and Washington State - to prevent you from knowing what’s
in your food. You can even the score by switching to the brands on
the right; all of whom stood behind the I-522 Right to Know
campaign. Voting with your pocketbook, at every meal, matters. It
makes a huge difference.
I encourage you to continue educating yourself about genetically
engineered foods, and to share what you’ve learned with family and
friends. Remember, unless a food is certified organic, you can
assume it contains GMO ingredients if it contains sugar from sugar
beets, soy, or corn, or any of their derivatives.
If you buy processed food, opt for products bearing the USDA 100%
Organic label, as certified organics do not permit GMO’s. You can
also print out and use the
Non-GMO Shopping Guide,
created by the Institute for Responsible Technology. Share it with
your friends and family, and post it to your social networks.
Alternatively, download their free iPhone application, available in
the iTunes store. You can find it by searching for ShopNoGMO in the
applications. For more in-depth information, I highly recommend
reading the following two books, authored by Jeffrey Smith, the
executive director of the
Institute for
Responsible Technology:
For timely updates,
join the Non-GMO
Project on Facebook, or
follow them on Twitter.
Please, do your homework. Together, we have the power to stop the
biotech industry from destroying our food supply, the future of our
children, and the earth as a whole. All we need is about five
percent of American shoppers to simply stop buying
genetically engineered foods, and the food industry would have to
reconsider their source of ingredients—regardless of whether the
products bear an actual GMO label or not.
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/12/31/monsanto-4-h-programs.aspx
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