Monsanto

Both are hugely expensive and sophisticated solutions to relatively simple problems. Pushing GM crops in the developing world is like recommending brain surgery before you've tried aspirin.

Vanity Fair magazine blasts Monsanto this month.

Water shortages are on the rise, from Mexico to the Andes, northern China to southern India, and Spain to Pakistan. Drought, soaring populations and population densities, changing diets, and increasing living standards are all factors. Is this an issue that technology can fix?

Today I caught news of quite the story that will hopefully have a ripple effect on other companies throughout the industry. Giant food retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced that its store brand milk in the United States will now come exclusively from cows not treated with artificial growth hormones.

Sacre bleu. At the end of last week, French president Nicolas Sarkozy took a stand against biotech giant Monsanto and banned a strain of GM maize which has previously been grown by French farmers. Their MON 810 variety - according to AFP, the only type of GM maize currently being grown in France - has been withdrawn after a committee of scientists, farmers and politicians raised doubts over its continued use.

Farmers in the Midwest are concerned that pollen from genetically engineered alfalfa, that’s grown primarily in the Northwest, could and would migrate to organic crops.

How's this for a creative and exciting example of direct action - it's a blockade but with a difference. Earlier this morning in Romania, Greenpeace volunteers quarantined a whole island where GM soya crops are being grown, which is illegal under EU law. Vehicles leaving Braila island were hosed down by people wearing white biohazard suits to prevent genetic contamination spreading to the mainland. Even a donkey and cart were washed and made GM-free!

Is the food safe in the USA? What chemicals are in your water supply? Why is autism and multiple sclerosis so prevalent in our society? And why are soldiers returning from war with multiple sclerosis?