Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, is manufactured by Monsanto, the same company who gave the world genetically-modified crops. Monsanto’s GM crops are Roundup Ready.

This means that Monsanto’s genetically-modified crops can be sprayed with Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide and only the weeds growing among the crops will die. Think of that… genetically modified crops that survive being sprayed with herbicide.

Monsanto presents itself as the company that will save us from food shortages by selling the world genetically modified crops. According to a report in the UK’s Mail on Sunday, India has been used as a testing ground for this controversial approach to agriculture.

Promising crops that are parasite and insect free, and sold to Indian farmers as ‘magic’, GM seeds are over 1,000 times more expensive than traditional seeds.

Believing that there will be high crop yields from the GM seeds, the government has banned traditional varieties of seed from many of their seed banks. Farmers have no option but to borrow heavily to buy the ‘magic seeds’.

After their GM crops fail – as so many of them have – the farmers have no seed to replant for the following year. This is because GM seeds contain ‘terminator technology’, preventing the GM crops from producing viable seed.

To buy more GM seed, the farmers take on an even heavier burden of debt which, after crop failures, they have no chance of repaying. It’s a vicious cycle from which there’s no escape.

According to the Indian Ministry of Agriculture, the suicide rate among farmers has escalated to over 1,000 a month. According to current estimates, over 125,000 farmers have died by their own hand, leaving behind families with huge debts and no income. Anti-GM campaigners are calling it the ‘GM Genocide’.

Well-known products manufactured by Monsanto have included the herbicides 2,4,5-T, DDT, Agent Orange, as well as the now-banned Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

As corporate cultures go Monsanto’s is colourful, to say the least. Wikipedia has a comprehensive history of Monsanto’s operations over the years. It makes for illuminating reading.

You might remember that in 1997 Monsanto prosecuted Canadian farmer, Percy Schmeiser, after Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seeds had contaminated his fields.

Despite Mr Schmeiser having no knowledge of the contamination until after it had happened, Monsanto prosecuted the farmer for illegally growing patented plants.

In March 2008, Monsanto agreed in an out-of-court settlement to pay all the costs for cleaning up the Roundup Ready canola that had contaminated Mr Schmeiser’s farm. It was another of Monsanto’s least fine hours.

Early this month, in New South Wales, the first GM crop of canola was harvested.

Now that the New South Wales and Victorian State governments have released the GM genie from the bottle, perhaps they’ll consider introducing safeguards, such as labeling, to alert consumers to GM foods. Or perhaps they’d rather face blow-outs in State health budgets as the full extent of health problems related to GM foods is revealed.

In the Digger’s Club Autumn magazine, Jeffrey Smith, Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology in Iowa, USA, and author of the book, Seeds of Deception, states that GM corn and cotton are inserted with a gene that produces a pesticide called Bt.

Imagine, you eat some GM corn chips and your body becomes a pesticide dump. Rachel Carson must be turning in her grave.

Farmers around the world have linked Bt corn varieties with sterility in pigs and cows, and deaths among cows, horses, water buffalo and chickens. Hundreds of farm workers who harvested Bt cotton have suffered allergic reactions.

And after the cotton was picked and sheep were allowed to graze on the plants, one out of four died within a week. Other disturbing health problems have affected lab animals fed on GM crops, including altered sperm cells and deformed embryos.

Scientists in the US Food and Drug Administration have warned that genetically-modified foods could lead to allergies, new diseases and nutritional problems. Based on the evidence so far, it would be a fair bet to say that humans who eat GM food can expect to experience a decline in health.

The marketing department of Monsanto long ago relinquished any notion of owning something as meagre as a share of the market. They now talk of owning the entire food chain.

To see how Monsanto controls the food chain, I urge you to watch Patent for a Pig. It’s an extremely interesting exposé of the way in which Monsanto seeks to patent life.

Recently, The Land carried a front-page story reporting that the organisation GM Cropwatch claims to have found evidence of contamination from GM crops in Horsham, Victoria.

Next time the wind blows your way, pray that it won’t be carrying any genetically-modified seeds of despair.