Product Details

• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0028N3TW8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,877 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Monsanto, the world's largest producer of genetically engineered products, claims their patented GM seeds and bovine growth hormone (BGH) will increase worldwide production of agricultural, dairy, meat, and Bt cotton and can eradicate world hunger and poverty. However, Monsanto (maker of Agent Orange) is frequently described as the Gestapo and mafia by farmers who use their products due to their use of pressure tactics, attempts at corruption, misleading reports and collusion with the American government. The World According to Monsanto pieces together the true, unsettling story of how the clean, green image conveyed by the company's advertising serves as a smoke screen for Monsanto's quest for market supremacy - to the detriment of global food security, public health and environmental stability.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 88 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars When farmers are in despair, Monsanto is making money December 24, 2009

By Guy Denutte

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

The world is considered by Monsanto a playground to spread its poisonous chemicals to make money, without taking any responsibility for the consequences, pretending as long as possible that those are harmless, until all the evidence becomes so overwhelming it's impossible to continue denying it. That is what they did with PCB's. After 50 years of making money, they settled for a few bucks to pay for some of the damage to the survivors. An internal memo revealed the company policy : "We cannot afford to lose one dollar of business". On the other hand, the world certainly could afford to lose Monsanto. It would be a better place. Now, we have PCB's all around the place. All of us - including you and me - have PCB's in our bodies. Even polar bears have PCB's in their blood !

After producing other chemicals, like Agent Orange, Monsanto began focusing on genetic manipulated seeds in the 90's. This would radically change farming. Not to our benefit, but exclusively to the benefit of Monsanto. Therefore, GM seeds only end up producing a lot of despair in farmers all around the world. This video will take you to Mexico, Paraguay and India. You will also see corn farmers in the US, not being able to save their seeds anymore, since their crops were cross-pollinated with Roundup Ready seeds from Monsanto. Monsanto now disposes of a huge force of "detectives", checking American farm ground all over the nation, trespassing private property and stealing samples of the fields in order to check if those happen to include "their patent", and then oblige farmers to settle to pay for it. In a just world, Monsanto would be prosecuted for gene pollution. But that's not the world we live in. We live in a world where corporate interests are considered by our "democratic" governments to be more important than human interests, justice and honesty.

Monsanto's aim is to monopolize the global seed production. Seeds increase tremendously in price after Monsanto gets hold of a monopoly. In India, where cotton seeds are all "Roundup Ready", cotton seed prices increased a whopping 400 % ! A lot of farmers can't cope with the debts they have to pay anymore. On the one hand, seeds cost much more, but on the other hand, harvesting is totally at their own risk, and they have to cope with the dwindling prices for their crops, if they are lucky enough to have a good harvest. Some of them get involved in a never-ending spiral of debt. In this video, you will see an Indian cotton farmer, 25 years old - dead after suicide. Every day, 2 to 3 Indian cotton farmers commit suicide. That is the world according to Monsanto : a playground where farmers are exploited at the maximum, just to make more and more dollars.

It is also important to note that poisoning the fields with Roundup is very bad for the environment and for our health. Roundup is an extremely dangerous pesticide, as confirmed by a specialist in this film.

This is the best documentary I saw on GM crops. It has no happy ending, but in order to change the world, we first have to understand it. There are ways out : buy organics, and support organic farmers close to you. They need our support very, very much.

UPDATE : At least some good news : a biodynamic counter-revolution has begun in India; watch it on the excellent documentary One Man, One Cow, One Planet.

SECOND UPDATE : A landmark lawsuit filed on March 29 2011 in US federal court seeks to invalidate Monsanto's patents on genetically modified seeds and to prohibit the company from suing those whose crops become genetically contaminated. The Public Patent Foundation filed suit on behalf of 270,000 people from sixty organic and sustainable businesses and trade associations, including thousands of certified-organic farmers. In Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, et al. (U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, Case No. 11 CIV 2163), PUBPAT details the invalidity of any patent that poisons people and the environment, and that is not useful to society, two hallmarks of US patent law. "As Justice Story wrote in 1817, to be patentable, an invention must not be 'injurious to the well being, good policy, or sound morals of society,'" notes the complaint in its opening paragraphs, citing Lowell v. Lewis. The suit points to studies citing harm caused by Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, including human placental damage, lymphoma, myeloma, animal miscarriages, and other impacts on human health. Plaintiffs condemn Monsanto for prohibiting independent research on its transgenic seeds and for its successful lobby efforts to ban GM food labeling. Many raise the specter of allergic reaction to GM foods, proof of which is hidden by lack of labeling.

The suit also confronts the propaganda that transgenic seeds improve yield and reduce pesticide use, citing reports on failure to yield and increased pesticide use. The complaint mentions a 2010 lawsuit by West Virginia after several studies contradicted yield results claimed in Monsanto's ads. And, it notes the growth in glyphosate-resistant superweeds.

"Thus, since the harm of transgenic seed is known, and the promises of transgenic seed's benefits are false, transgenic seed is not useful for society."

75 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST SEE May 31, 2009

By Marvelous Bunny

Format:DVD

The MONSANTO corporation is one of the most Dangerous companies on the planet. The fact that the American Amazon store is selling it for almost a hundred dollars (when you can get it at tthe Amazon.ca webstore for much cheaper and at [...] for about 20 dollars) should give you an idea of just how powerful this documentary is.
This documentary has gotten critical acclaim and is very well researched. Monsanto wants to OWN the food chain and if we are not careful they will complete their plans. Remember these are the same people that told us PCB's and Dioxin where good for us. Why is a chemical company given so much power over our food? Why aren't the American people aware of just how much genetically modified organisms are a part of our everyday food? This documentary gives a clear picture of the issues and answers. Please buy it from [...] it is MUCH CHEAPER and they have our best interests at heart.

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Enlightening. August 26, 2009

By CelticWomanFanPiano VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

This is a well done film that exposes the recent involvement of Monsanto in PCB Production, Agent Orange creation, Bovine Growth Hormone, and even the new genetically modified seeds. The interviews with involved people are all well done and the material presented in an easily understood fashion. The film does an excellent job of presenting material from all over the world and connecting the dots to Monsanto. Anybody who has been involved with anything in recent times has heard of Monsanto as a multinational corporation, but this film really shows its involvement in policy creation and in contaminating our food supply. It is a must see film.