Letter to Monsanto

After watching Food Inc and stumbling upon some of the spin from the food industry - www.safefoodinc.org & http://www.monsanto.com/foodinc/ - I just had to write someone a letter.. .

. .. ...so I sent one to Monsanto:

Wow. I just got done reading portions of your site that debunk Food Inc. Really informative. I can't believe that your company does such good things for our country, and with good cause.

Clearly you expect the average American consumer to buy into your lines of manipulation and misinformation.

How dare you suggest you work for the good of all those you feed.

If only it was as easy as picking up a package and seeing that Monsanto had anything to do with it I would cease supporting your company completely.

Fortunately, I can easily find and support those who seek to stop you.

You can guarantee I will, at every opportunity, inform my friends, family, co-workers, and every passerby possible about the ills Monsanto, and corporations like it, pushes on the world and it's people.

-- DetourMind

Yeah, my letter is a wee bit rushed and rather reactionary, but hey, I just felt the need to tell someone, so I filled out their web form and sent it to everyone on their list.

Didn't expect to get a response, but the next day, poof, this is in my inbox:

From: AIRASCA, SANTIAGO [AG-Contractor/1000] <santiago.airasca@monsanto.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Subject: Monsanto
To:

Detour-Mind ,

You said that ‘you don’t believe’ that Monsanto does good things for America? It is not a matter of faith; there are facts that prove that Monsanto’s is working to provide American farmers the tools to produce safe and healthy food. Did you try asking real farmers how their lives have changed since Monsanto became an ag company? Do you want to chat with Monsanto’s employees? Do you know how many people is now making a living producing food and other commodities only because biotechnology companies are providing them with the tools to do it, especially small farmers?

Please, if you have the time, could you explain me why are you saying that our website is manipulating and misinforming the average American consumer? Do I have to assume that you are not an average consumer?

I won’t suggest, but state that WE WORK FOR THE GOOD OF ALL THOSE that consumes food produced using our products (we are not food producers, we are a seed company).

I would really appreciate if you take the time to look for real and serious sources before providing your friends, family, co-workers and everybody else bias information. I guess you want them to know the facts and not some anti-xxxxxxx propaganda.

If you have any particular question or concern I will be more than happy to provide you good information from respectful sources about these topics.

Regards,
Santiago

Santiago Airasca
Ph: 314-694-2581
santiago.airasca@monsanto.com


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It may just be me, but it seems I hit a sore spot at Monsanto. Apparently someone needed to make sure I wasn't sharing my views and opinions on Monsanto with everyone I come into contact with. They suggest that I should speak to some real farmers, but unfortunately, less than 1% of Americans are farmers (http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag101/demographics.html), so that should prove rather difficult.

After receiving this email from Santiago of Monsanto, I thought I better see who this guy was. A quick Google search of Santiago Airasca produced some interesting results.

Apparently, this guy is the "Issues Manager at MONSANTO" and worked as "PR Manager at Medanito S.A." - an Oil & Energy co in Argentina once associated with Chevron (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/santiago/airasca). So, I should trust a the former PR guy for Big Oil when he tells me about the goodness of Monsanto - the maker of the Round Up, Round Up Ready seeds, and the terminator gene?

I think not.