The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

4Roundup: A MassiveBrainwashing OperationGlyphosate is less toxic to rats than table salt following acute oral ingestion.—Monsanto advertisement“If, like Rex, you hate weeds in your garden, here’s Roundup, the firstbiodegradable herbicide. It kills weeds from the inside down to the roots andpollutes neither the soil nor Rex’s bones. Roundup, the herbicide that makesyou want to kill weeds!” Many television viewers in France will rememberthis lighthearted ad showing a dog happily spraying Roundup on weeds inthe middle of a lawn and then digging up the bone it had buried in the veryspot where the herbicide had shriveled the roots of the weeds. Rex’s enthusiasticbarking suggests that the dog will gnaw on that bone with completeassurance because Roundup is completely harmless. One might almostimagine the nice dog washing down its feast with the dregs from the containerof “biodegradable herbicide.”The Most Widely Sold Herbicide in the WorldBroadcast 381 times on the major French television channels betweenMarch 20 and May 28, 2000, this publicity campaign cost Monsanto the tidysum of 20 million francs. Similar spots were being broadcast at the same timealmost everywhere in the world, because the company was at a critical juncture;its patent on Roundup was set to expire later that year, which would end