In light of the recent public anger over the Monsanto Protection Act, here’s a simple, printable list of companies that use Monsanto products. By avoiding products made by companies on this list, you can help ensure your money isn’t going to Monsanto and also watch out for the health of your family and yourself.
If you wish to print, simply click on the list and choose “Print” from your browser’s menu (or press CTRL+P/CMD+P).
Regina Dugan, former director of the Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) and current head of Google-owned Motorola’s research division, introduced a prototype “vitamin authentication” tablet which turns your entire body into a walking authentication token.
“We got to do a lot of epic shit when I was at DARPA,” Dugan said. Indeed, DARPA has been involved in everything from weaponized hallucinations to tiny spy computers to military human enhancements to automated drone-borne targeting and tracking systems to linking rat brains over the internet and much more.
Forget traditional usernames and passwords, this technology unveiled at D11 uses a tiny stomach acid-powered tablet to produce an 18-bit signal which can be detected by outside devices and used for authentication.
Dugan also showed off wearable electronic tattoos produced by a company called MC10, in partnership with Motorola, which serve a similar function.
The rationale behind these technologies, according to Dugan, is the annoyances caused by traditional authentication.
“Authentication is irritating,” Dugan said. “After 40 years of advances in computation, we’re still authenticating basically the same way we did years ago.”
The tablet, made by Proteus Digital Health, has already been approved by the FDA, according to Popular Science.
“The tablets contain a small chip with a switch and something that amounts to an inside-out potato battery,” Wired UK explains. “After swallowing it the acids in your stomach act as electrolytes, which power the battery and turn the switch on and off in a sequence.”
This produces an 18-bit ECG-like signal, turning the entire person into an “authentication token,” which Dugan called “vitamin authentication,” according to the Verge.
“This isn’t stuff that is going to ship anytime soon. But it is a sign of the new boldness inside Motorola,” said Dennis Woodside, CEO of Motorola.
However, Woodside did successfully complete a demonstration of the tablet authenticating a phone.
“The authentication could be activated by touch, since the human body conducts electricity — touch your phone or laptop and you’re in,” according to Discovery.
“Google won’t be force feeding you these pills like this is some kind of a twisted, science-fiction movie,” Tech2 reports.
Yet the attraction is obvious. If people could protect their computers, phones, homes, businesses, etc. without having to constantly type long, complex passwords it’s not difficult to see them wanting to do so.
That’s especially true when one would only have to take a pill regularly and in doing so would provide an authentication method that is more secure than one could imagine in times past. Wired UK states that the development of this type of technology shows “that hacking is a major concern as we conduct more and more of our business online.”
Given the clear benefits of a technology like this, it’s not hard to see companies requiring their employees to use a tablet like this, especially among companies that are especially concerned about security.
Just as some companies have required fingerprint scanners, iris scanners or other biometric identification methods, it’s not hard to imagine some companies jumping on this “vitamin authentication” technology.
Monsanto plans to halt lobbying for its genetically modified plant varieties in Europe due to low demand from local farmers, a representative from the US agricultural giant told a German daily.
"We are no longer working on lobbying for more cultivation in
Europe," Brandon Mitchner a representative for Monsanto’s
European branch, Tageszeitung, said in an interview set to be
published on Saturday.
"Currently we do not plan to apply for the approval of new
genetically modified crops. The reason is, among other things,
low demand of the farmers,” he continued.
A spokeswoman for Monsanto Germany, Ursula Luttmer-Ouazane,
admitted that Monsanto recognizes that GMO crops were currently
not embraced on the European market.
"We've understood that such plants don't have any broad
acceptance in European societies," Luttmer-Ouazane said.
“It is counterproductive to fight against windmills," she
added.
A spokesperson for the German Ministry of Economy and
Technologies described the move as an “entrepreneurial
decision” which needed no further comment. The ministry
added, however, it has long made its opposition to gene
modification technologies known.
"The promises of the GM industry have not come true for
European agriculture, nor have they for the agriculture in
developing and emerging economies," the ministry said in a
statement.
Eight national governments in the European Union have already
banned Monsanto's MON810 maize and other forms of GMO cultivation
in their countries under an environmental protection provision
known as the 'Safeguard Clause'.
Particularly fierce protests in Germany prompted the government
to introduce the measures in 2009 due to concerns that such
cultivation could lead to ecological degradation.
Monsanto’s rivals, such as Bayer CropScience, BASF and Syngenta,
had by and large pulled out of the German market because of
large-scale public opposition, the German daily reported.
Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and most
recently Poland are among other EU member states enforcing the
ban. In April, Italy joined the ranks of EU states looking to ban
the cultivation of GM crops on its soil.
The announcement comes amidst a series of recent public relations
battles that have brought the US firm considerable worldwide
attention.
On Wednesday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it had
conducted genetic tests on wheat from an 80-acre farm in Oregon
this past April. The tests revealed the wheat was an experimental variety
created by Monsanto that had never been approved for sale.
The discovery prompted Japanese authorities to cancel part of a tender offer to buy US western
white wheat and have suspended imports of both that variety and
feed wheat, while several other large importers of US-wheat
throughout Asia said they were closely monitoring the situation.
The European Union for its part said it will test any incoming
shipments, with plans to block those containing GMO wheat.
The USDA announcement followed a massive, global "March Against
Monsanto" held on Saturday that saw demonstrations against the
Missouri-based firm in 52 countries. Organizers for the
global protest said around 2 million protesters showed up at rallies being held
in 436 cities to protest against the seed giant and the
genetically modified food.
