Monday, October 22, 2012

ACTION ALERT! Dow (Monsanto) Seeks Approval of Agent Orange Component 2,4-D

Bad news for anyone who eats corn in the United States of America, as we, the poisoned and dying can attest!

Monsanto and Dow have joined forces to create the mother of all herbicide resistant corn seeds, and the chemical they will be using is 2,4-D which is approximately half of our favorite chemical, Agent Orange. As a veteran seeking compensation for PCB-related disability, I have already been warned not to use the words Agent or Orange in my application/appeal process because apparently Monsanto has already done all the compensating they plan to do on that front, and it all went to the MEN who were exposed in Vietnam.

We who were exposed near the plant where they actually MANUFACTURED the stuff and spilled it willy-nilly into the water system (sometimes those spills were, by some miracle, caught; other times, I am QUITE POSITIVE they were not.) 

Either way, as you all know, the civilian population of Anniston, Alabama, was generously compensated for said spills. Fort McClellan, which is widely considered the most toxic place on the map of the United States of America, and which not only used Monsanto's magical herbicide during and no doubt after the Vietnam era (directly after which yours truly served there) but stored barrels of all kinds of lovely toxic matter in nice leaky barrels...most of which was eventually incinerated. Parts of the grounds of Fort McClellan were simply paved over because it was impossible to get rid of all the toxic ground and ground water beneath the base. 

The Women's Army Corps trained there, and inhaled PCB contaminated steam into their (our) lungs several times a day, which is why so many of us are so much sicker than many of the men there. Inhaling is the next best thing to shooting a substance right into a vein and in some cases it's worse, because the toxin remains IN THE LUNGS and continues to be exposed directly to the blood of the victim with every breath they take for whatever the life of the substance may be. With PCB I believe that is somewhere near forever. 

You may be certain that this body of mine WILL be well studied upon my death, unless Uncle Sam arranges some kind of "accident" for me involving fire, which would not surprise me, given the resistance we have faced so far, and the utter ruthlessness with which our requests for information and assistance have been stonewalled. The Army and VA KNEW what was going on at Fort McClellan for YEARS, yet not only are they doing nothing to help us (the most recent bill to start the process of informing and tracking us...those first baby steps...languishes in congress) but now we hear they are actually considering RE-APPROVING substance previously BANNED as a KNOWN TOXIN!

Worst of all this BANNED TOXIN is going to implanted into corn seeds. CORN--a major source of our FOOD!

This is just such an obvious case of how money (lobbyists) talk and the rest of us can walk...to our deaths. The whole process just REEKS of bribery and malfeasance. Agent Orange is a KNOWN KILLER. How in the world can they be considering implanting half of what makes it what it is into a FOOD CROP?

My suggested action is to contact EVERYONE you can think of. Here is a list of possibilities, but please don't limit your own list to the few ideas I can think of and please get back to me with more ideas as you think of them!

Your member of congress--don't just email, CALL! Tell them you're a sick veteran and HOW you got sick...that you're wise to what's going on and that you are NOT going to shut up about it. 

Same with your senator.

Local media, print and television.

Talk to all your friends.

Tell your doctor(s) and any support groups you may be involved with, and ask them to keep the word going!
THIS EXPLAINS WHY OUR ISSUE IS FALLING ON DEAF EARS! IT IS ALL ABOUT MONEY (as we probably suspect, but it's even worse than we realized.)

If you're brave, contact Dow Chemical directly. Be warned though. I have read of several instances in my research in which they have used pretty harsh intimidation tactics against anti 2,4-D activists. This is mostly involved with Prop. 37 in California, which would simply require labeling (and the fact that they are SO upset about it proves that they KNOW they are POISONING PEOPLE).

Put something up on YouTube. Tell about yourself and a little bit about your experience (don't get too weird like that right wing whack-job with the beard who thinks there are black helicopters hovering over his house and that Obama has the military on high alert to storm his house to take away all his guns....or whatever his fantasy issues are...) There are pages and pages of references to this issue all over the internet from reputable sources, so you'll be able to direct people to the search engine of their choice to look up "2,4-D and Agent Orange"...and whatever else you want to add.

I have had to change the name of my blog because I've been told what we have isn't really Stateside Agent Orange Disease. Of course it is...it's just a matter of legalities...you know how that all works. We are PCB-poisoned, and passing genetic damage on to our children, and it is ABSOLUTELY service-related. There's no maybes about THAT, just like there was no maybe about the fact that the people of Anniston who all those millions of dollars suffered from the same thing. They just didn't have the extra "frosting on the cake" of the Chemical Warfare Command "goodies" to deal with as well.

My best to you all. 


PS.  My email to Speaker Boehner--I was a tad animated. If you don't hear from me again you'll know why...

I know why Paul Tonko's HR 2052 Fort McClellan Health Registry Act isn't being brought out of Committee for vote. 

Dow wants 2,4-D approved, so their lobbyists are busy lining republican (majority party) pockets while we the sick, suffering and dying veterans, wait and hope for HR 2052 to come out of committee for a vote--a vote which will never come if you don't act. Of course you won't act, because it would look pretty funny if you admitted that thousands and thousands of people were poisoned by something you now want to put in CORN SEEDS.

Ohio congressmen can play coy, and ask for proofs of ranges affected, and play all kinds of cute little games, but the fact of it is...the truth is out now. We know, Bill Maher knows and had it on his show, and pretty soon a WHOLE LOT MORE people are going to be talking to their local press, making YouTube videos, writing letters to everyone they can think of, and basically sending a growing snowball your way just in time for the election.

So the way I see it, you can be a hero or a zero here.


It's a shame none of your contractor buddies gets any business or kickbacks for taking care of veterans. That's why when the first injured Iraq and Afghanistan vets came back during the Bush administration they waited in moldy halls in dilapidated buildings and weren't even SEEN by a medical professional--sometimes for MONTHS after they got home. Yeah...you guys are REALLY all about taking care of the military. How can you people even look at yourselves in the mirror? 

I've taken care of people like you when they're dying, and I'll tell you something. I have never seen such abject PANIC in my life. They know what they have to answer for. I wonder how it will be for you when your time comes. How will your good deeds measure up against the suffering you have knowingly caused? What good will all that money do you then? You're not so young any more. I'd be giving that some thought if I were you. You have a chance to do the right thing here, for people who volunteered to serve their country, many of us at a time when it was a highly UNpopular thing to do (post-Vietnam).

My guess is you are going to stand by and let people continue in complete ignorance of what's really wrong with them even though the Army and VA have known for DECADES and covered it up. And yes, I'm going to continue to suffer and die. My guess is that you don't care about that because I'm just a woman and so are a lot of the people poisoned at Fort McClellan, but a lot weren't. They were MPs and they also worked other jobs. 

Either way, I promise you this. Before my time comes, I and thousands of people like me are going to make sure the world knows that YOU are the one who stood by and let us all die without the compensation and care we and our children deserve!

With all DUE respect...

cc Reid Ribble