Profit Pathology and Disposable Planet - Essay Example

? How “Flow: Love for Water” and “The World According to Monsanto” Support the Article “Profit Pathology and Disposable Planet” The documentaries “Flow: For Love of Water” and “The World According to Monsanto” are closely related to the article “Profit Pathology and Disposable Planet” written by Michael Parenti. Even though each of these documents deals with a very specific issue, the evil portrayed in each of these works is destructive. Indeed, “Flow: For Love of Water” raises the crucial issue of people’s right to have access to clean water and at the same time denounces the multinationals which pretend to help with the issue while they are actually taking advantage of the population. Besides, “The World According to Monsanto” foregrounds the dangerous effects Monsanto products have on people’s health while it points out the complicity of the FDA that empowers the company. Moreover, “Profit Pathology and Disposable Planet” focuses on the climate change and pollution threatening the world while the companies responsible for the damage enrich themselves and receive protection. “Flow,” “Monsanto” and “Pathology” highlight the dangerous effects of chemicals on individuals but also engage the responsibility of multinational companies only concerned for profit and not for people’s well-being. Both “Flow” and “Pathology” address crucial problems that endanger people’s lives. “Flow” is a documentary directed by Irene Salina in 2008 and introduces the difficulty many people around the world have in finding clean water and how chemicals have contaminated drinkable water around the world. It is common knowledge that water is indispensable for survival; however, the reality is that water is becoming scare throughout the world. As stated in “Flow”: “The world is running out of fresh water.” This dramatic observation represents a real threat to millions of people around the world compelled to drink dirty water. This scarcity of fresh water is related to the pollution caused by companies whose chemical products contaminate the water. “Flow” presents examples from Mexico, Bolivia, India and South Africa where people die after drinking contaminated water. This pollution is a point Michael Parenti denounces in his article. He indeed presents pollution as s threat to people’s health and survival. Indicating the companies’ involvement in the pollution, he states: “This corporate system of capital accumulation treats the Earth's life-sustaining resources (arable land, groundwater, wetlands, foliage, forests, fisheries, ocean beds, bays, rivers, air quality) as disposable ingredients presumed to be of limitless supply, to be consumed or toxified at will” (Parenti). He clearly denounces the destruction of the world’s resources and the toxic chemicals companies discharge in them therefore threatening people’s health and lives. Similarly “Monsanto” and Parenti’s article also share the same concern about the deadly effects of chemicals and the invincibility of the multinationals that have total control over the organizations supposed to regulate the fields. This documentary directed by Marie-Monique Robin in 2008 presents Monsanto, a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation, involved in the production of herbicide and genetically engineered seeds. Even though Monsanto claims “to help farmers produce better crops” (Monsanto) there is a growing controversy concerning the health risks that the products constitute. In fact, some studies find that the herbicide, Round up, and other chemicals “Provoke the first stages that lead to cancer” (Monsanto). Because of these health risks, workers and researchers raise the question of safety; however, their concerns did not find easy answers since they soon found out that the company was very powerful and well-grounded. Their priority was not the safety of their workers or the environment but to make profit. One of the company’s reports indicates: “We cannot afford to lose one dollar of business” (Monsanto). This pursuit of profit leads them to take measures that allow them to conceal the truth. A participant in the documentary informs: “They knew the truth but hid it” (Monsanto). This concern for money is also found in Parenti’s article which reveals that the companies only care for their own advantages: “What is now at stake for them is something more proximate and more urgent than global ecology; it is global profits. The fate of the biosphere seems like a remote abstraction compared to the fate of one's immediate--and enormous—investments” (Parenti). These multinational companies do not worry about environmental or health issues but about how much money they will make. “Flow” also deals with the issue of the multinationals which pretend to help people resolve the problem of water while they, indeed, work for their own profit. Instead of helping the poor people have access to clean drinkable water, they decide to sell it to them, which the poverty stricken individuals cannot afford and therefore continue dinking the dirty water from rivers and wells and get sick. This observation from Fatima Meer, Nelson Mandela’s biographer, explains the situation: “How can you sell water to people who cannot pay?” (Flow) This interrogation demonstrates the hard conditions poor South Africans live in but also reveals the nature of these companies who only seek to make profit but not help provide individuals with clean water. A member of these companies says facing the camera: “People have to pay for what they consume” (Flow). This sarcastic remark indicates the true motive of these multinationals. This is an attitude Patenti criticizes in his article revealing that these companies take advantage of every situation: “They are more wedded to their wealth than to the Earth upon which they live, more concerned about the fate of their fortunes than the fate of humanity, so possessed by their pursuit of profit as to not see the disaster looming ahead” (Parenti). In the same way, these so called philanthropists are trying to make more money from the misfortune of these poor people in South Africa instead of helping them build wells or purify the water from rivers. They don’t care if these individuals drink dirty water and die; they only care for making more money. “Monsanto” finds a link between Monsanto and the FDA which explains the company’s power and invincibility. There have been many claims that the government should be aware of the health hazard and danger that Monsanto represents for the population; however, officials do not react or pretend not to be aware. One participant notes: “FDA had a clear warning because the food caused an epidemic” (Monsanto). An epidemic should have moved the government to initiate an investigation to clarify the matter and protect citizens. However, other motivations seem to be involved since some government officials are suspected of being members of these companies, and some of them are really members. Some examples are Robert Shapiro, Donald Rumsfeld, Clarence Thomas and Michael Taylor (Monsanto). These officials have been accused of defending the interest of Monsanto because they have some form of connection with the company which makes them take their side when an imminent action is needed. Parenti also openly shows the government’s involvement which explains the companies’ attitude: “The free marketeers have a deep all-abiding faith in laissez-faire for it is a faith that serves them well. It means no government oversight, no being held accountable for the environmental disasters they perpetrate” (Parenti). He accuses the economic system of granting them the freedom to act as they wish and not be hold accountable. Even though they abuse of this prerogative the government does not supervise their actions because of their right to invest and have profit. The companies clearly take advantage of the situation and the government does not have anything to say about it. The private companies represent a big threat to the world resources. They pump out water that belongs to everybody, bottle it up and sell it for much money. The water industry is very profitable and is controlled by big companies: “The private industry monitors the water supply” (Flow). This control gives them much power around the world from India to South Africa, Bolivia and the US. This participant informs: “Nestle owns 70 brands of bottled water” (Flow). This explains its overwhelming power and strong financial status. Worried about the extinction of resources in Michigan, the population takes Nestle to court to get the company to stop pumping water out of the wells (Flow). This concern is real and widespread around the world where companies constitute a real threat to humanity. This constant danger urges people to express their frustration about the pollution these companies cause to their environment. In India Coca Cola was ordered to shut down its bottling company after a successful women’s march (Flow). These companies do not worry about the effects of their actions. Parenti foregrounds their lack of concern: “Far worse than denial, they have shown outright antagonism toward those who think our planet is more important than their profits. So they defame environmentalists as "eco-terrorists," "EPA gestapo," "Earth day alarmists," "tree huggers," and purveyors of "Green hysteria." Instead of changing their attitude the companies accuse those who care about the environment and worry about its preservation to be alarmists. The genetically engineered crops represent a real danger for consumers around the world. The chemicals used in the process are very dangerous and have a negative impact on people’s health. The genetic manipulation causes the threat which makes the crops unsafe for the population. However, driven by profit, the company denies the allegations and goes even further: “Monsanto ignores warnings from their own scientists” (Monsanto). This shows how far, they are willing to go. Another threat is carried by the herbicide they spread over trees or even around the crops. This product causes serious health issues since 3 millions of people were contaminated in Vietnam many of whom had genetic malfunction because of the presence of dioxin (Monsanto). Parenti raises a similar threat in his article and the negative effects of pollution. He points out that the multinationals: “continue to take irresponsible risks, plunder the land, poison the seas, sicken whole communities, lay waste to entire regions, and pocket obscene profits” (Parenti). Even though these actions are detrimental to the population, the multinationals are not concerned about it and mainly put forward their gain. Both “Flow” and “Monsanto” strongly support Parenti’s article in the sense that all documents tackle the destructive effects of chemicals in human beings. Even though “Flow” focuses on water, “Monsanto” on crops and “Pathology” on pollution, all three documents demonstrate how multinationals’ products endanger people’s lives. Moreover, this destruction is also accompanied with an overwhelming search for profit that puts forward these companies’ interest to the detriment of individuals with the complicity of government officials whose honesty has been deeply questioned. Works Cited Flow: For the Love of Water. Dir. Irena Salina. Oscilloscope Laboratories, 2008. Documentary Film. Web. 5 May 2012. Parenti, Michael. “Profit Pathology and Disposable Planet.” Michaelparenti.org. 2011. Web. 5 May 2012. The World According to Monsanto. Dir. Marie-Monique Robin. Image & Compagnie, 2008. Documentary Film. Web. 5 May 2012 Read More