I hear it all the time and see it all the time over social media.

The demonization of Monsanto as the bane of the earth. Monsanto this, Monsanto that – obviously it was Monsanto’s fault because somehow they caused all the bad in the world.

The comments on anything not even remotely related to Monsanto literally become Monsanto related.

A general Facebook post can be put up about the benefits of genetically modified food, etc. and suddenly some variation of this comment appears with colorful language and lots of random conspiracy theories no one has actually proven “Well don’t you know Monsanto’s destroying the world?”

Well don’t you know there are other companies committed to new technology development to help farmers continue to improve at what they do best including pesticides and genetically modified organisms that aren’t Monsanto? As if this is even a bad thing – to find ways to make food more accessible to the consumer.

Apparently Tech Times decided they wanted to fearmonger today. As in creating fear without any actual scientific evidence. Which happens a lot in general. They’ve been fairly successful I would say as their article’s been shared over 4,000 times.

Here’s the catch though.

You read the whole article and get down to the bottom and it admits “there is no solid proof yet that the larvicide causes microcephaly“.

So lets back up – we actually have no evidence of this but we wrote it anyway.

Also it’s not even Monsanto’s pesticide. They don’t produce it and they don’t sell it. The company that does is a business partner as stated on Monsanto’s blog. The “Association” Tech Times mentions is literally a press release talking about Monsanto’s efforts to help with weed management. Not control mosquito populations.

My heart hurts for those in countries where the Zika virus is rampant. We actually had to write a mini-paper in my economic entomology class describing the symptoms and prevention. Microcephaly is a potentially awful consequence for the child a pregnant woman is carrying that is infected with the Zika virus. Microcephaly can cause seizures, delay, disability and hearing or vision loss it is truly debilitating.

While you rarely die from the Zika virus you can have symptoms including rash and muscle pain among other things. The Zika virus and consequence of potential microcephaly is serious and shouldn’t be trivialized by spreading misinformation that doesn’t actually have any scientific backing.

Furthermore, let’s take a moment to realize some of the noteworthy efforts Monsanto is making to help better the health of the planet overall worldwide. They’re  helping bees, monarch butterflies and are continually learning innovative ways to use less water, and keep soils in awesome shape. 

We also need to realize that pesticides aren’t inherently bad. They’re simply tools to help us enjoy food that’s not infested with bugs. There are guidelines for utilizing pesticides that are established based upon thorough scientific research so they can be responsibly used. You can read up more about the research done on this specific pesticide and several other reasons Tech Times assumption is not fact here.

It’s really awkward when you write a whole article and there’s nothing to actually back it up.

Thanks for reading,