March Against Monsanto

The March Against Monsanto was an international grassroots movement and protest against Monsanto, a producer of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide.^[1] The movement was founded by Tami Canal in response to the failure of California Proposition 37, a ballot initiative which would have required labeling food products made from GMOs. Advocates support mandatory labeling laws for food made from GMOs.^[2][3]

The initial march took place on May 25, 2013. The number of protesters who took part is uncertain; figures of "hundreds of thousands"^[4] and the organizers' estimate of "two million"^[5] were variously cited. Events took place in between 330^[3] and 436^[5] cities around the world, mostly in the United States.^[3][6][7] Many protests occurred in Southern California, and some participants carried signs expressing support for mandatory labeling of GMOs that read "Label GMOs, It's Our Right to Know", and "Real Food 4 Real People".^[6] Canal said that the movement would continue its "anti-GMO cause" beyond the initial event.^[5] Further marches occurred in October 2013^[8] and in May 2014^[9][10][11] and May 2015.^[12][13]

The protests were reported by news outlets including ABC News,^[14] the Associated Press,^[5] The Washington Post,^[15] The Los Angeles Times,^[6] USA Today,^[5] and CNN^[16] (in the United States), and The Guardian^[1] (outside the United States).

Monsanto said that it respected people's rights to express their opinion on the topic, but maintained that its seeds improved agriculture by helping farmers produce more from their land while conserving resources, such as water and energy.^[5] The company reiterated that genetically modified foods were safe and improved crop yields.^[17]