[RawFood] Monsnato Expands Into Fruits & Veggies

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Comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Monsanto expands into fruits and vegetables

 

Important to all us raw and/organic fooders, who needs the genes of

animals put in our fruits and veggies?

 

News Update From The Campaign

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Dear News Update Subscribers,

 

In a move that opens the door to the aggressive marketing of biotech

fruits and vegetables, Monsanto has agreed to purchase Seminis, the

world's largest producer of fruit and vegetable seeds, for about $1

billion.

 

Monsanto seems to be downplaying the significance of this move in

relation to genetically engineered fruits and vegetables. In a

somewhat coy statement, their chief executive officer, Hugh Grant,

stated " In the long term, there may be opportunities in biotech. "

 

Many activists feel this is a gross understatement and that Monsanto

will push hard to bring genetically engineered vegetables and fruits

out sooner rather than later. Some insiders speculate that Monsanto

wants to get a significant variety of biotech crops into the

marketplace quickly while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

regulations are still incredibly lax. (there is really no research

in this by the FDA - frightening - Laura)

 

Until recently, a significant focus of Monsanto was to move forward

on the introduction of genetically engineered wheat. However, U.S.

and international opposition to biotech wheat caused the company to

shelve those plans in the short term.

 

Some feel this new grandiose move by Monsanto into the fruit and

vegetable market is a strategic move to gain broader acceptance of

biotech crops. They feel Monsanto will then again try to move

forward with genetically engineered wheat.

 

Monsanto is considered by many to be one of the world's most

controversial companies. The company has faced numerous legal

charges over the years that continue even in recent days.

 

In 2001, Monsanto was found guilty of releasing tons of PCBs into

the city of Anniston, Alabama and covering up its actions for

decades. The jury found Monsanto liable on all six charges it

considered: negligence, wantonness, suppression of the truth,

nuisance, trespass and outrage. Under Alabama law, the charge

of " outrage " requires conduct " so outrageous in character and

extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency so

as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in

civilized society. "

 

Most recently, on January 6, 2005, the U.S. Securities and Exchange

Commission (SEC) filed two settled enforcement proceedings charging

Monsanto with making illicit payments in violation of the Foreign

Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). It appears that Monsanto had bribed

more than 140 current and former Indonesian government officials and

their families by an amount totaling more than $700,000 between 1997

and 2002. The cash was paid to allow the company to develop

genetically engineered crops in Indonesia.

 

The SEC lawsuit charged Monsanto with violating the FCPA and imposed

a civil penalty of $500,000. They also issued an administrative

order finding that Monsanto violated the anti-bribery, books-and-

records, and internal-controls provisions of the FCPA and ordered

the company to cease and desist from such violations. Further, the

U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal information charging that

Monsanto violated the anti-bribery and books and records provisions

of the FCPA. Monsanto agreed to pay a $1 million monetary penalty to

defer prosecution charges by the Department of Justice.

 

Considering the track record of Monsanto, you might think that the

FDA would closely scrutinize any new genetically engineered crops

the company plans to bring to market. But under current FDA

regulations, Monsanto is not even required to notify the agency

that they are bringing out a new genetically engineered crop (unless

the nutrient value is significantly altered or the product contains

a known allergen.) Apparently the FDA trusts Monsanto to do the

right thing. Do you?

 

Posted below are three articles about Monsanto's $1 billion purchase

of Seminis. The first article from the Wall Street Journal is

titled " Monsanto Co. to Pay $1 Billion For Produce-Seed Firm

Seminis. " The second article from the Associated Press is

titled " Monsanto to buy seed company Seminis in $1B deal. " And the

third article from The New York Times is titled " Monsanto Buying

Leader in Fruit and Vegetable Seeds. "

 

Craig Winters

President

The Campaign

PO Box 55699

Seattle, WA 98155

Tel: 425-771-4049

E-mail: label

Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org