Guest guest Posted October 2, 2003 Report Share Posted October 2, 2003 " News Update from The Campaign " Monsanto and Bayer Thu, 2 Oct 2003 05:26:52 -0500 News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods ---- Dear News Update Subscribers, Monsanto and Bayer are both in the news. MONSANTO In a disappointing ruling on Wednesday, a U.S. federal judge refused to grant class-action status to a lawsuit against Monsanto and other seed companies. If the class-action status had been granted more than 100,000 farmers would have joined the lawsuit. As you may expect, Monsanto is very pleased about this ruling. The lawsuit will go forward, but it will only involve a small number of farmers. The first article below from Associated Press titled " Judge refuses class-action status to antitrust lawsuit against seed producers " will provide more details. BAYER Bayer CropScience has announced they will no longer grow test fields of genetically engineered crops in the United Kingdom (UK). The reason for discontinuing the crop trials is that activists are constantly destroying the test fields. The second article from Sunday's edition of the UK paper The Observer titled " Top GM food company abandons British crop trials " will explain more. Bayer's announcement caused anti-biotech activists to be quite happy. However, to apparently prevent the activists from getting too excited, on Monday Bayer announced they were ready to begin commercial growing of genetically engineered crops as soon as they get government approval. The third article below titled " Bayer says GM maize ready for planting in Britain " will bring you up-to-date on Bayer's latest statements. NEW ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT In the next day or two, a report will be released in the United Kingdom by the Royal Society stating that genetically engineered crops can harm the environment. Preliminary news in the UK indicates the report will say that biotech canola and sugar beets are harmful to plants and insects. Apparently maize, otherwise known as corn, will be found not to be harmful to the environment. However, genetically engineered maize can contaminate organic corn which greatly concerns organic farmers. We will keep you posted on further details once the actual report becomes available. Craig Winters Executive Director The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods The Campaign PO Box 55699 Seattle, WA 98155 Tel: 425-771-4049 Fax: 603-825-5841 E-mail: label Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org Mission Statement: " To create a national grassroots consumer campaign for the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass legislation that will require the labeling of genetically engineered foods in the United States. " *************************************************************** Judge refuses class-action status to antitrust lawsuit against seed producers JIM SUHR Associated Press Wed, Oct. 01, 2003 ST. LOUIS - A federal judge has ruled against granting class-action status to a lawsuit accusing Monsanto Co. and some of its seed-marketing rivals of plotting to control genetically modified corn and soybean prices. U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel's ruling, released Wednesday, thwarts a bid by attorneys suing the companies to expand the 1999 lawsuit to include more than 100,000 farmers, not just the handful of farmers represented in the original lawsuit. " Simply put, plaintiffs presume class-wide impact without any consideration of whether the markets or the alleged conspiracy at issue here actually operated in such a manner so as to justify that presumption, " Sippel wrote in his 17-page ruling. " It is a highly individualized, fact-intensive inquiry that necessarily requires consideration of factors unique to each potential class member, " including the variety of genetically modified seeds bought, geographic location, growing conditions and purchase terms, Sippel wrote. " I am not persuaded that the alleged conspiracy could even be proven with common evidence, " he ruled. Telephone and e-mailed messages left with the law firm behind the lawsuit were not immediately returned. Wednesday's development follows Sippel's decision last month to let the antitrust portion of the 1999 lawsuit go forward, concluding then that " genuine disputes of material fact remain. " Monsanto and others named in the case - Bayer CropScience, Syngenta and DuPont unit Pioneer Hi-Bred - have denied the farmers' allegations that the companies plotted for years to fix prices. Casting the lawsuit as a political stunt, Monsanto has rejected claims that genetically modified seeds and foods are unsafe. To St. Louis-based Monsanto, Sippel's latest ruling further gutted the lawsuit's claims and marks " a huge victory for Monsanto and biotechnology, " a field critics have maligned as untested and unsafe, company spokesman Bryan Hurley said. " The allegations sort of typify the things we hear on a daily basis, and those allegations are being put to rest, " Hurley said. Pioneer spokesman Doyle Karr called Wednesday's move " a very favorable development in the matter " for a company still maintaining that " the underlying claims are without merit. " Messages left Wednesday with Syngenta and Bayer were not immediately returned. The suit alleges that Monsanto, using its biotechnology patents, coordinated with the other accused biotech companies to fix prices and force farmers into using genetically engineered seed. The lawsuit also alleged there is " substantial uncertainty " as to whether the crops are safe. In his ruling last month, Sippel rejected negligence and " public nuisance " claims by farmers who grew non-genetically modified corn and soybeans but who argued, among other things, that their crops were tainted by Monsanto's genetically modified seeds, and that the company wrongly hawked seeds critics called environmentally unfriendly. Those farmers offered no proof of their claims, Sippel ruled in narrowing the case's scope by throwing out part of the suit by a group of farmers who said they had suffered losses because of global resistance to genetically modified crops. Corn and soybeans genetically designed to kill pests or withstand herbicides have become widely popular in the United States, but they've have met consumer resistance overseas. Genetic engineering involves splicing a single gene from one organism to another. Biotech opponents have focused on persuading food makers not to buy genetically modified crops and getting governments to require the labeling of altered foods. ON THE NET Monsanto, http://www.monsanto.com Pioneer Hi-Bred, http://www.pioneer.com Bayer, http://www.bayercropscienceus.com Syngenta, http://www.syngenta.com *************************************************************** Top GM food company abandons British crop trials Robin McKie, science editor Sunday September 28, 2003 The Observer (London) A key GM crop developer, Bayer, has decided to halt UK trials of genetically modified plants. The move is seen as a major blow to the industry. Bayer was the last company carrying out GM trials in the UK, though it said yesterday it hoped to start up again soon when conditions were 'more favourable'. The company blamed Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett for its decision. Her insistence that the locations of all trial sites be made public had forced its hand, a spokesman told The Observer. Until last week, Bayer CropScience, Bayer's crop subsidiary believed it was close to a deal that would allow GM crop test sites - which are regularly destroyed by protesters - to be kept secret. Instead of having to publish exact map references for fields, companies would only have to name the county in which it was holding a trial. The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment had said this vaguer notification was 'acceptable in terms of risk assessment', while the police have always complained that explicit disclosure of test site locations has been a major factor in aiding 'crop-trashers'. But at the last minute the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told Bayer it would not support this change in regulations. 'In the absence of any moves to ensure the security for trials, Bayer CropScience has no choice, therefore, but to cease its variety trial activities in the UK for this coming season,' said the official. 'It is disappointing the criminal activities of a small minority of people have prevented information on GM crop varieties being generated.' Most GM crop trials carried out over the past few years have been sabotaged, not only those of Bayer. Other companies have pulled out. Now Bayer, the last to continue with them, has decided to call it a day. The current 'brain drain' of UK agricultural scientists to the US and Canada is now only likely to intensify. The fact that companies also specifically blame Beckett for this latest blow is particularly intriguing. Last week, a letter from Beckett to her fellow Ministers said Britain should back EU laws that ban all GM-free zones, a move that would give the go-ahead to the commercial growing of GM crops here. But as long as test GM trials are exposed to sabotage, the prospects of commercial growing look remote. 'This is a back-door moratorium,' said an industry source. *************************************************************** Bayer says GM maize ready for planting in Britain LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Genetically modified (GMO) maize could be grown in Britain within two years if biotech firms get government approval for commercial plantings, leading UK player Bayer CropScience said on Monday. " If the government says 'yes' to commercial GM crops, then GM maize would be the first to be planted, although it would be some time before we see GM rapeseed and sugar beet -- maybe in 2006, " Bayer 's Julian Little told Reuters. " It's possible that GM maize could be planted as early as next year, but this looks unlikely, " Little added. Little said the quantities of the gene-spliced maize planted would be relatively small and would most likely be used as animal feed. The UK government is currently weighing up whether GM crops should be grown in Britain, but a final decision is not expected until early next year. Little also rejected the notion that the UK unit of German chemicals giant Bayer was preparing to abandon GM technology in Britain following its decision to pull out of commercial trials. " Bayer is not pulling out of the UK - we are committed to GM, " he said. The Cambridge-based firm recently told the government it would not be conducting any more commercial trials because environmental protestors kept trashing plants. " The government turned down our request not to publish details of where the trials take place, so we've decided not to undertake any (commercial) trials this year, " Little said. Bayer CropScience said it usually conducts between six and 10 commercial trials a year -- essential if the company wants to apply to have the variety approved on the National Seed List. Once on the list, the seeds can then be sold to farmers for commercial use. " We're not saying that we won't start commercial trials again. We'll most likely restart them in a different climate, " Little said. Bayer 's GM herbicide resistant maize, Chardon LL, already has EU marketing consent. PUBLIC DEBATE WAS FLAWED, BAYER SAYS Last week, a government report on its six-week national dialogue on GM crops and food showed that a majority of the British public were not in favour. But proponents of the technology say that much of the government-funded debate was skewed in favour of environmental activists who took over local meetings. They also say the results of a questionnaire that showed 54 percent of the population never want to see GM crops and food in Britain was far from representative of British opinion because only 37,000 responded. " GM crops and food aren't at the top of most people's list of priorities -- they are not even on their radar, " Bayer 's Little said. Earlier on Monday, former environment minister Michael Meacher joined anti-GM activists attending the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth to protest against U.S. attempts to get Europe to loosen its tight GM rules. " The results of the GM public debate have clearly shown the strength of opposition to GM within the UK. The government must support the EU in defending this U.S. challenge, and protect our right to choose GM-free food, " Meacher said. The U.S. launched a complaint against Europe's de facto moratorium on GM crops and GM food imports at the World Trade Organisation earlier this year. NEW WEB MESSAGE BOARDS - JOIN HERE. Alternative Medicine Message Boards.Info http://alternative-medicine-message-boards.info The New with improved product search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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