[prakruti] Fwd: GMW: Agricultural Giant Battles Small Farmers

[Guest guest]

Dear Colleagues,

 

Agricultural giants have the policy and habit of smothering

unconventional farmers. In

this case, it is the Monsanto the giant business house promoting GM

seeds and

owning Terminator seeds..See how ow the pitched battelcaused by Monsanto

goes on.

 

Best wishes.

 

Kisan

Mehta

Priya Salvi

Save Bombay Committeee and Prakruti

c/o Rajiv Mehta

1203 Kanchanjanga Wing " A " ,

Plot 20, Sector 11, Koparchairne

Navi Mumbai 400709

Website:

www.savebombaycommittee.org

Kisan Mehta 0091 9223448857

Priya Salvi 0091 9324027494

 

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Apr 29, 2008 1:25 PM

Agricultural Giant Battles Small Farmers

CBS News

ST. LOUIS, April 26 2008

http://www.mail-gateway.co.uk:32000/mail/

Monsanto Goes To Great Lengths To Protect Its Patents On Genetically

Modified Crops

(CBS) American farmers have been growing genetically modified crops for

years, from seeds engineered to resist pests and chemicals. These

patented seeds produced bigger crops and profits for farmers who bought

them from companies like DuPont and Monsanto, but for other farmers the

seeds have created a host of problems. CBS News Chief Investigative

Correspondent Armen Keteyian has been investigating.

--

David Runyon and his wife Dawn put a lifetime of work into their 900-acre

Indiana farm, and almost lost it all over a seed they say they never

planted.

" I don't believe any company has the right to come into someone's

home and threaten their livelihood, " Dawn said, " to bring them

into such physical turmoil as this company did to us. "

The Runyons charge bio-tech giant Monsanto sent investigators to their

home unannounced, demanded years of farming records, and later threatened

to sue them for patent infringement. The Runyons say an anonymous tip led

Monsanto to suspect that genetically modified soybeans were growing on

their property.

" I wasn't using their products, but yet they were pounding on my

door demanding information, demanding records, " Dave said. " It

was just plain harassment is what they were doing. "

Today, Monsanto's patented " Round-up Ready " soy commands the

lion's share of the genetically-modified soybean seed market, its genetic

code manipulated to withstand the company's popular weed killer.

But the promise of fewer weeds and greater production comes with a hefty

fee. Farmers must sign an iron-clad agreement not to re-plant the

harvested seed, or face serious legal consequences - up to $3 million in

damages.

" It's about protecting the patent, defending the patents, so farmers

have the protection and can use these technologies over time, " said

Monsanto spokeswoman Tami Craig Schilling.

The Runyons say they signed no agreements, and if they were contaminated

with the genetically modified seed, it blew over from a neighboring

farm.

" Pollination occurs, wind drift occurs. There's just no way to keep

their products from landing in our fields, " David said.

" What Monsanto is doing across the country is often, and according

to farmers, trespassing even, on their land, examining their crops and

trying to find some of their patented crops, " said Andrew Kimbrell,

with the Center For Food Safety. " And if they do, they sue those

farmers for their entire crop. "

In fact, in Feb. 2005 the Runyons received a letter from Monsanto, citing

" an agreement " with the Indiana Department of Agriculture

giving it the right to come on their land and test for seed

contamination.

Only one problem: The Indiana Department of Agriculture didn't exist

until two months after that letter was sent. What does that say to

you?

" I'm not aware of the specific situation in Indiana, " Schilling

said.

" I'm just talking in general terms, " said Keteyian. " Would

Monsanto lie, deceive, intimidate, harass American farmers to protect its

patents? "

" With farmers as customers I would say that is not our policy by any

means. "

74-year-old Mo Parr is a seed cleaner; he is hired by farmers to separate

debris from the seed to be replanted. Monsanto sued him claiming he was

" aiding and abetting " farmers, helping them to violate the

patent.

" There's no way that I could be held responsible, " Parr said.

" There's no way that I could look at a soy bean and tell you if it's

Round-up Ready. "

The company subpoenaed Parr's bank records, without his knowledge, and

found his customers. After receiving calls from Monsanto, some of them

stopped talking to him.

" It really broke my heart, " Parr said. " You know, I could

hardly hold a cup of coffee that morning, "

Monsanto won its case against Parr, but the company, which won't comment

on specific cases, has stopped its legal action against the

Runyons.

And now four states, including Indiana, prohibit seed suppliers from

entering a farmer's property without a state agent, tactics which have

threatened a way of life.

---s)

We are still recovering the GM WATCH website following the recent attack.

For the moment, LobbyWatch is still up so you can access any

gmwatch.org page (apart from those

deleted in the attack) by substituting 'lobby' for 'gm', eg you can

find:

*the total gmwatch archive at

http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive.asp

*the biotech brigade profiles at

http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile.asp?page=

*even the gmwatch home page

http://www.lobbywatch.org/default.html

 

.........................................................

 

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******

Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentucky

http://www.thehavens.com/

thehavens

606-376-3363

 

 

 

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