The recent win by Monsanto will be appealed!
This is a biased ruling based on a paragraph on Monsanto’s web page. It is not based on public or environmental well-being, nor on the equal rights of farmers.
The courts ruling does not address the issue – “Monsanto’s representations unequivocally disclaim any intent to sue appellant growers, seed sellers, or organizations for inadvertently using or selling ‘trace amounts’ of genetically modified seeds.” (trace amounts = 1%)
If we only protect our organic farms with a 1% capacity (as the court is doing), we won’t have organic seed anymore, and even wild seed will be permanently modified. This is a crisis we can’t standby and watch, we need to put the pressure on our elected officials, and educate anyone who will listen. The future of our food relies on it.
Excerpt from Reuters article (linked above) – Monsanto filed 144 patent-infringement lawsuits against farmers between 1997 and April 2010, and won judgments against farmers it said made use of its seed without paying required royalties. Many U.S. farmers have said their fields were inadvertently contaminated with Monsanto’s biotech seeds without their knowledge.
Excerpt from The Guardian article – Monsanto sued small famers to protect seed patents, report says – In its report, called Seed Giants vs US Farmers, the CFS said it had tracked numerous law suits that Monsanto had brought against farmers and found some 142 patent infringement suits against 410 farmers and 56 small businesses in more than 27 states. In total the firm has won more than $23m from its targets…
From the institute of responsible technology – In 2006 GM rice grown for one year in field trials five years earlier was reported to have contaminated the US rice supply and seed stocks, and found in Africa, Europe, and Central America. US rice futures dropped immediately by $150 and exports dropped by about 20% from the previous year. The total cost could reach as high as $1.2 billion.
read more about the costs of gmo contamination – http://responsibletechnology.org/docs/gmos-inevitably-contaminate-and-persist.pdf
GMO trees, creating sterile forests that kill insects, is just another example of the scale of this issue. The implications of GMO trees cross-pollinating with our forests is ecocide.
See all our articles covering the GMO issue – https://vermont4evolution.wordpress.com/?s=GMO
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