[CH] Monsanto

Byron Bromley (Byron.Bromley@gsd-co.com)
Sat, 19 Feb 2000 19:33:03 -0500 

A few months ago I posted some stuff about RuR
bt and Terminator Seeds. To the best of my knowledge there are some sweet
bells coming out this year in this dept.

I know that the most of you might not be affected by following, yet, Is it
comming to the Home Garden???

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Monsanto Under Attack - Setbacks from Brazil, to Canada, to the U.K.
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Ronnie Cummins
Little Marais, Minnesota
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>on Iowa, Kentucky & Illinois farmers fined for seed saving...

* In the United States Monsanto has begun receiving adverse publicity for
prosecuting farmers for saving Monsanto's patented herbicide-resistant
"Roundup Ready" soybean seeds. According to press reports Monsanto has hired
Pinkerton detectives to harass more than 1800 farmers and seed dealers
across the country, with 475 potential criminal "seed piracy" cases already
under investigation. A group of seed-saving farmers in Kentucky, Iowa, and
Illinois have already been forced to pay fines to Monsanto of up to $35,000
each. Besides the cost of the seed, a $6.50 technology fee is charged by
Monsanto for each 50 pound bag of Roundup Ready seed. As Monsanto told the
Associated Press October 27, "We say they can pay (either of) two royalties
--$6.50 at the store or $600 in court,'' said Scott Baucum, Monsanto manager
for intellectual property protection.

>on Robert Shapiro getting "pied"...

* In San Francisco on October 27, Monsanto CEO Robert Shapiro was confronted
by anti-GE protestors who smashed a tofu vegan cream pie in his face.
According to a press release by the "Anti-Genetix" splinter faction of the
Biotic Baking Brigade (BBB) issued on October 27 "The chief executive of one
of the world's biggest corporations was struck in the face with a tofu creme
pie on Tuesday night at the 'State of the World Forum' conference in the
Fairmont Hotel. The incident occurred after Shapiro gave a keynote address
on the brave new world of genetic engineering." According to "Agent Apple"
of the pie-throwers:

"Monsanto has engaged in ruthless intimidation of critics; embarked upon an
aggressive global takeover of seed, chemical, and pharmaceutical companies,
with an aim to control world food distribution; and is conducting an
intensive PR "Greenwash" campaign in order to promote itself as an
eco-friendly corporation. We will not be fooled, and we will wage our
gastronomical struggle with epicurean passion" said Agent Apple. "Monsanto
and its subsidiaries have spread chemical death across every continent
through products such as PCBs, Agent Orange, Bovine Growth Hormone,
Nutrasweet, Equal, and Roundup (the world's biggest selling herbicide). The
corporation's toxic Superfund sites poison workers and community members,
and its dioxins will continue to cause birth defects and major health
problems for generations to come." The EPA has designated Monsanto as a
"potentially responsible party" at 93 Superfund sites.

>on canola (rapeseed) contamination...

* According to the Daily Mail (Oct 25, 1998) in the U.K., the British
government is considering charging Monsanto with violating environmental
pollution laws for a Roundup-resistant rapeseed (canola) farm test site in
Lincolnshire, where GE rapeseed plants contaminated an adjoining non-GE
rapeseed plot.

>on RAFI's Terminator Tech Boycott support...

* Following in the wake of mounting worldwide criticism of Monsanto's
"Terminator Technology," the CGIAR organization, the world's largest
international agricultural research network, announced that they would
boycott all Terminator Technology seeds. According to RAFI (Rural
Advancement Foundation International) Director Pat Mooney, a leading critic
of the Terminator Technology, "It's (CGIAR's) the right decision and it is
also a courageous decision," "Since the (Terminator) patent was granted in
the United States last March, it has attracted unprecedented opposition from
farmers' organizations, environmentalists, and agricultural scientists. More
than 1,850 individuals from 54 countries have written personal protests to
the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture demanding that the technology be banned.

>on Brazil trying to "stay clean"...

* In Brazil a judge at least temporarily blocked Monsanto's efforts to get
approval for farmers to plant Roundup Ready Soybeans. According to a
September 20 story by Bill Lambrecht in the St. Louis Post Dispatch,
"Monsanto discovered an unsettling reality last week: Anti-biotechnology
sentiments that are widespread in Europe are sprouting in South America.
Hours before a government agency met to approve Monsanto's request to plant
gene-altered soybeans, a Brazilian federal judge granted an injunction
blocking the application. For St. Louis-based Monsanto, the ruling is a
setback that would be a real defeat if the company misses the Brazilian
planting season in October and November. Brazil is a potential market worth
tens of millions in profits. With 165 million people and a thriving economy,
Brazil is a vital cog in the drive by Monsanto and its rivals to change the
genetic codes of crops -- and food -- around the world."

>on rBGH damage to prostate and thyroid in rats...

* In Canada, the controversy surrounding Monsanto's strong-arm tactics to
get government regulators to approve their controversial recombinant Bovine
Growth Hormone (rBGH or rBST) has reached new levels of intensity. Recent
revelations that Monsanto apparently concealed troubling rBGH safety tests
on rats (rats fed high levels of rBGH showed damage to thyroid and prostate
tissues--potential danger signals for cancer) from government regulators in
the U.S. and Canada have led to renewed calls by farmer and consumer
organizations in North America to have rBGH pulled from the market. In the
October 6 Rutland Herald newspaper in Vermont, spokespersons for the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration and Monsanto flatly contradicted one another --
with Monsanto claiming they gave the controversial rat studies to the FDA
prior to rBGH approval in 1993, while the FDA stated "We do not have the
data from that study."

>for more go to:
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/monprob.html