♫ You better watch out!
You better not cry..better not shout,
I’m tellin’ you why..
Santa Clause is coming to town..! ♫
In this case it looks as though Santa arrived early this year for Monsanto when, for unknown (or publicly undisclosed) reasons, the Dept of Justice decided to (prematurely) end the antitrust investigation into our seed industry that it began back in January of 2010. Instead of the giant lump of coal (or perhaps stocking stuffed with GMO foods) or punishment they so richly deserve, it seems Monsanto has once again been cut a break by Obama and his federal-corporate little elves.
Perhaps Santa just needs some new glasses… or to start checking his list more than twice if he overlooked the fact that Monsanto (and their ilk) have been anything but nice this year!
A press release from Monsanto (11/16-1012) states,
“Monsanto Company announced that it has received written notification from the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and that the agency has concluded its inquiry regarding the company’s soybean traits business and the seed industry. The DOJ has closed that inquiry without taking any enforcement action.
“We’re pleased that the Justice Department has closed its inquiry and this issue is now behind us,” said David Snively, Monsanto’s executive vice president, secretary and general counsel. “Our business is focused on delivering new product innovations to farmers each and every year and we remain committed to developing the products that deliver results for them.”
Monsanto originally reported this inquiry in January 2010 and had cooperated fully with the Justice Department since that time.
An excerpt from Mother Jones demonstrates just how hush-hush the investigation’s end and sheds more light on why the DoJ was investigating the seed industry to begin with -
“The Obama administration sneaked a tasty dish to the genetically modified seed/pesticide industry…
For the crops that cover the bulk of US farmland like corn, soy, and cotton, the seed trade is essentially dominated by five companies: Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer, and Dow. And a single company, Monsanto, supplies nearly all genetically modified traits now so commonly used in those crops, which it licenses to its rivals for sale in their own seeds.
What’s harder to figure out is why the DOJ ended the investigation without taking any action—and did so with a near-complete lack of public information. The DOJ didn’t even see fit to mark the investigation’s end with a press release. News of it emerged from a brief item Monsanto itself issued the Friday before Thanksgiving, declaring it had “received written notification” from the DOJ antitrust division that it had ended its investigation “without taking any enforcement action.”
A DOJ spokesperson confirmed to me that the agency had “closed its investigation into possible anticompetitive practices in the seed industry,” but would divulge no details. “In making its decision, the Antitrust Division took into account marketplace developments that occurred during the pendency of the investigation,” she stated via email. I asked what precisely those “marketplace developments” were. “I don’t have anything else for you,” she replied. Monsanto, too, is being tight-lipped—a company spokesperson said the company had no statement to make beyond the above-linked press release.”
Full Mother Jones Article Here
Considering the fact that the Obama administration has interceded on behalf of Monsanto in the past, it is awfully hard not to wonder if the abrupt end to the investigation and the lack of action isn’t due to pressure from the administration once again…
Nah, such a thing would never happen here in the good ol’ USA, right?
Related articles
- DOJ Drops Monsanto Antitrust Investigation (dprogram.net)
- Department of Justice Quietly Stops Investigating Monsanto for Antitrust Violations (treehugger.com)
- DOJ Mysteriously Quits Monsanto Antitrust Investigation (pakalertpress.com)
