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Our plant breeders are using traditional plant breeding techniques, marker-assisted breeding and advanced analytical methods to develop improved vegetables and fruits…
Monsanto ~ Research and Development Pipeline
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Monsanto insurance: USDA tells farmers to pay for avoiding troubles with agro-giant
Reason – The United State Department of Agriculture has finalized a report to address concerns from farmers who fear they’ll be next on an ever-expanding list of defendants sued by biotech giants Monsanto, but those worries aren’t about to end.
The Monsanto Company dominates more than just grow fields across the US, as evident in their stellar track record of taking small-time farmers to court and winning cases, an occurrence that Think Progress acknowledges happens roughly a dozen times a year. Time and time again, Monsanto’s patented, lab-made genetically engineered seeds are sold to one farmer, only for Mother Nature to move the crop onto neighboring fields with the help of a bit of wind. Just as often, of course, Monsanto’s team of high-paid litigators take the little guys to court, only to triumph thanks to a legal counsel that collects around $10 million a year just to take other farmers to court.
With Monsanto-led lawsuits all too common, the USDA was tasked with putting together a panel — the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture, or AC21 — to analyze, among other items, “What types of compensation mechanisms, if any, would be appropriate to address economic losses1 by farmers in which the value of their crops is reduced by unintended presence of genetically engineered(GE) material(s)?”
The AC21 panel released their findings in a report [PDF] entitled ‘Enhancing Coexistence’ that was sent to the secretary of agriculture this week. In it, however, they have little to say to the farmers who are likely to be brought before a judge while Monsanto and other biotech kings come out on top. Story Continues on Reason
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Monsanto Promises Pain to EU, Assault Underway
By Dr. Mercola
The European Union (EU) has historically taken a strict, cautious stance regarding genetically modified (GM) crops, much to the chagrin of Monsanto and in stark contract to the United States.
For instance, while GM crops are banned in several European countries, and all genetically modified foods and ingredients have to be labeled, this is in stark contrast to the U.S., where Monsanto has effectively restricted any unfavorable legal actions because of the massive conflict they have with federal regulatory agencies.
Recently Connecticut and Vermont were ready to pass statewide GMO labeling requirements but backed out at the last minute when biotech giant Monsanto threatened to sue them if it was passed.
As a result, the U.S. has only recently begun passing legislation that protects the use of GM seeds and allows for unabated expansion, in addition to the fact that GM ingredients do not have to be labeled.
It’s quite clear that the U.S. government, which is closely tied to Monsanto, has been aiding and abetting Monsanto’s tireless and often ruthless quest to control the world’s food crops.
U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, showed the government even conspired to find ways to retaliate against Europe for refusing to use GM seeds, mainly by engaging in aggressive trade wars against reluctant nations.i As you might suspect, the EU has been under heavy pressure to add some slack to their GM regulations – and it seems they are about to cave …
EU Proposes to Drop Zero Tolerance Policy
The European Commission has issued a proposal to drop the policy of zero tolerance for unapproved and untested GMOs in food. The proposal suggests setting a threshold below which contaminated imports could enter Europe’s food chain.
This is similar to the EU’s move in 2011 … they once had a zero tolerance policy regarding GM contamination from unapproved GMOs in animal feed, but last year decided to allow contamination with up to 0.1 percent of such materials. At the time, Greenpeace EU agriculture policy adviser Stefanie Hundsdorfer said:ii
“If the safety of a GM crop has not been tested in Europe, it should not be allowed. Setting a tolerance threshold, however low, is a sign that Europe is losing control over its own food production to please American exporters. The danger now is that EU countries come under pressure from the pro-GM lobby to also allow GM contamination in food products for direct human consumption.”
And, alas, that moment has come, just over one year later. Several GM opponents are urging the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Secretary of State Caroline Spelman to reject the proposals, noting:
“Pressure to drop the zero tolerance policy comes from the US government, the WTO and the biotech industry.”
EU Blocks France’s Ban on GM Corn
France recently asked the European Commission to suspend Monsanto’s authorization to plant genetically modified MON 810 corn, citing “significant risks for the environment” shown in recent scientific studies (Germany has also banned the cultivation of MON 810 corn).
The EU stepped in and blocked the ban, which was an unsettling move to put it mildly, considering that in a leaked cable from 2007, Craig Stapleton, who was the U.S. ambassador to France at the time, commented on France’s plan to ban the cultivation of GM corn, and stated that retaliation would occur:
“Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the [European] Commission… Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voice.
… Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory.”
UK Also Moving Full Steam Ahead with GMOs
Meanwhile, in the UK the Agriculture Biotechnology Council (ABC) published a new report “Going for Growth,” which, according to GMWatch, “calls for GM to be put at the heart of agricultural development in the UK.” But ABC is not a government authority; it’s a GM industry lobby group that represents the interests of Monsanto, Bayer, DuPont, Syngenta and other biotech giants.
However, the ABC is meeting with key UK government officials to present their case, and reportedly “the industry’s push for GM is already being welcomed.”
Ironically, around this same time, a leading supporter of GM foods in the UK, George Freeman, has been touting a supposedly “healthier” broccoli that fights heart disease as GM, and using it to show how “GM food can improve health.” But it turns out the broccoli, sold under the brand Marks & Spencer is not GM at all, but is produced using natural plant breeding methods!
Freeman, who has received money from the biotech industry, is now in hot water with Marks & Spencer, who has banned GM foods for more than 10 years, and was one of the first UK retailers to put such a ban in place!
This type of thing has actually happened before. In 2008, retired chief government scientist in the UK, Professor Sir David King made claims that drought-resistant crops that have increased yields by 30% were being planted in South Africa – even though the plants were only in a trial period, and effectiveness had yet to be proven. And as reported in the Guardian:iv
“King has been wrong before about new crops in Africa, claiming that a successful project near Lake Victoria was benefiting from GM technology, before having to admit the crops involved were not GM at all.”
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Monsanto Crop Bans by Courts Would Be Reversed in Bill
Bloomberg Businessweek – “A House of Representatives committee voted to let farmers grow genetically modified crops developed byMonsanto Co. (MON) (MON) and its competitors during legal appeals of the approval process.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture would be required to permit modified crops to be planted and sold into the food supply after the agency’s approvals have been invalidated by a court, under a provision in the fiscal 2013 agriculture spending bill approved by the House Appropriations committee today.
The one-paragraph provision in the the 90-page bill would circumvent legal obstacles that have slowed commercialization of engineered crops, sometimes for years, benefiting Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company. Planting would be permitted until USDA completes any analysis required by a judge.
“A stream of lawsuits” have slowed approvals and created uncertainties for companies developing the modified plants, James C. Greenwood, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, whose members include Monsanto and Dupont Co., said in a June 13 letter to Congress. “The regulatory certainty provided by this legislative language would address an immediate threat to the regulatory process.” Story Continues
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Five Million Brazilian Farmers Take on Biotech Giant Monsanto
India Times via Cornucopia Institute “Five million Brazilian farmers have taken on US based biotech company Monsantothrough a lawsuit demanding return of about 6.2 billion euros taken as royalties from them. The farmers are claiming that the powerful company has unfairly extracted these royalties from poor farmers because they were using seeds produced from crops grown from Monsanto’s genetically engineered seeds, reports Merco Press.
In April this year, a judge in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, ruled in favor of the farmers and ordered Monsanto to return royalties paid since 2004 or a minimum of $2 billion. The ruling said that the business practices of seed multinational Monsanto violate the rules of the Brazilian Cultivars Act (No. 9.456/97). Monsanto has appealed against the order and a federal court ruling on the case is now expected by 2014.
About 85% of Brazil’s massive soyabean crop output is produced from genetically engineered seeds. Brazil exports about $24.1 billion worth of soyabeans annually, more than a quarter of its total agri-exports.
Farmers say that they are using seeds produced many generations after the initial crops from the genetically modified Monsanto seeds were grown. Farmers claim that Monsanto unfairly collects exorbitant profits every year worldwide on royalties from “renewal” seed harvests. Renewal crops are those that have been planted using seed from the previous year’s harvest. Monsanto disagrees, demanding royalties from any crop generation produced from its genetically-engineered seed. Because the engineered seed is patented, Monsanto not only charges an initial royalty on the sale of the crop produced, but a continuing two per cent royalty on every subsequent crop, even if the farmer is using a later generation of seed.
The first transgenic soy seeds were illegally smuggled into Brazil from neighboring Argentina in 1998 and their use was banned and subject to prosecution until the last decade, according to the state-owned Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA).The ban has since been lifted and now 85 percent of the country’s soybean crop (25 million hectares or 62 million acres) is genetically modified, Alexandre Cattelan, an EMBRAPA researcher told Merco Press. Brazil is the world’s second largest producer and exporter of soyabean. China is one of its biggest buyers.
“Monsanto gets paid when it sell the seeds. The law gives producers the right to multiply the seeds they buy and nowhere in the world is there a requirement to pay (again). Producers are in effect paying a private tax on production,” Jane Berwanger, lawyer for the farmers told the media agencies.” Full Story Here
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Monsanto’s Deep Roots In Washington
It’s planting season, which brings to mind one of the most ubiquitous names in agribusiness: Monsanto.
Monsanto’s interests in Washington are diverse. It lobbied bills ranging from the American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2011, which would extend tax credits for companies doing research, to several bills that would change the way the Department of Homeland Security handles security at chemical facilities — chemicals being a big part of Monsanto’s product portfolio. Full Story Here
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France pushes to ban Monsanto’s GMO corn across the entire EU
EU health commission: Monsanto strain won’t be banned
Invincible agricultural giant Monsanto has once again demonstrated its ability to crush countries on the legal battlefield. The EFSA has ruled there is no “scientific evidence” of damage caused by consuming genetically-modified maize.
France is the latest country to try and battle Monsanto over its genetically-modified corn. In February it requested that the European Commission ban the MON 810 strain from EU markets, supporting the request with scientific argumentation. While awaiting the decision, French government unilaterally reinstalled a ban on MON 810, though the country’s highest court had earlier ruled in favor of Monsanto.
It took the European Food Safety Authority three months to come to a quite predictable conclusion – that the strain poses no threat, and will not be banned.
“Based on the documentation submitted by France, there is no specific scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human and animal health or the environment,” the EFSA’s scientific opinion suggests.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) provides the European Commission with independent scientific advice on all matters with a direct or indirect impact on food safety. It is a separate legal entity, independent from other EU institutions.
The EU health commission has decided to follow this “independent scientific advice” and now faces a problem of how to push France to raise its ban. Read More On 2012: What’s the ‘real’ truth?
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Misionero Vegetables and Seminis® Vegetable Seeds Debut New Variety of Lettuce
DALLAS, (April 30, 2012) – Misionero Vegetables and Seminis Vegetable Seeds are teaming up to bring consumers Frescada™, a new U.S.-grown lettuce that is a cross between iceberg and Romaine lettuce. Frescada lettuce will be available in select Sam’s Club stores in six states and offers consumers the sweet taste and the crispy texture of iceberg lettuce with improved flavor, nutritional content and a deeper green color than iceberg lettuce.
“We are pleased to offer consumers a new lettuce choice that has the sweetness, crunchiness and juiciness of iceberg with the added nutrition equal to 246% of the folate and 174% of the vitamin C in iceberg,” said Dan Canales, Misionero Vegetables’ Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Co-branded under Misionero’s Garden Life® brand, Frescada is cored, trimmed and ready to use without any waste. Consumers simply open the bag, use what they need and store the remaining product in the re-sealable container.”
Frescada is very versatile and can be prepared the same as other lettuce. In whole leaf form, Frescada is perfect for any lettuce wrap. Use Frescada in your favorite salad, on sandwiches, in appetizers or for plate presentation. Anywhere you use other varieties of lettuce, you could use Frescada.
According to Tanya Alfonso, Seminis’ Consumer Traits Business Development Manager, the company’s Vegetable Seed business developed Frescada using traditional plant breeding.
“Seminis is focused on bringing innovations to vegetable growers and the consumer,” said Alfonso. “Frescada brings consumers a great-tasting, versatile lettuce for their favorite dishes and we are pleased to be working with Misionero Vegetables for our Frescada launch.”
Frescada lettuce will be on display at the United Fresh Produce Show in Dallas, TX May 1-3 in business suite 10129.
About Seminis®
Seminis® is the world’s largest developer, grower and marketer of vegetable seeds for open-field and unheated-protected crops. Seminis is focused on giving open-field and unheated protected seed growers the freedom to focus on their goals and real passions — the freedom to grow the very best crops, the freedom to grow their business and the freedom to build their futures. For more information about Seminis visit www.seminis.com.
About Misionero® Vegetables
Misionero® Vegetables is a second generation family-owned business established in 1973. Misionero grows, processes and ships certified organic and conventional produce for both foodservice and retail sectors. All products are shipped domestically and internationally year-round from Salinas, CA; Huron, CA and Yuma, AZ. Misionero’s fresh-cut products are available under the Misionero, Garden Life™ and EarthGreens® brand names.
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Dow and Monsanto Team Up On the Mother of All Herbicide Marketing Plans
During the late-December media lull, the USDA didn’t satisfy itself with green lighting Monsanto’s useless, PR-centric “drought-tolerant” corn. It also prepped the way for approving a product from Monsanto’s rival Dow Agrosciences—one that industrial-scale corn farmers will likely find all-too useful.
Dow has engineered a corn strain that withstands lashings of its herbicide, 2,4-D. The company’s pitch to farmers is simple: Your fields are becoming choked with weeds that have developed resistance to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. As soon as the USDA okays our product, all your problems will be solved.
At risk of sounding overly dramatic, the product seems to me to bring mainstream US agriculture to a crossroads. If Dow’s new corn makes it past the USDA and into farm fields, it will mark the beginning of at least another decade of ramped-up chemical-intensive farming of a few chosen crops (corn, soy, cotton), beholden to a handful of large agrichemical firms working in cahoots to sell ever-larger quantities of poisons, environment be damned. If it and other new herbicide-tolerant crops can somehow be stopped, farming in the US heartland can be pushed toward a model based on biodiversity over monocropping, farmer skill in place of brute chemicals, and healthy food instead of industrial commodities.
Yet Dow’s pitch will likely prove quite compelling. Introduced in 1996, Roundup Ready crops now account for 94 percent of the soybean crops and upwards of 70 percent for soy and cotton, USDA figures show. The technology cut a huge chunk of work out of farming, allowing farmers to cultivate ever more massive swaths of land with less labor.
But by the time farmers had structured their operations around Roundup Ready and its promise of effortless weed control, the technology had begun to fail. In what was surely one of the most predictable events in the history of agriculture, it turned out than when farmers douse millions of acres of land with a single herbicide year and after year, weeds evolve to resist that poison. Last summer, Roundup-resistant superweeds flourished in huge swaths of US farmland, forcing farmers to apply gushers of toxic herbicide cocktails and even resort to hand-weeding—not a fun thing to do on a huge farm. A recent article in the industrial-ag trade journal Delta Farm Press summed up the situation: “Days of Easy Weed Control Are Over.” Read More on Mother Jones
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Jury Pool Picked for Monsanto Trial
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Testimony in a class action against the former Monsanto chemical company is on hold until at least mid-February.
The trial got under way in Putnam County Circuit Court Jan. 3 after negotiations between the corporation and nearly 200 plaintiffs resulted in no settlement.
Jennifer Bundy, spokeswoman for the West Virginia Supreme Court, said a pool of 28 jurors has been picked. From that pool, six jurors and six alternates will be chosen.
Attorneys are working on numerous pre-trial motions, and because of that Circuit Judge Derek Swope has adjourned until Feb. 13, at the earliest.
Swope is a Mercer County circuit judge who was appointed by the Supreme Court to preside over the trial after Putnam County Circuit Judge O.C. Spaulding stepped aside. Spaulding has been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The mass-litigation involves hundreds of cases of alleged personal injury due to chemical emissions and contamination from the Nitro plant from 1948 to the present. The lawsuit alleges Monsanto unsafely dispersed dioxin, exposing residential properties and streams to unsafe levels of the toxic chemical. Plaintiffs are asking for medical monitoring.
Attorneys expect the trial to take up to six months. Charleston Daily Mail
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World’s Top Commercial Weed Killer Linked to Infertility
The world’s top herbicide for decades has come under criticism after evidence surfaced suggesting that the chemical may be linked to infertility and miscarriage in animals, raising serious concerns about the possible effect on human consumers.
Glyphosate is the weed-killing ingredient introduced over 30 years ago by the multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto under the brand name Roundup. Monsanto also produces “Roundup Ready” corn, soybeans and cotton genetically engineered to withstand large doses of Roundup that would be deadly to normal plants.
But Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus at Purdue University and a well-known plant pathologist, wrote to both American and European officials earlier this year to express his concern over a newly-discovered, extremely small organism that has appeared in higher concentrations in conjunction with Roundup and Roundup Ready crops.
The “electron microscopic pathogen,” Huber wrote in a Jan 16 letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, “appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings,” noting that preliminary experiments have been able to reproduce the pathogen’s effect of causing miscarriages…” Full Story Here
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The World According To Monsanto
Judge who Ruled against Raw Milk in Wisconsin quits to work for Monsanto law firm
The Wisconsin judge who recently ruled that we have no right to own a cow or drink its milk resigned to join one of Monsanto’s law firms.
Judge Fiedler ruled that humans:
- “Do not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd;”
- “Do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;”
- “Do not have a fundamental right to board their cow at the farm of a farmer;”
- “Do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice;” and
- Cannot enter into private contracts without State police power intervention.
His decision was rendered on Sept. 9 and he stepped down from the bench on Sept. 30.
Former judge Patrick J. Fiedler now works for Axley Brynelson, LLP, which defended Monsanto against a patent infringement case filed by Australian firm, Genetic Technologies, Ltd. (GTL) in early 2010.
Read the Full Article:
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/%e2%80%98no-food-rights%e2%80%99-judge-quits-to-work-for-monsanto-law-firm/
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Monsanto’s GMO Corn Approved Despite 45,000 Public Comments in Opposition
Mike Barrett
Natural Society
January 10, 2012
As previously reported, while people were de-stressing and enjoying their much needed time off during the holidays, the United States Department of Agriculture announced its approval of Monsanto’s ‘drought tolerant’ genetically engineered corn.
The decision to give the green light to Monsanto regarding their GE corn didn’t seem too difficult for the Obama Administration, despite receiving nearly 45,000 public comments voicing opposition and only 23 comments in favor since comments opened.
Prepare to see this new GE corn unleashed into the environment as well as the American food supply.
Monsanto Continues Expansion Despite Massive Public Opposition
The news comes after experiments with the seeds were conducted in five African nations, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Monsanto’s drought-resistant corn seeds were given to African farmers facing drought conditions, replacing traditional and sustainable farming with Monsanto’s GMO crops. Full Story on Investment Watch
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Ruling leaves dioxin cleanup out of Monsanto trial
January 7, 2012 - CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the trial begins in a major toxic pollution lawsuit against Monsanto Co., jurors won’t be allowed to tackle a key issue: Should the company pay to clean up dioxin it allegedly spewed across the city of Nitro?
Experts won’t testify about the need for property remediation. Lawyers won’t argue about the issue. Jurors won’t be asked to force Monsanto to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars such a project could cost.
Judges O.C. Spaulding and Derek Swope issued rulings in July and November that threw out that part of the case.
As a result, Putnam County jurors will decide only if current and former Nitro residents should receive medical monitoring to detect diseases potentially caused by exposure to Monsanto’s dioxin. They won’t be able to do anything to clean up homes and businesses, ending the toxic exposure.
Lawyers for thousands of residents and property owners in the class-action suit appealed the decisions by Spaulding and Swope. They say the rulings left a huge gap in their efforts to deal with the legacy of Monsanto’s chemical-making operations.
“The current presence of dioxin contamination in the class area is a public-health hazard,” the lawyers argued in court documents. “It makes little sense to initiate a medical monitoring program for a population without first eliminating that population’s exposure to the toxin at issue.”
The West Virginia Supreme Court isn’t likely to even begin considering the appeal until April. By the time a decision is made, the trial on the medical monitoring question will probably be over.
The situation has left insiders and observers scratching their heads, as lawyers for Monsanto and Nitro residents prepare to head into one of the biggest civil trials in the Kanawha Valley in years.
“It doesn’t make any sense from the standpoint of the impact on the community,” said longtime Nitro lawyer Harvey Peyton.
Full Story on Saturday Gazette-Mail
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Wholesale Approval of Genetically Engineered Foods — Obama Administration Disappoints/Angers Public
January 5th, 2012 – Over the holidays, the United States Department of Agriculture announced its approval of a novel strain of genetically engineered corn, developed by Monsanto, purportedly being “drought tolerant.”
Despite receiving nearly 45,000 public comments in opposition to this particular genetically engineered (GE) corn variety (and only 23 comments in favor), the Obama administration gave Monsanto the green light to release its newest GE corn variety freely into the environment and American food supply, without any governmental oversight or safety tracking.
“President Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack just sent a clear message to the American public that they do not care about our concerns with genetically engineered food and their questionable safety, adverse environmental impacts, and detrimental effects on farmers, especially organic farmers,” says Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst with The Cornucopia Institute.
“This is just the latest in a string of approvals of genetically engineered crops, and it is clear that despite campaign promises of change from Obama, he has not had the courage to stand strong against the powerful agribusiness and biotechnology lobbies,” Kastel added.
In addition to its announcement approving Monsanto’s newest GE corn variety, the USDA also opened a 60-day public comment period for two additional petitions – one for Monsanto’s GE soybean containing higher levels of an omega-3 fatty acid, that does not naturally occur in soybeans, and the other from Dow AgroSciences for corn that has been genetically engineered to better resist the poisonous herbicide 2,4-D.
The public can comment on Dow’s 2,4-D corn at:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2010-0103-0001
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Leaked: US to Start ‘Trade Wars’ with Nations Opposed to Monsanto, GMO Crops
The United States is threatening nations who oppose Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) crops with military-style trade wars, according to information obtained and released by the organization WikiLeaks. Nations like France, which have moved to ban one of Monsanto’s GM corn varieties, were requested to be ‘penalized’ by the United States for opposing Monsanto and genetically modified foods. The information reveals just how deep Monsanto’s roots have penetrated key positions within the United States government, with the cables reporting that many U.S. diplomats work directly for Monsanto.
The WikiLeaks cable reveals that in late 2007, the United States ambassador to France and business partner to George W. Bush, Craig Stapleton, requested that the European Union along with particular nations that did not support GMO crops be penalized. Stapleton, who co-owned the Dallas/Fort Worth-based Texas Rangers baseball team with Bush in the 1990s, stated:
“Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices.”
Under Industry Pressure, USDA Works to Speed Approval of Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered Crops
Under a new two-year pilot program at the USDA, regulators are training the world’s biggest biotech firms, including Monsanto, BASF and Syngenta, to conduct environmental reviews of their own transgenic seed products as part of the government’s deregulation process.
Excerpt from Truthout -
This would eliminate a critical level of oversight for the production of GE crops. Regulators are also testing new cost-sharing agreements that allow biotech firms to help pay private contractors to prepare mandatory environmental statements on GE plants the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is considering deregulating.
The USDA launched the pilot project in April and, in November, the USDA announced vague plans to “streamline” the deregulation petition process for GE organisms. A USDA spokesperson said the streamlining effort is not part of the pilot project, but both efforts appear to address a backlog of pending GE crop deregulation petitions that has angered big biotech firms seeking to rollout new products.
Documents obtained by Truthout under a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request reveal that biotech companies, lawmakers and industry groups have put mounting pressure on the USDA in recent years to speed up the petition process, limit environmental impact assessments and approve more GE crops. One group went as far as sending USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack a timeline of GE soybean development that reads like a deregulation wish list. [Click here and here to download and read some of the documents released to Truthout.]
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Monsanto Corn May Be Failing to Kill Bugs, EPA Says
By Jack Kaskey – Dec 2, 2011
Corn that’s genetically engineered to kill insects may be losing its effectiveness against rootworms in four states, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said.
Rootworms in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska are suspected of developing tolerance to the plants’ insecticide, based on documented cases of severe crop damage and reports from entomologists, the EPA said in a memo dated Nov. 22 and posted Nov. 30 on a government website. Monsanto’s program for monitoring suspected cases of resistance is “inadequate,” the EPA said.
“Resistance is suspected in at least some portions of four states in which ‘unexpected damage’ reports originated,” the EPA said in the memo, which reviewed damage reports.
The insects, which begin life as root-chewing grubs before developing into adult beetles, are among the most destructive corn pests, costing U.S. farmers about $1 billion a year in damages and chemical pesticides, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Monsanto fell 3.8 percent to $70.42 at the close in New York, the tenth-biggest (SPX) decline among companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
“The stock is always going to be susceptible to headline risk as it pertains to the effectiveness of their products,” Mark Demos, a portfolio manager who helps oversee $18 billion at Fifth Third Asset Management in Minneapolis, said by telephone. “They are leading the charge in biotech, so it’s bad for the whole industry.”
‘Stay Ahead’
Monsanto continues to believe there’s no scientific confirmation of resistance to its Bt corn, Quarles said by telephone. Still, Monsanto takes the EPA report “seriously” and is increasing efforts to teach farmers how to respond to unexpected damage in their fields, he said.
Less than 0.2 percent of the acres planted with Monsanto’s Bt corn were affected by unexpected rootworm damage this year, Quarles said. Farmers with root damage in their fields should consider changing practices to “stay ahead of this insect,” Monsanto said in a statement. That could include rotating corn with soybeans or using a product such as Monsanto’s SmartStax corn, which kills rootworms with two types of Bt, the company said.
The EPA report “does throw a harsher light on the longer- term efficacy of the trait,” Chris Shaw, a New York-based analyst at Monness Crespi Hardt & Co., said today by telephone. The development of SmartStax shows Monsanto knows it can’t rely on a single gene to address farmers’ problems, he said.
Full Story Here on Bloomberg.com
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Evogene and Monsanto Mark Completion of Third Year of Five-Year Collaboration
Evogene Discovered Genes Now Being Evaluated in Monsanto R&D Pipeline
Press release Sept. 22, 2011, 10:00 a.m. EDT
REHOVOT, ISRAEL and ST. LOUIS, MO, Sep 22, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Evogene Ltd. (tase:EVGN) and Monsanto Company MON +0.86% announced today the successful completion of the third year of their research and development collaboration.
The goal of this five-year collaboration agreement is to discover genes that could enhance crop yield for farmers in corn, soybean, cotton and canola. Under the collaboration, Evogene is focused on identifying key plant genes related to yield, environmental stress, and fertilizer utilization for further evaluation and potential development and commercialization by Monsanto.
During the initial three years of collaborative work, Evogene utilized its computational genomics technology, the ATHLETE, to successfully discover genes, predict, and provide validation in model plants, to address the objectives of the collaboration. A number of the genes discovered by Evogene are now undergoing evaluation in target crops in Monsanto’s research and development pipeline. During the remaining two years, as more performance data for these initial genes are obtained, further discovery and validation work will also be conducted, potentially leading to even more new genes and potential product candidates for growers.
“As populations grow and as diets and climates shift around the world, more than ever the global community is relying on the success of farmers in every part of the world,” said Bob Reiter, Vice President and Global Lead of Biotechnology for Monsanto Company. “By partnering with research companies like Evogene, we hope to bring more tools to farmers faster than we could solely through our own internal research. We view collaborations such as the one with Evogene as central to our future success in helping farmers increase productivity. And ultimately, their success is our success.”
Ofer Haviv, Evogene’s President and CEO stated “Our relationship with Monsanto has been a substantial and important component of our company’s trait research and discovery activities during these past three years. Therefore, we are extremely pleased to see both the promising results to date and the excellent collaborative environment that has been established by our two companies. We look forward to continuing this productive collaboration as we utilize our innovative and continuously improving predictive capabilities to deliver novel genes that, under Monsanto’s development program, will hopefully result in future products for farmers.”
Contact Information Evogene: Liat Cinamon Director of IR & PR E-mail: Email Contact Tel: +972-8-931-1933 SOURCE: Evogene
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Nepal Pushes Back Against Monsanto’s Hybrid Seeds
Posted on Organic Authority by Jill Ettinger November 20th, 2011
Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is battling the U.S. Agency for International Development and Monsanto, the largest seed company in the world, over the development of a hybrid corn crop intended for planting in the Nepalese regions of Chitwan, Nawalparasi and Kavre.
The issue erupted when USAID made a statement in September that the Nepalese Agriculture Ministry had partnered with Monsanto and USAID to promote the seeds to 20,000 farmers.
Criticisms followed the statement in the form of articles and a nearly 1,500 signatures on a petition and Facebook campaign protesting Monsanto’s intentions.
Nepalese official Hari Dahal, joint secretary at the MoAC stated that they “have no idea why USAID issued the statement saying that the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives was partnering with Monsanto. No agreement has been signed.”
The Kathmandu Post reported that USAID would not directly respond to questions about whether or not they had received support from the Nepal MoAC, and instead directed the paper to the organization’s website’s FAQ page, citing that they would be able to provide more information shortly.
Nepalese activists and anti-GMO protesters claim that USAID has stated it is facilitating Monsanto’s entry into Nepal even despite claims by government officials to the contrary. No formal notice from Nepal’s government stating that they have not entered into a deal with Monsanto and USAID has been released.
The youth community in Nepal has been particularly vocal on the issue and will be conducting a protest at the USAID office on November 25th, 2011.
Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger
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Serbian ecology leader arrested for openly defying GMOs and chemtrails
(NaturalNews) In October 2011, Nikola Aleksi, leader of Ecological Movement of Novi Sad in Serbia, was arrested and fined. Earlier on his way to a conference in Belgrade, an attempt was reportedly made on his life. And Monsanto has sued him with the threat of removing him and his family from their rented flat as “collateral.”
Why all the fuss? Nikola made a spirited speech, recorded on video, challenging the Serbian president for allowing GMOs to come into Serbia. He also challenged the Serbian government for allowing planes to spray chemtrails in the Serbian skies.
A brave outspoken challenge
He forcefully spoke of all this as genocide. That the future of Serbians will fade away from the poisons of chemtrails and the toxicity and sterility generated by GMOs.
Mara Kern, wrote the original article, posted by “Food Freedom” and others, on Nikola Aleksi. She was posting a plea for help with Nikola’s case in Serbia. Her command of English is very good, but there are passages that indicate English is her second language.
In addition to her plea, there is a video of Nikola’s brave challenge with English subtitles as well as an English text of most of his speech. He even called on the Serbian Army to do their duty and protect Serbian skies. He demanded the Serbian prosecutor declare Serbia a non-GMO zone.
Then he warned the president of Serbia, Boris Tadic, that if he continued to play along with Monsanto’s GMO plans and not put a stop to chemtrails, he would urge Sebians to hit the streets and he, Nikola Aleksi, would be among the first.
As Mara Kern explained, Nikola has done well the ecology movement, but his latest complaints are banned from mainstream media.
There have been two or three Natural News articles referring to Monsanto’s use of Xe, a private security group formerly known as Blackwater. Yes, the mercenary group changed their names to shine up their tarnished image (
http://www.naturalnews.com/030896_M…
).
As a corporate intelligence agency for Monsanto, Xe is assigned with locating and isolating international GMO dissenters so they can be marginalized, bought, or removed.
Learn more: Natural News
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1256…
http://www.infowars.com/chemtrail-a…
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20…
http://www.fastcompany.com/1787543/…
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Judge orders audit of Monsanto settlement
Aug 23, 2011 Calhoun County Circuit Judge Debra Jones released a court order Monday requiring a public accounting of the settlement in a chemical contamination lawsuit, an audit of the settlement and a hearing on the reasonableness of the attorney fees.
The Abernathy-Monsanto case, a mass tort filed against Monsanto in 1996 alleging that its production of polychlorinated biphenyls polluted the properties near its plant and contaminated the residents, was one of two such cases filed. Both were settled jointly in 2003.
According to recent court documents, the $300 million settlement awarded $275 million immediately to be split — $90 million to adult plaintiffs, $45 million to plaintiffs without any restrictions, $21 million to be placed in a trust, $15 million for attorney costs and $104 million in attorney fees. The other $25 million was to be paid in annual installments over 10 years, though recent court documents don’t specify who was to receive that money.
However, the settlement was questioned almost immediately. It ended up back in court in 2004, in 2010 and again in April 2011. The court order is a result of the April 27, 2011, hearing presided over by Jones.
“Just as the people and the land of this community have been damaged and polluted by the toxins made the basis of this mass tort case, the toxins appear to have polluted the minds of some people regarding the judicial process,” Jones wrote in her order.
Transparency, she wrote, ensures truth and justice and will restore the public’s and the plaintiffs’ trust.
Read more: Anniston Star – Judge orders audit of Monsanto settlement
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Farmers Respond To Monsanto’s Attempt To Dismiss Their Case
By Deniza Gertsberg | August 25th, 2011
In mid-July, Monsanto filed a motion with the Federal court in New York to have the Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association (OSGATA), et al., case dismissed against it. Monsanto’s motion was in response to a complaint filedearlier this year by eighty-three family farmers, small and family owned seed businesses, and agricultural organizations challenging Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seeds. The complaint also asked the court to declare that Monsanto cannot sue plaintiffs should the company’s transgenic seed land on their property.
Plaintiffs include thirty-three family farms and individual farmers from throughout the United States, fourteen seed businesses and thirty-six agricultural membership organizations. According to the accompanying brief filed by PUBPAT in opposition to Monsanto’s motion to dismiss, filed on August 11, 2011, each plaintiff strives to farm and/or do business without the use of transgenic seed, but is nonetheless fearful that either the fields or the seed products each sells could become contaminated by Monsanto’s transgenic seed and then be accused by Monsanto of patent infringement. It has happened before.
The fear of a lawsuit, argued PUBPAT on behalf of plaintiffs, “arises from the highly contaminating nature of Monsanto’s transgenic seed and Monsanto’s well known aggressive patent assertion tactics. This fear is so strong that it causes some plaintiffs to forgo growing crops that they otherwise have the capacity and desire to grow.” In fact, according to the amended complaint filed by plaintiffs, Monsanto is said to have investigated roughly 500 farmers per year for patent infringement and between 1997 and April 2010, it filed 144 lawsuits against farmers in 27 different states for infringement of or breach of license to its transgenic seed patents.
Full Story On GMO Watch
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The Magical Monsanto-Bayer Bean!
“We look forward to this opportunity to provide growers with advanced technology that combines Bayer CropScience innovation in seed treatment with Monsanto seed,” said Keith Vodrazka, product manager at Bayer CropScience LP. “This combination will help ensure that soybean growers can have the best protection against yield-robbing nematodes and early season insects.”
What a chilling statement that is, eh? Doesn’t it just create a warm, tingly feeling inside to think of the potential behind products like BaySanto soybeans? How about some MonBay beans? Gosh, what mouth-watering thoughts and I can hardly wait until Monsanto-Bayer products are available in a super store near me!
I wonder…
…will beans now replace aspirin as the common headache remedy? I can easily imagine the conversation that will take place in bedrooms around the world, “Not tonight honey, I took some BayerBeans for my headache!…No, I don’t smell anything at all…maybe it was the dog again…!”
From CropLife -
“Soybean growers now have access to a biological mode of action to help protect their crop from nematodes — as well as other pests — as part of an agreement made by Bayer CropScience LP and Monsanto Co.
Offered with Monsanto’s Acceleron Seed Treatment Products for soybeans, Poncho/VOTiVO seed treatment from Bayer CropScience combines a seed-applied insecticide with a new living-barrier approach to nematode protection…
…Under the agreement, Monsanto will have rights to commercialize Poncho/VOTiVO on seed from its soybean brand Asgrow, the Channel brand, and regional brands, as well as to sell the product through its seed licensees, which include numerous independent seed companies across the U.S…”
Full Story On CropLife
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India To Prosecute Monsanto Seed Pirates
And so the battle rages on in the latest case of The People v. Monsanto; this time they are being prosecuted in India for ‘bio-piracy’ for developing Bt Brinjal without getting approval from proper officials. Good luck to NBA of India…there are thousands, if not millions of us rooting for you and for your success at preventing Monsanto from destroying your country!
Excerpt From GM Watch -
1.National Biodiversity Authority to prosecute Mahyco/Monsanto and collaborators for promoting Bt Brinjal in violation of Biodiversity Protection Law
ESG India, 11 August 2011
http://www.esgindia.org
In an unprecedented, though much delayed, decision, the National Biodiversity Authority of India (NBA) has decided to initiate legal action against M/s Mahyco/Monsanto and their collaborators for accessing and using local brinjal varieties in developing Bt Brinjal without prior approval of the competent authorities. The official resolution giving effect to this decision was taken in the NBA’s meeting of 20th June 2011, the minutes of which were released only on 11 August 2011.
http://www.nbaindia.org/meetings/meeting.htm
The decision of the NBA reads as follows:
“A background note besides legal opinion on Bt brinjal on the alleged violation by the M/s. Mahyco/M/s Monsanto, and their collaborators for accessing and using the local brinjal varieties for development of Bt brinjal with out prior approval of the competent authorities was discussed and it was decided that the NBA may proceed legally against M/s. Mahyco/ M/s Monsanto, and all others concerned to take the issue to its logical conclusion.” (Emphasis supplied)
(Official copy of these minutes may be accessed here:
http://www.nbaindia.org/meetings/meeting.htm
)
The “alleged violation” referred to by NBA is based on a complaint filed by Environment Support Group before the Karnataka Biodiversity Board on 15 February 2011 (copy attached). Subsequently, the Board thoroughly and systematically investigated the matter and submitted in its 28 May 2011 letter to NBA that “six local varieties for development of Bt Brinjal” have been accessed in Karnataka by M/s Mahyco/Monsanto and their collaborators “without prior approval from State Biodiversity Board/National Biodiversity Authority”. Furnishing a variety of documents in support of its contention, the Board has sought “further action” by the Authority on the basis of ESG’s complaint. (Emphasis supplied).
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Round-Up! And Get Ready For Dinner!
Coming soon to super markets and farmer’s markets near you! Say hello to Monsanto’s Sweet FrankenCorn! Plump, genetically injected and chemically processed ears of corn are guaranteed to have your mouth watering and your teeth rotting in no time, boys and girls! Never you mind that corn is nothing more than useless filler designed to stretch dog food and run cars; just slather some nice fake butter-like margarine oil on the FrankenCorn and dig in! Cheap, easy to prepare, nutrition-less stuck-in-your-teeth good times for the whole family from Toby the hamster to Marvin the dog right up to good ol’ Mom and Dad! What are you waiting for? Close your eyes and dig in…!
Monsanto, which already controls 60% of the U.S. corn market, is including traits in the new sweet corn that make it resistant to both Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide and to insects (through the inclusion of Bt toxin, a trait that disrupts insect digestive systems and eventually kills them). As we have mentioned before, at least 21 weed species have become resistant to Roundup. And Bt toxin may have negative health effects–a recent study found the toxin in the maternal and fetal blood of pregnant women, though the implications of that aren’t known quite yet…
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Monsanto Sprouting A Produce-seed Line
By P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times
October 20, 2011
Reporting from Creve Coeur, Mo.
Monsanto Co., whose genetically modified corn and soybeans have reshaped America’s heartland and rallied a nation of fast-food foes, wants to revolutionize the produce aisle.
The agribusiness giant already has quietly stepped into the marketplace with produce grown from its seeds.
Grocery customers in California and elsewhere are chopping its onions that produce fewer tears, stir-frying its broccoli that decreases cholesterol and biting into tiny orange tomatoes that last longer on the shelf.
Soon, people will be thumping melons bred to be a single serving and shucking sweet corn genetically modified to enable farmers to spray the fields with the company’s weed killer, Roundup.
To do this, it’s marrying conventional breeding methods with its vast technological resources to bring about changes in fruits and vegetables in months or years, rather than in decades.
Monsanto’s goal: to dominate today’s $3-billion global market for produce seeds, much as it already has done with corn and soybeans.
“This isn’t a hobby…. We’re serious about it,” said Monsanto Chief Executive Hugh Grant, who expects the company’s vegetable seed revenue to rival its $1.5-billion soybean business in the coming decade.
The move has raised the hackles of some environmental and organic farming groups that fear it will ultimately squeeze out smaller, independent vegetable seed firms.
They also worry that the company will use technology to introduce revolutionary new genes into vegetable plants, just as Monsanto scientists have done in corn, soybeans and cotton.
“Clearly, the company wants to keep its options open,” said Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist with the food and environmental program at Union of Concerned Scientists. “But I think they understand it’s a dicey proposition to move into [genetically engineered] foods that are widely consumed, rather than foods that are highly processed or used as animal feed.”
Monsanto officials said the opportunities for growth in the vegetable seed market were too good to ignore. They said there were plenty of ways to use technology to design better-tasting vegetables, yet avoid the financial and consumer hurdles that would inevitably come with rolling out genetically engineered produce for a grocery store.
The amount of arable land worldwide is dwindling, while the world’s population is forecast to jump to more than 9 billion by 2050 from nearly 6.9 billion today. Shifts in weather patterns have caused recent slumps in key crops.
All this, in turn, has water-strapped countries eager to establish secure food supplies. Fast-growing economies, such as those in India and China, also are stepping up food imports to feed a burgeoning middle class.
Given these factors, Monsanto is making a multibillion-dollar bet that global farming conditions are going to get tougher and farmers are going to be hungry for their vegetable and fruit seeds.
Revenue from Monsanto’s vegetable seed business totaled $895 million for the company’s fiscal year that ended Aug. 31. That’s about 8% of its annual revenue, a figure the company hopes to grow steadily in coming years.
Continue Reading – LA Times
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US Alfalfa Already Genetically Contaminated With Monsanto Trait
From Food Freedom/October 18, 2011
In March 2011, Phillip Geertson (of Monsanto v Geertson Seed) spoke with Jeff Rense and advised: “The truth of it is [genetically modified alfalfa] is already spread all over the country, because in 2005 they deregulated it.” He tested wild alfalfa and found that 90% of it held the Monsanto trait.
Below the video is Geertson’s in-depth article discussing alfalfa and how genetic contamination has destroyed most of the alfalfa export market. In June 2010, the US Supreme Court upheld the commercial planting of GM alfalfa.
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Monsanto Signs Royalty Deals With Argentine Farmers
BUENOS AIRES | Tue Jun 7, 2011 1:50pm EDT
(Reuters) – Bruised by a lengthy battle over royalties in Argentina, U.S. seed giant Monsanto is asking the nation’s farmers to sign contracts promising to pay to use the company’s new seed technology.
Argentina is one of the world’s biggest soybean exporters and production is growing, making it a huge potential market for Monsanto’s new genetically modified (GM) Roundup Ready 2 Yield soy variety.
The company, however, is wary of Argentine laws because its original Roundup Ready soy variety was never patented in the South American country — although it became ubiquitous — provoking years of legal wrangling with the government.
The latest Roundup Ready seeds have been patented but Monsanto hopes to guarantee payments on their technology by signing agreements with individual Argentine farmers who are seeking to boost yields.
“We want to sign the contracts to be sure there’s a consensus … We don’t want to go with the force of law alone,” Monsanto spokesman Pablo Vaquero said.
But Monsanto’s move has angered small-scale growers, who have been allowed to sow original Roundup Ready seeds harvested from their own fields without paying royalties.
They accuse Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, of trying to monopolize production in Argentina and of effectively excluding smaller farmers from using new seed technology by demanding too much in royalty payments.
“We’re defending farmers’ right to re-use their seeds because they can’t pay royalties indefinitely,” said Julio Curras, a leader of the Argentine Agrarian Federation (FAA), which represents tens of thousands of small- and medium-sized farmers in the world’s No. 3 soy supplier.
However, Monsanto says farmers who account for a third of Argentine soy output have signed, hoping to increase yields and meet the soaring global demand for food that is stoking inflation fears from China and India to the Middle East. Article Continues in Full Here On Reuters
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