3,561,596 members
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$19,571,785,510 diverted from Big Pharma
Farmers Launch Preemptive Strike Against Monsanto
It became too burdensome to bear. Monsanto became a monster; they monopolized the seed providers by buying them all out, they changed nature forever by genetically engineering the seed, they’ve made their farming benefactors fully responsible for the subsequent cross-contamination, and they have forever bought patents on the seed…so they can sue any farmer whose land inadvertently carries the GM creation.
Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Hey Monsanto! Keep your junk off our land! While you’re at it keep your workers from sampling our land without permission. They have successfully sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement.
The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed suit against the hungry giant yesterday. The plaintiffs, around 60 family farmers, seed businesses and other agricultural organizations, had to preemptively sue to protect themselves even though they are the ones with contaminated, damaged goods, thanks to Monsanto. There isn’t a fence high enough, nor an effective barrier to keep their GM seeds off other agriculture. Unless Monsanto suddenly finds a way to patent the wind, they had better retreat!
~Health Freedoms
Farmers and Seed Producers Launch Preemptive Strike against Monsanto
Lawsuit Filed To Protect Themselves from Unfair Patent Enforcement on Genetically Modified Seed
Action Would Prohibit Biotechnology Giant from Suing Organic Farmers and Seed Growers If Innocently Contaminated by Roundup Ready Genes
NEW YORK: On behalf of 60 family farmers, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations, the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed suit today against Monsanto Company challenging the chemical giant’s patents on genetically modified seed. The organic plaintiffs were forced to sue preemptively to protect themselves from being accused of patent infringement should their crops ever become contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed.
Monsanto has sued farmers in the United States and Canada, in the past, when their patented genetic material has inadvertently contaminated their crops.
A copy of the lawsuit can be found at:
(http://www.pubpat.org/assets/files/seed/OSGATA-v-Monsanto-Complaint.pdf)
The case, Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, was filed in federal district court in Manhattan and assigned to Judge Naomi Buchwald. Plaintiffs in the suit represent a broad array of family farmers, small businesses and organizations from within the organic agriculture community who are increasingly threatened by genetically modified seed contamination despite using their best efforts to avoid it. The plaintiff organizations have over 270,000 members, including thousands of certified organic family farmers.
“This case asks whether Monsanto has the right to sue organic farmers for patent infringement if Monsanto’s transgenic seed or pollen should land on their property,” said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT’s Executive Director. “It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement, so we had to act to protect the interests of our clients.”
Once released into the environment, genetically modified seed can contaminate and destroy organic seed for the same crop. For example, soon after Monsanto introduced genetically modified seed for canola, organic canola became virtually impossible to grow as a result of contamination.
Organic corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets and alfalfa also face the same fate, as Monsanto has released genetically modified seed for each of those crops as well.
Monsanto is currently developing genetically modified seed for many other crops, thus putting the future of all food, and indeed all agriculture, at stake.
“Monsanto’s threats and abuse of family farmers stops here. Monsanto’s genetic contamination of organic seed and organic crops ends now,” stated Jim Gerritsen, a family farmer in Maine who raises organic seed and is President of lead plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association. “Americans have the right to choice in the marketplace – to decide what kind of food they will feed their families.”
“Family-scale farmers desperately need the judiciary branch of our government to balance the power Monsanto is able to wield in the marketplace and in the courts,” said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for The Cornucopia Institute, one of the plaintiffs. “Monsanto, and the biotechnology industry, have made great investments in our executive and legislative branches through campaign contributions and powerful lobbyists in Washington.”
In the case, PUBPAT is asking Judge Buchwald to declare that if organic farmers are ever contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed, they need not fear also being accused of patent infringement. One reason justifying this result is that Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seed are invalid because they don’t meet the “usefulness” requirement of patent law, according to PUBPAT’s Ravicher, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney in the case.
“Evidence cited by PUBPAT in its opening filing today proves that genetically modified seed has negative economic and health effects, while the promised benefits of genetically modified seed – increased production and decreased herbicide use – are false,” added Ravicher who is also a Lecturer of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.
Ravicher continued, “Some say transgenic seed can coexist with organic seed, but history tells us that’s not possible, and it’s actually in Monsanto’s financial interest to eliminate organic seed so that they can have a total monopoly over our food supply,” said Ravicher. “Monsanto is the same chemical company that previously brought us Agent Orange, DDT, PCB’s and other toxins, which they said were safe, but we know are not. Now Monsanto says transgenic seed is safe, but evidence clearly shows it is not.”
The plaintiffs in the suit represented by PUBPAT are: Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association; Organic Crop Improvement Association International, Inc.; OCIA Research and Education Inc.; The Cornucopia Institute; Demeter Association, Inc.; Navdanya International; Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association; Northeast Organic Farming Association/Massachusetts Chapter, Inc.; Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont; Rural Vermont; Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association; Southeast Iowa Organic Association; Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society; Mendocino Organic Network; Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance; Canadian Organic Growers; Family Farmer Seed Cooperative; Sustainable Living Systems; Global Organic Alliance; Food Democracy Now!; Family Farm Defenders Inc.; Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund; FEDCO Seeds Inc.; Adaptive Seeds, LLC; Sow True Seed; Southern Exposure Seed Exchange; Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds; Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., LLC; Comstock, Ferre & Co., LLC; Seedkeepers, LLC; Siskiyou Seeds; Countryside Organics; Cuatro Puertas; Interlake Forage Seeds Ltd.; Alba Ranch; Wild Plum Farm; Gratitude Gardens; Richard Everett Farm, LLC; Philadelphia Community Farm, Inc; Genesis Farm; Chispas Farms LLC; Kirschenmann Family Farms Inc.; Midheaven Farms; Koskan Farms; California Cloverleaf Farms; North Outback Farm; Taylor Farms, Inc.; Jardin del Alma; Ron Gargasz Organic Farms; Abundant Acres; T & D Willey Farms; Quinella Ranch; Nature’s Way Farm Ltd.; Levke and Peter Eggers Farm; Frey Vineyards, Ltd.; Bryce Stephens; Chuck Noble; LaRhea Pepper; Paul Romero; and, Donald Wright Patterson, Jr.
MORE:
Dr. Carol Goland, Ph.D., Executive Director of plaintiff Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association (OEFFA) said, “Consumers indicate, overwhelmingly, that they prefer foods made without genetically modified organisms. Organic farms, by regulation, may not use GMOs, while other farmers forego using them for other reasons. Yet the truth is that we are rapidly approaching the tipping point when we will be unable to avoid GMOs in our fields and on our plates. That is the inevitable consequence of releasing genetically engineered materials into the environment. To add injury to injury, Monsanto has a history of suing farmers whose fields have been contaminated by Monsanto’s GMOs. On behalf of farmers who must live under this cloud of uncertainty and risk, we are compelled to ask the Court to put an end to this unconscionable business practice.”
Rose Marie Burroughs of plaintiff California Cloverleaf Farms said, “The devastation caused by GMO contamination is an ecological catastrophe to our world equal to the fall out of nuclear radiation. Nature, farming and health are all being affected by GMO contamination. We must protect our world by protecting our most precious, sacred resource of seed sovereignty. People must have the right to the resources of the earth for our sustenance. We must have the freedom to farm that causes no harm to the environment or to other people. We must protect the environment, farmers’ livelihood, public health and people’s right to non GMO food contamination.”
Jim Gerritsen, a family farmer in Maine who raises organic seed and is President of lead plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association based in Montrose, Colorado, said, “Today is Independence Day for America. Today we are seeking protection from the Court and putting Monsanto on notice. Monsanto’s threats and abuse of family farmers stops here. Monsanto’s genetic contamination of organic seed and organic crops ends now. Americans have the right to choice in the marketplace – to decide what kind of food they will feed their families - and we are taking this action on their behalf to protect that right to choose. Organic farmers have the right to raise our organic crops for our families and our customers on our farms without the threat of invasion by Monsanto’s genetic contamination and without harassment by a reckless polluter. Beginning today, America asserts her right to justice and pure food.”
Ed Maltby, Executive Director of plaintiff Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA) said, “It’s outrageous that we find ourselves in a situation where the financial burden of GE contamination will fall on family farmers who have not asked for or contributed to the growth of GE crops. Family farmers will face contamination of their crops by GE seed which will threaten their ability to sell crops as organically certified or into the rapidly growing ‘Buy Local’ market where consumers have overwhelmingly declared they do not want any GE crops, and then family farmers may be faced by a lawsuit by Monsanto for patent infringement. We take this action to protect family farms who once again have to bear the consequences of irresponsible actions by Monsanto.”
David L. Rogers, Policy Advisor for plaintiff NOFA Vermont said, “Vermont’s farmers have worked hard to meet consumers’ growing demand for certified organic and non-GE food. It is of great concern to them that Monsanto’s continuing and irresponsible marketing of GE crops that contaminate non-GE plantings will increasingly place their local and regional markets at risk and threaten their livelihoods.”
Dewane Morgan of plaintiff Midheaven Farms in Park Rapids, Minnesota, said, “For organic certification, farmers are required to have a buffer zone around their perimeter fields. Crops harvested from this buffer zone are not eligible for certification due to potential drift from herbicide and fungicide drift. Buffer zones are useless against pollen drift. Organic, biodynamic, and conventional farmers who grow identity-preserved soybeans, wheat and open-pollinated corn often save seed for replanting the next year. It is illogical that these farmers are liable for cross-pollination contamination.”
Jill Davies, Director of plaintiff Sustainable Living Systems in Victor, Montana, said, “The building blocks of life are sacred and should be in the public domain. If scientists want to study and manipulate them for some supposed common good, fine. Then we must remove the profit motive. The private profit motive corrupts pure science and increasingly precludes democratic participation.”
David Murphy, founder and Executive Director of plaintiff Food Democracy Now! said, “None of Monsanto’s original promises regarding genetically modified seeds have come true after 15 years of wide adoption by commodity farmers. Rather than increased yields or less chemical usage, farmers are facing more crop diseases, an onslaught of herbicide-resistant superweeds, and increased costs from additional herbicide application. Even more appalling is the fact that Monsanto’s patented genes can blow onto another farmer’s fields and that farmer not only loses significant revenue in the market but is frequently exposed to legal action against them by Monsanto’s team of belligerent lawyers. Crop biotechnology has been a miserable failure economically and biologically and now threatens to undermine the basic freedoms that farmers and consumers have enjoyed in our constitutional democracy.”
Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for plaintiff The Cornucopia Institute said, “We need the court system to offset this power and protect individual farmers from corporate tyranny. Farmers have saved seeds since the beginning of agriculture by our species. It is outrageous that one corporate entity, through the trespass of what they refer to as their ‘technology,’ can intimidate and run roughshod over family farmers in this country. It should be the responsibility of Monsanto, and farmers licensing their technology, to ensure that genetically engineered DNA does not trespass onto neighboring farmland. It is outrageous, that through no fault of their own, farmers are being intimidated into not saving seed for fear that they will be doggedly pursued through the court system and potentially bankrupted.”
ABOUT PUBPAT
The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) is a not-for-profit legal services organization affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
PUBPAT protects freedom in the patent system by representing the public interest against undeserved patents and unsound patent policy. More information about PUBPAT is available from www.pubpat.org.
CONTACT
Daniel B. Ravicher
Executive Director
PUBLIC PATENT FOUNDATION
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
+1-212-545-5337
press@pubpat.org
http://www.cornucopia.org/2011/03/farmers-and-seed-producers-lunch-preemptive-strike-against-monsanto/
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Are there legislators writing bills that favor Monsanto legally in
what Monsanto has done, and wants to continue doing? Some time ago
I read that a top exec in Monsanto is married to a Senator. She did
not use his last name but kept her own last name. Hopefully she may
not have been elected again last Nov. 2010. Sorry I do not remember
the name or what state she represents. However, there just might be
more than one combo of persons like that, or with the man being the
legislator and the woman a company exec. Even big pharma that is trying to get rid of alternatives to their drugs.
You can’t depend on any alphabet organization to protect the people.
Bottom line is profit & just protect themselves.
Monsanto may be a big company but they are rightfully responsible for destroying our food industry.I bet all the people who work for Monsanto eat organic because they know GMO food is dangerous.I dont care how big of a company you are Monsanto we have a right to good healthy food.If we as humans can put a big stop on the smoking industry products we sure can stop you and your GMO foods.We dont want GMO food we want healthy clean organic food that will give us healthy children an healthy future not sick over weight people filled with food allergies because our food has been altered.Stop changing our food you are not God!!!!
KUDOS to all taking this absolutely necessary action – we are with you–
Makes me sick….farmers should be suing Monsanto for contaminating their crops with their poisonous seeds.
monsanto is a mafia.
it’s not a company, it’s a crime cartel.
in order to eliminate a crime cartel, talented lawyers are needed, to fight the cartel by the law. monsanto broke all the laws on this planet.
the main law they broke is against the nature, plus many sub-laws
second law they broke is against world’s people with countless sub-laws.
a good group of lawyer will have no difficulties to bring monsanto down to downtown, and then to jail.
I can see how Monsanto could patent the PROCESS they use to create these franken seeds, but the seeds themselves should not be patented. The seeds are not made,they grow. But that’s already done and I give my prayers and hopes to the success of the farmers and seed companies who are brave enough to stand up to Monsanto. David fought Goliath and won!
Knowing how any big money business can eventually get out of hand buy buying their way into any distorted practice of business against the human population and nature purely for profit, I fear the worst that some day I would walk into the store to buy some food and there would be nothing but empty shelves. All because the governing bodies that where created to make decisions for the protection of humanity and nature had all sold their integrity. And now we will all starve for it.
Every era ushers in a new and blatant evil that speaks to the “times.” Monsanto, big agro biz, big chem and pharma special interests along with crooked politicians and infiltrated regulatory agencies (i.e., FDA, USDA, etc.) are such an evil. That it has gone this far, is testimonial to our indifference.
We the people have a war on our hands. That war begins with the battle of Monsanto. We must stand up once and for all against those that would have us nothing more than slaves of their wicked corrupt corporate state that want to force feed us Franken foods and ruin all that is good in gods bread basket.
We do have a right to eat what we want and have in grown to our health needs. We do have the right to say no to vaccines and sue the asses off the bastards that want to force them on us with no retribution. We do have the right to stand up to the evil giant “Monsanto” and tell them to stick there monopolizing seed where the proverbial sun don’t shine.
Not only that, but they have been destroying the bugs that keep the balance in nature–Dr Chopra saw this happening in India years ago–how Monsanto was destroying not only the value of food but the insects –this is a world wide problem because the government and FDA have turned a blind eye–Monsanto is not the only criminal and monster in this situation!
I have a group of friends that have heritage seeds from years ago that keep producing amazing crops–and new seeds for the next year– Monsanto hates this, and wants to wipe it out as that can keep selling seed year after year as theirs is not replantable and has no nutritional value. We wonder why we have more and more disease– like if we pour junk into our gas tank the car doesn’t work– we are lucky that our bodies fight so hard for us–but after a while it can’t do its job.
America should have woken up so many years ago–but unfortunately they want cheep and too lazy to plant even garden pots of easy to grow foods…
Monsanto needs its dirty laundry aired in court. This includes its monied influence in Congress and the Executive office. This is a corrupt organization/corporation, whose only disire is to control food, even if they destroy the natural order of food in doing so. Food is a natural right, a need that cannot be controlled through patents, as Monasnato, et al is trying to do and make it legal. Boycott anything related to Monanto.
It’s really an upside down situation….. Can we get the momentum to sue Monsanto for contaminating our crops with their GMO strands? Out here on Maui Hawaii, we cannot even be sure that any papaya grown organically isn’t genetically modified because of the strong winds here…. we need to rethink a lot as a society…. food growing practices and energy being the two top on my list…
If Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds are their property, Monsanto needs to properly secure their seeds. Otherwise, Monsanto should be held accountable for littering and polluting adjacent farms with their property. The genetically modified seeds become useless outside of the Monsanto network and no different than a piece of paper belonging to a person landing on a neighbor’s yard. That piece of paper ceases to become property of any value and should be classified as trash or garbage as far as intellectual or property rights are concerned. In significant number, it goes beyond simply littering and becomes pollution. Monsanto and their network of farmers should then be held accountable for their pollution and required to pay for environmental cleaning.
Regarding intellectual property, I thought that patents are designed to prevent others from copying and reproducing the same product. The farmers are not actively copying and reproducing the product. They are unintentional consumers of the product. Monsanto should sue mother nature for property theft, but unlike corporations and individuals mother nature is not a legally recognized entity. As a result, Monsanto cannot or at least shouldn’t legally sue anyone for what mother nature did even if the property did transfer to a legal entity. In fact, Monsanto did not properly secure their property and made it so easy for the property to transfer to other properties. The result is that the seeds become public property.
This is the kind of stuff that farmers commit suicide over, or they kill those responsible for their suffering, in court. And we all know that suicide is never the answer! Kudos to these farmers for striking out in court; may their case be a death strangle on this evil corporation!!
You can add the revolving door process of Monsanto execs taking government positions for periods of time, then going back to work at the mothership. While a fed, they institute rules and regulations that protect and enhance their positions in the food industry.
Monsanto must be stopped in its tracks from destroying organic crops. But is up to the courts now to do the right thing and then, the government for not enabling Monsanto’s greedy corporation by enacting laws against GMO foods.
Here are some links with more related to Monsanto’s past and present Executives in the government:
The Return of Michael Taylor, Monsanto’s Man in the Obama Administration
http://counterpunch.org/kenfield08142009.html
Monsanto’s Washington Link
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/monsantoLs.html
How many Monsanto executives are in the Bush’s Cabinet? (as of 05/01/2001)
http://members.aye.net/~hippie/monsanto.htm
FDA, USDA and Monsanto (and other Big Agra and Big Pharma)
http://peopleforethicalliving.com/fda-usda-monsanto-pharma-gmo/
Movie: the Future of Food
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNezTsrCY0Q
I agree with above comments. monsanto should be sued and also shut down
for harming the food supply. I will choose what I eat and it’s not
GMO foods. Does monsanto not care about their own children? I guess not
they should know that destroying the food supply will affect them to. I
don’t care how carefull they are.
Is there some way to contribute donations to this court fight?
Does anyone know how we can help PUBPAT as individuals. I am SO AGAINST GMO foods and the havoc that biotechnology is wreaking on our planet. I’ve been looking for a way to vent my frustration. Living in the Virgin Islands we do not have as many organic choices as elsewhere in the states – the few choices we have are very expensive. Organic meat is almost not-existent. We had organic eggs coming in for a while, but no stores seem to carry them for very long. I have a small organic garden, but am not a farmer. What can someone like myself (and my husband and young daughters) do to ensure this trial get’s all the attention it can and that the evil’s of Monsanto and “big farma” are brought to light?
It’s unbelievable that companies like Monsanto and Big Pharma have been allowed for so long to continue their criminal activities against humanity. Up to now, they seem to have been beyond the law. I pray that this tragic situation is about to change. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to all the brave people who are standing up to protect their fundamental right to choose Good Health for themselves and their children and who, in so doing, are in effect fighting for the survival of humanity as a whole.
On 3/26 I attended the Millions Against Monsanto rally in Minneapolis with my daughter and grand baby. We were proud to be there and glad that we attended. The gathering gave us hope, but there’s strength in numbers and we number perhaps 30 that day and we drove from Wisconsin!
October 16, 2011 is World Food Day. We have just a few short months to increase our numbers and make our voices heard. We all need to commit to using our voices to get the message out. I’m visualizing millions!!! at the next rally!
Keep fighting the good fight!
As some have noted, there is a major “revolving door” between Monsanto and Washington. Michael Taylor; Mr Obama’s Director of Food Safety, has moved back and forth at least four times. He is the Monsanto lawyer who got growth hormone added to the milk supply by “proving” its safety to FDA while he was in FDA. (He is a lawyer, not a biological scientist.) He also blocked the labeling of it in milk and milk products “because consumers would not buy it if they knew”. Mr Vilsac (USDA Secretary) has leases to Monsanto SOY farmers. There are more Monsanto insiders in the USDA currently. Keep looking and you will keep finding senior Monsanto execs who are currently federal appointed officials all over USDA, FDA, and the Executive Branch.
I grew up around the US Mafia. There was a code which would not allow the kind of destruction Monsanto creates. Monsanto is far worse that the US Mafia.
We’ve gone from a God-given gift of a beautiful, clean, pristine planet to one filled with garbage, pollution and contamination – in all forms, and Monsanto is at the top of the list for destroying the earth and its population through their greed and agricultural manipulation. We are destroying this planet and the people through food.
While we must do what we can to fight it by buying locally grown real organic foods and never supporting anything that even smacks of Monsanto (and others), no one lives forever. They will be without excuse when they stand before the judgment throne of God to give an account before they are thrown into Hell – not just a place where God is not present, rather a place where His full fury is unleashed upon them, for eternity.
Anything at all that can be done to stop Monsanto from poisoning our food supply with GMO foods should be energetically pursued. An excellent book called The Deception of Genetically Modified Foods by the world’s foremost expert will inform of the extreme danger to our health and foods. If this is not stopped now, it will be too late to clean it up from the environment. Those at Monsanto will not be immune from it.
I agree with one of the previous posts. I would like to know what can we do as concerned citizens to help this cause? This evil corporation needs to be defeated and made to pay for their crimes against humanity! The people have been silent long enough!
This is important! Is there someone who knows how to set up a fundraising campaign to help these farmers? I am a college student living on little $$, but I would gladly donate what little I have! They must be successful to turn the tide against this giant. This is not only about food, but is also about protecting the American freedom to choose what we put in our mouths! A study in American history and the background to our US Constitution reveals that Americans were not rebelling against the English people, but against the big company monopolies in England who were also leaving the English people in severe poverty at that time. This is an opportunity to rally and show the big companies how much support Americans are willing to give to protect our civil liberties. If someone knows how to set this up in an authentic way where 100% of the money goes to protecting the farmers, PLEASE SET THIS UP FOR US ALL!!! And send out the message and war cry.
It is really difficult to be nice when a crime is happening before your eyes. I work with farmers and see how hard the work is they are small scale. They are good people who do the best they can to produce good clean food for the public and those in their local community. It is an outrage to us that this giant Monsanto has poisoned the earth, the crops and the people all for power and profit. Here is an acronym for you
(Monsanto) (money ogres needling sucking aggravating technological oppression)
Some of these same points can be used against big pharm and I hope this case is the counter weight that drives that drug peddling mafia straight into court and onto its knees!
These are the people who are poisoning us…these are the people who are destroying the worlds food supply by destroying natural seeds…write, email, call them.
http://www.monsanto.com/whoweare/Pages/executive-officers.aspx
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