"Modified Crops Tap a Wellspring of Protest" - New York Times, February 7, 2012
Interesting tidbits from the Article:
In January, Bill Gates devoted most of his annual letter on agriculture from the Gates Foundation to the need for advanced technology. He later said that most people who object to transgenic agriculture live in rich nations, responsible for climate change that he believes has caused malnutrition for the poor...
Like Mr. Stephens, most of the farmers in the Manhattan courtroom were plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed last year by the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association against Monsanto....But the real issue here is not patent law; it’s contamination. The point made by the suit is that, according to the regulations that govern American agriculture, it’s these unwilling farmers who must prevent Monsanto’s products from trespassing onto their land.
The company has moved to dismiss the suit, claiming that the plaintiffs lack standing because Monsanto has taken no action against them. The judge, Naomi R. Buchwald, said she would rule on the motion to dismiss by March 31.
This stuff makes me crazy!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAccording to NPR they have dismissed the case already.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/27/147506542/judge-dismisses-organic-farmers-case-against-monsanto?print=1
definitely alarming. Sometimes I am glad I live in Germany now. There was a similar case about 2 years ago here, when the largest bee cooperative (which is not allowed to sell honey with GMO pollen traces) fought and won against GMO corn. They couldn't prevent where their bees feed, and instead of changing the honey standards they changed what farmers around them could plant. Several German newspapers have reported that Monsanto is practically dead in Europe with all the bans, although I am sure that Monsanto will fight the legalities of it until the bitter end. I hope that farmers wont plant GMOs even if allowed to with all the negative publicity recently (I can get behind a culture that put Walmart out of business here by refusing to shop there!)
ReplyDeleteI'm with Robin, this kind of stuff makes me insane...
ReplyDeleteI recently read an article about GMO corn on the cob being available for human consumption soon. Organ failure, anyone? It amazes me that more people are not outraged by the whole darn thing!
ReplyDelete