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mrz
18-05-03, 12:26
Sask. farmer star of Biodevastation conference

ST. LOUIS (CP) - At 72, lifelong Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser never dreamed he'd be the poster boy in what he calls a worldwide struggle for farmers' rights and autonomy.

But five years and $200,000 in legal fees later, the Saskatchewan farmer said he will go down fighting St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. for the right of farmers to plant seed saved from one growing season in the next.

Schmeiser barely had heard of Monsanto before 1998, he said Friday at the Biodevastation 7 conference in St. Louis, a three-day gathering of opponents of genetic engineering.

He and his wife had scratched out a good life on 567 hectares in Western Canada as farmers and canola seed developers, saving seeds from high-yield harvests year to year, as growers have for centuries.

That year, Schmeiser was sued in federal court by Monsanto for raising herbicide-resistant canola from its genetically modified seed, which the company said is a violation of its patent rights. The suit would cost the couple their life savings and 25 years of seed research, Schmeiser said.

Monsanto said canola plants grown from its genetically altered seed had grown along a ditch on the Schmeiser farm in violation of the company's patent. Schmeiser contends the GM seed blew off a truck or came from someone else's field but Monsanto argued that's impossible. Schmeiser said he never bought Monsanto seed.

In May 2001, a judge ruled for Monsanto, saying it didn't matter how the genetically modified plant ended up on Schmeiser's property - bees, birds, wind or transport - it became Monsanto's property. Schmeiser said he had to forfeit his profits from his 1998 crop and was forbidden from using his plants or seed again because they were contaminated.

Shannon Troughton, a spokeswoman for Monsanto, said Friday no one forces farmers to choose the company's seed; farmers choose it because it meets their economic and environmental needs. She said 300,000 U.S. growers and 30,000 in Canada abide by the terms of using Monsanto seed and the company prefers settlements over going to court

An appeals court later upheld the 2001 decision. Last week, however, Canada's Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, a move Schmeiser said could have "tremendous implications" for Monsanto and farmers worldwide.

He said the Canadian high court in December ruled Harvard University could not patent a higher-life form, in its case, a mouse it had genetically engineered. If the court follows that line of reasoning, Schmeiser said, there's a chance Monsanto will lose its ability to patent seed in Canada, a ruling countries elsewhere could follow.

Monsanto Canada spokeswoman Trish Jordan said the court's decision will be a costly one for both Schmeiser and the company but Monsanto is prepared to defend its position to the end.

"We will continue to follow the case for the next 12 to 14 months," Jordan said.

"It would have been good if it was over today from our perspective but we'll keep going."

At issue are the patent rights to Roundup Ready canola, a genetically modified strain resistant to a herbicide that would normally kill the plants used to produce cooking oil.

Monsanto charges farmers a fee of about $30 a hectare to use the seeds. About 20,000 farmers across the country planted the seeds in 2000. Those crops covered between about 18 million and 20 million hectares and accounted for about 40 per cent of Canadian canola production.

Schmeiser said he has garnered moral and financial support for his cause internationally.

"Otherwise, I couldn't do it," he said.

"What farmer can take on a multibillion-dollar company like Monsanto?"

The case has become a cause celebre in Western Canada and has attracted attention in other countries, making Schmeiser something of a folk hero among farm and consumer activists who worry about the spread of genetically modified crops and the economic clout of the companies that hold patents for them.

Angela Rickman, campaign co-ordinator with the Sierra Club of Canada, said the environmental group will be watching the case closely.

"It's very important for small farmers, not just in Canada but around the world, who are really concerned with the ability of multinationals to patent what was previously considered to be the genetic common," she said from her home in Ottawa.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/05/16/89132-cp.html

Orakel
18-05-03, 22:38
Resistente zaadjes in een David en Goliath verhaal.

Zijn mensen die niet integreren nou ook resistente zaadjes?

JMT? Hellup....

mrz
19-05-03, 16:35
Hmm bij mij komen herinneringen aan jeudgnachtmerrie's over een wereld bevolkt met allemaal dezelfde persoontjes, namelijk ik (bijv.), naar boven bij dit soort verhalen. Of een wereld vol met agent Smith's...
Die de hele wereld infesten zoals het "gezwel der mensheid" zelve waar die in 1 nog zo fel over was.

Bush wake up makker en pak die terroristische monsanto viezerikken eens aan... :student: