A new victory for Monsanto. The GMO seeds multinational has been the winner of a new legal battle waged against some US organic farmers. They had pledged that the multinational would stop suing farmers when traces of its patented genes were identified within the crops.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
A new victory per Monsanto. The multinational of GMO seeds won the new legal battle waged against some organic farmers Americans who had pledged that the multinational would stop suing them in the event of accidental contamination with patented genes from their crops.
The US Court of Appeals has reconfirmed an earlier ruling, which listed them as organic farmers they had no reason to try to stop Monsanto from suing them, as the multinational had already promised it would not take farmers to court if biotech crops accidentally mixed with organic crops.
Organic farmers for years have feared being sued by Monsanto for not respecting the patents, if their fields were found to be contaminated by biotech crops. In the latter ruling, the Court of Appeal ruled that organic farmers will have to rely on Monsanto's promises on your own website, where the multinational has communicated that it will not sue farmers if the contamination by GMOs is very light, ie less than 1%.
The group of more than 50 organic farmers and seed dealers sued Monsanto in March 2011 to prohibit the multinational from prosecuting them if their crops were found to be contaminated with GMOs. Monsanto refused to sign an official document in this regard and the Court of Appeal ruled that as reported on the company website about it would have been sufficient and binding.
According to the ruling and the assurances of the multinational, therefore, the farmers' fear of being sued would be unfounded. Yet in the event of contamination above 1%, the risk of Monsanto being dragged to court remains.
It is a absurd and senseless decision, in the opinion of Andrew Kimbrell, lawyer of the Center For Food Safety, based on what was reported by the to Reuters. In fact, the ruling is not based on a document officially presented by Monsanto, but on one simple statement on a website.
The GMO crops protected by Monsanto patents that are most involved in the contamination of fields cultivated according to organic farming methods are soy, corn and cotton. It is about crops “Roundup Ready”, genetically engineered to resist Roundup herbicide.
They are grown both in the United States and in Latin America and, due to their wide diffusion, it is difficult to avoid contamination, which unfortunately affects fields cultivated with organic or conventional seeds, not GMOs. The most recent case concerns an accidental contamination caused by GMO wheat in Oregon.
Accidental contamination harms U.S. organic farming and farmers. Numerous US farmers have reported over the past few years how their fields have turned out inadvertently contaminated with Monsanto GMO seeds. The problem affects not only farmers, but also companies engaged in the seed trade. Because of the contamination, organic crops Americans are not safe.
Monsanto appears once again as a real one threat to organic farming. The Court of Appeals required organic farmers to trust Monsanto simply on the basis of one promise present online. Will it be possible for farmers to trust Monsanto, a multinational that, through the spread of GMO seeds and crops, day after day, only jeopardizes the purity of organic farming?
Marta Albè
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