11–20 of 72 posts
It's a shame, because all this hate should be directed at the food industry more broadly, including Cargill, ADM, and their armies of lobbyists
"There's going to be an anti-GMO backlash and everyone is going to pick a villain. Pay us and we can make sure it isn't you."
There are many agricultural biotechnology companies. Maybe Monsanto didn't pay.
Monsanto Canada Inc v Schmeiser[1] is one datum. The Schmeisers lost their heirloom corn they had been growing for generations when a neighbour grew Monsanto corn, which pollinated some of the Schmeiser's plants. Because Monsanto had patented Roundup-ready corn, the Schmeisers lost the right to grow their unpatented family corn as some contained patented DNA. The court ruled 5% contamination was enough to assert IP r…
"The case drew worldwide attention and is widely misunderstood to concern what happens when farmers' fields are accidentally contaminated with patented seed. However by the time the case went to trial, all claims had been dropped that related to patented seed in the field that was contaminated in 1997; the court only considered the GM canola in Schmeiser's 1998 fields, which Schmeiser had intentionally concentrated and planted from his 1997 harvest. Regarding his 1998 crop, Schmeiser did not put forward any defence of accidental contamination."
Emphasis added. They did not put forward the defense of accidental contamination because it was indeed not accidental; instead, they were trying to add traits of the GM crop into their own. Where you stand on that practice may vary, but they certainly were [intentionally] taking advantage of the superior traits of the GM crop.
Whether or not it should be allowed to be intellectual property is a completely different thing, but given that it can be considered IP right now, the corporation would be foolish to not protect their IP and therefore their financial interests for their shareholders.
Is from the year 2014.
On GMO and Monsanto I recommand a recent .net rocks:
Monsanto Canada Inc v Schmeiser[1] is one datum. The Schmeisers lost their heirloom corn they had been growing for generations when a neighbour grew Monsanto corn, which pollinated some of the Schmeiser's plants. Because Monsanto had patented Roundup-ready corn, the Schmeisers lost the right to grow their unpatented family corn as some contained patented DNA. The court ruled 5% contamination was enough to assert IP r…
In other news, 80% of Americans want food containing gaining DNA to be labelled - comparable to the number that are concerned about dihydrogen monoxide. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/201...
In other, other apparently unreported news, Monsanto's GM foods were designed to be extra resistant to the pesticides they sell.
This pesticide, specifically: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx800218n
"Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells"
It's important to focus on the fact that the GMO plants themelves without the extra pesticides they were designed to sustain are totally, 100% safe, though.
Signed, CATO (Koch funded think tank, closely allied with Monsanto)
I've wondered for a while if there's evil black hat PR agencies out there that charge protection money. "There's going to be an anti-GMO backlash and everyone is going to pick a villain. Pay us and we can make sure it isn't you." There are many agricultural biotechnology companies. Maybe Monsanto didn't pay.