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Maine Farmer Heads Group Challenging Genetics Giant Monsanto
A fight to maintain consumer choice and farm independence has landed Maine farmer Jim Gerritsen on Utne Reader's list of "25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World," published in the November/December edition of the magazine on newsstands now.
Organic seed potato farmer Jim Gerritsen heads a trade association that is suing chemical giant Monsanto. (photo: Charlotte Hedley ) Gerritsen, wife Megan, and their four children run the Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater, which produces and sells organic seed potatoes to kitchen gardeners and market farmers in all 50 states. Gerritsen is also president of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, and it was that role that led to the Utne recognition.
The nonprofit organization created a stir in food and farming communities when, with legal backing from the Public Patent Foundation, it filed a lawsuit in March against the chemical and biotechnology giant Monsanto. OSGATA has since been joined in the lawsuit by 82 other seed businesses, trade organizations and family farmers, which together represent more than 270,000 people.
The lawsuit questions the validity of Monsanto's patents on genetically modified seeds, and seeks protection from patent-infringement lawsuits for the plaintiffs should their crops become contaminated with Monsanto's transgenic crops.
"The viewpoint of Monsanto is that (in such a situation) we have their technology, even though we don't want it and it has zero value in the organic market," Gerritsen said. "We think they should keep their pollution on their side of the fence."
Laws prohibit certified organic crops from containing genetically modified ingredients, and Monsanto's patents prohibit farmers from growing its seeds unless purchased from the company. Yet pollen doesn't heed certification or patent laws, and regularly drifts from transgenic crops to contaminate nearby non-genetically altered ones.
To add insult to injury, Monsanto has a reputation for suing or threatening to sue farmers for patent infringement in cases involving its genetically altered seeds, action reported in numerous media outlets as wide ranging as the Columbia Daily Tribune, CBS News and the New York Times.
Despite this well documented legal tactic, Monsanto spokesperson Thomas Helscher stated in an email: "Monsanto has never sued and has publicly committed to not sue farmers over the inadvertent presence of biotechnology traits in their fields. The company does not and will not pursue legal action against a farmer where patented seed or traits are found in that farmer's field as a result of unintentional means."
"Inadvertent" and "unintentional" are the key words here, but for farmers to prove that Monsanto's transgenic seeds are unwanted invaders in a court of law is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. A 2005 report from the Center for Food Safety, an organic-food and sustainable agriculture advocacy group, contends that Monsanto had at that time filed 90 lawsuits against American farmers. The report also contends that the corporation employed 75 people armed with a budget of $10 million devoted "solely to investigating and prosecuting farmers."
Pre-trial motions are still being filed in the lawsuit brought by OSGATA, with the most recent from Monsanto asking that the lawsuit be dismissed.
Helscher said the motion to dismiss results from the corporation's pledge to not sue farmers "where patented seed or traits are found in that farmer's field as a result of inadvertent means. Accordingly, there is no real controversy between parties and the OSGATA case should be dismissed."
Gerritsen views Monsanto's statements as part of a disinformation campaign designed to prolong the lawsuit.
"What they typically try to do is drag out lawsuits as long as they can, hoping the plaintiffs will run out of funding," Gerritsen said. He is confident OSGATA has the resources necessary to pursue this lawsuit for years, if necessary.
Unlike open pollinated crops such as corn and canola, which have suffered from widespread contamination by genetically modified seeds, potatoes remain relatively safe, Gerritsen said.
Monsanto developed multiple strains of transgenic potatoes in the 1990s under the name New Leaf. However, when major food companies such as McCain, which operates a french fry processing plant in Easton, and McDonald's rejected genetically-modified potatoes, Monsanto was forced to pull its transgenic strains off the market.
Gerritsen said the lawsuit will also seek to clarify what he sees as Monsanto's contradictory stance on its genetically modified seeds.
When arguing against labeling of transgenic food, Monsanto and other biotech companies claim that genetically modified seeds are substantially equivalent to traditional seeds. However, when seeking patents, the same companies claim the insertion of foreign genes creates unique seeds deserving of patent protection.
"Which is it?" Gerritsen asked. "It's one or other, but it can't be both. Is it the same? Or is it different?"
All genetically modified seeds are designed to do something different from the original seed. This can mean the modified seed will produce increased quantities of a particular substance inherent to the plant, manufacture chemicals foreign to the original plant, or withstand heavy applications of herbicides and pesticides manufactured by the same corporation seeking the seed patent.
Helscher said, "these genetic modifications in seeds do not significantly change composition, nutrition or safety of resulting food products and thus the food products are not required to be labeled." He did not comment on why seeds that he states do not contain significant changes from the originals would merit patent protection.
Despite Monsanto's legal muscle, Gerritsen remains convinced the current lawsuit will succeed. He also sees hope in the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spread rapidly around the world and has demanded an end to corporate greed and dominance.
"What I understand the Occupy movement to represent is resistance to the growing tradition of power concentrated in the hands of the few, which is most often corporations," Gerritsen said.
Citing the revolving door between corporations (including Monsanto) and the government agencies which purport to regulate them, Gerritsen said, "we basically have a dysfunctional government. The Occupy Wall Street concept is to try to give power back to the people."
In the same vein, the lawsuit against Monsanto seeks to restore the power of citizens and farmers to choose food free from genetically modified organisms.
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43 Comments so far
Show AllI can think of no other company as guilty of WAR CRIMES directed at nature than Monsanto. Perhaps GREG R will rush to the front lines to defend this toxic offender and invader of all things natural, genuine, pure, and decent?
Siouxrose: Me neither!
Jim Gerritsen -- THANK YOU and good luck to you and your lawsuit! I applaud your vision and your efforts. We all need to stand strong against Monsanto and hopefully put it out of business forever. I don't believe in inherent evil...except when it comes to Monsanto! (well, I guess Dick Cheney too!)
SAVE THE FARMERS - KILL MONSANTO
Thomas Helscher, you and the company you work for are baldfaced liars.
How do you live with yourself? Sleep at night? Face your family?
Occupy Monsanto sounds nice.
Burn Monsanto to the ground sounds even better.
Good idea, Curtis.
High time to put Monsanto out of business and burn all their frankenfoods. De-colonize America from capitalism and their monsters.
Amen, vaialdiavolo!
YES ! Monsanto, Dow...others must , will be brought down, with the fall of the empire !!!
They have gotten away with murder and destruction for decades !
Monsanto, with It's terminator seeds have destroyed family farms all over the world. Sending many Indian farmers to commit suicide, after thier crops failed and they went broke trying to pay
Monsanto for seeds yearly. How unfortunate, that with the incredible technology at Monsantos disposable, they have chosen greed, extortion, and money over the opportunity to feed the world. so as millions starve to death, Monsanto is paying megamillions in bonuses to thier corporate executives. this is just more of how corporate greed and unaccountability are strangling and killing the world.
Well said, quipzone.
Corporations are legal monsters whose principal function is to evade responsibility and externalize costs onto the public and the environment. These legal monsters can be killed with the stroke of a pen. The death penalty was used on thousands of corporations during the 19th century and it needs to be revived for the likes of Monsanto, Goldman Sacks, and other corporations. Furthermore this death penalty must be global and must confiscate assets and imprison principals to prevent any future reincarnation of those corporations anywhere in the world.
Corporations and banks were harmful even during the 18th century. Jefferson considered Banks to be a major threat to the country.
Monsanto - the worse terrorists on the planet. Yes, they are even worse than the banks!
Read my old article MONSANTO'S UDDER DISGRACE.
I have said it for years...Monsanto is the biggest terrorist organization in the world! Yes, worse than the banksters, the MIC, and even "Faux (Fox) News.
I'm glad Untne Magazine gave recognition to this first-class world hero!
These type of corporations, also sell seeds that need more and more artificial fertilizers (N, P, K) - this is part of their whole money making strategy. These type of fertilizers debilitate the soil, kill the good soil bacteria, changes its pH.... and so forth.
They are locusts... that want all the land, intoxicate us, increase the diseases and chronic health problems...
The banks are also part of the whole group... do not isolate them. The system needs to change for the good of all. The leaders of today are muppets of these money makers...
We need to focus in new ideas of how to eliminate their power and promote the good for all!
So Monsanto issues bald faced PR weasel words , via spokesman Thomas Helscher. He has obviously been well trained in the Edward Bernays school of public relations which some call professional lying, done on behalf of mega corporations and governments. There's strong probability if you investigate your state agriculture school, you'll likely find they are linked and in bed with Monsanto or other bio-tech firms and will rush to their defense with their PhD credentials. i've seen them testify in state legislature hearings against any attempt to have GMO foods labeled and they offer glib words from the Monsanto PR department about GM "foods" being no different than other crops, despite the evidence others have found of serious physiological changes when test animals were fed GMOs. And recently evidence of superweeds produced by Monsanto's Roundup herbicide being poured on corn and soybean crops for years. This is exactly what some predicted years ago would happen but Monsanto and its PhD ag school prostitutes dismissed it as "alarmism". So a salute to Jim Gerritsen and the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association and the 82 other groups and individuals who joined in the suit. Resisting the korporate tyranny is tough work when they have largely seized control of state and local governments and compromised the courts, most especially the US Supreme Court. But the people are awakening as the worldwide Occupy movement shows. Resist, Revolt,
courtjester: You nailed it!
Out here in California, we're trying to get methyl iodide banned, as it is a deadly chemical used predominantly on strawberry crops but other crops as well. County Agricultural Commissioners can't even ban it from being used in their areas of jurisdiction, so it has to come from the state level. It's all about $$$.
"Monsanto has never sued and has publicly committed to not sue farmers over the inadvertent presence of biotechnology traits in their fields. The company does not and will not pursue legal action against a farmer where patented seed or traits are found in that farmer's field as a result of unintentional means." ---------------------------------------
You might want to check with Percy Schmeiser on that...you lying sack of shit.---------
http://www.percyschmeiser.com/----------
I'm not a religious man...but I sometimes dearly hope there is indeed an afterlife where people like you will have to answer for every lie and crime against the planet.
eta...what's with the lack of paragraph breaks in these posts? You add a para to your posts but it comes out as one long sentence.
FYI, swansong:To create paragraph breaks, type this pair (i.e. you need to use two) of HTML tags where you want the break, like this:
< br >< br >
You need to take out the spaces between the angle brackets "< and >" and "br" shown in the above example. Those spaces are included in the example just so it will display and give you the general idea.
< p >< p > should work also. (Again, without the spaces between the letter and enclosing brackets.)
You can test or check if you're doing it correctly by using the "preview" feature. Hope this helps.
Note: This is only necessary when posting comments to "News" articles.
Using the carriage return "enter" key, aka "leaving a line blank" still works in comments threads in the "Views" and "Further" columns.
I've got a < br > clipping on my desktop which I just drag into the necessary point(s) in the text.
FWIW, I've taken to supplying these instructions whenever I come across a commenter either asking for clarification or expressing confusion.I don't know of any other popular comments forum that subjects users to two separate and incompatible formats, though.There are those who understandably don't know that they have to use tags for even basic formatting, those who are either unable or unwilling to try the HTML tags once they're clued in, and those who are unable or unwilling to keep track of which method works where; thus, various attempts to "standardize" commenting by using idiosyncratic lines, punctuation, etc.The effect is similar to building a road full of zig-zags and/or speed bumps. It's an open question whether this is an unintended consequence of the weird two-track status quo.
Perhaps the farmers need to be suing Monsanto everytime they find that their crops have been contaminated by Monsanto's genetically engineered seeds finding their way from other fields.
Monsanto is a $ociopathic criminal corp-rat entity that turns food into $hit BEFORE it's consumed. This Nazi-minded corporation should have it's charter revoked... and the Board of Trustees should be in jail. Some of the $cientists employed by Monsanto, and those who defend and/or promote the company's vicious legal tactics, tactics designed to destroy the lives of organic farmers, should also be in prison. Some of the $ociopaths connected to Monsanto should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity... and face the death penalty. This is the worst of the worst! Monsanto is a beast doing the devil's work.
I just hope they are understanding that their growers are growing roundup ready food, and even the ones that are supposed to be organic.So Monsanto, are you sure, the organic food that you are eating, is safe? Maybe a little hair of the dog will do for you.....Remember, you can't trust anyone these days.....Q
Do you know of any USDA organic foods that are genetically modified "roundup ready?" If so, please name them.
"Helscher said, "these genetic modifications in seeds do not significantly change composition, nutrition or safety of resulting food products and thus the food products are not required to be labeled." He did not comment on why seeds that he states do not contain significant changes from the originals would merit patent protection."
That's the big question isn't it? I think we could save everyone money by finding all of these patents invalid, and refusing to issue any similar ones in the future. Simple one time fix.
Monsanto has sued farmers:
"The Implications Of The Percy Schmeiser Decision
by E. Ann Clark, Ph.D.
Farm News from Cropchoice
May 14, 2001
Let us first be clear on the crime for which Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser was found guilty.
He was found guilty of a) having Monsanto genetics on his land, and b) not advising Monsanto to come and fetch it.
He was not found guilty of brownbagging - obtaining the seed fraudulently. Indeed, all such allegations were dropped at the actual hearing, due to lack of evidence.
Regardless, in his 29 March 2001 decision (go to www.fct-cf.gc.ca and click on bulletins), Judge W. Andrew MacKay made it clear that how it got there it didn't matter anyway. The guilt was the same. Specifically, "Yet the source of the Roundup resistant canola...is really not significant for the resolution of the issue of infringement.............. He was guilty nonetheless, and fined $15/ac x 1030 ac. Monsanto also seeks the value of his crop $105,000, plus $25,000 for punitive and exemplary damages."
http://www.saynotogmos.org/farmers.htm
""Gary Rinehart is actually one of Monsanto’s luckier targets. Ever since commercial introduction of its G.M. seeds, in 1996, Monsanto has launched thousands of investigations and filed lawsuits against hundreds of farmers and seed dealers. In a 2007 report, the Center for Food Safety, in Washington, D.C., documented 112 such lawsuits, in 27 states. "
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805
Don't journalists do any fact checking anymore?
If you spray paint your car next to mine and some of the paint drifts over onto MY car it is clear that you are responsible. I do not see how the situation would not be the same with crop contamination.
seveal months ago i caught an article about wal-mart and monsanto. i pulled these blurbs from a search page menu:
♦ ~ ♦ ~ ♦
Finding non-Monsanto seeds is also a problem. If you visit most chain stores like Wal-Mart, you'll be buying Monsanto seeds. Buy heirloom seeds if you can. ...
Just remember if your trying to avoid Monsanto seeds most of Walmart's and Burpees are Monsanto seed. I'm glad to see this thread because I ...
I'd contribute to a fund to help offest the legal fees this guy is going to need. If the 99% pooled their resources and stood up to companies like Monsanto, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today.
www.osgata.org
www.seedsavers.org
For starters...no pun intended. Boycotting any and all Monsanto prducts is a real trick. If you eat anything with corn or soy that does NOT say GMO free, then you are buying Monsanto and a drop in your fertility count. Now there's irony for ya.
The whole system needs a change, that is why we have all this people occupying the streets. Now it is time for action - which is - think of new ways of how to do things where we can have win-win situations.
People are saying enough is enough but they do not have the solutions... We need solutions.
Let's post solutions!!!
Food containing corn, soy, canola, cottonseed oil, sugar beets or Hawaiian papaya — or ingredients derived from these foods — are more reliably GMO-free if the label says organic.
The organic label is regulated by USDA and foods labeled organic must be certified by independent inspectors to meet USDA Organic standards (including no GMO ingredients). There is no such regulation or certification for non-organic foods claiming to by "GMO-free."
Having said that, I appreciate seeing GMO-free labels and encourage their use by farmers and conscientious food manufacturers. A GMO-free label promise is better than no label promise at all.
Solution. Don't buy their products.
In addition to OSGATA, a few other organizations are also battling Monsanto and other bio-tech and Big Ag companies and deserve our support.
(1) Visit leading watchdog Cornucopia Institute's site and sign their proxy letter here:
http://www.cornucopia.org/2011/11/action-alert-protect-organics-from-synthetic-additives-and-factory-farms/
Click on their "Reports" tab to learn about organic dairies, soybean-based food manufacturers and "natural" cereal companies that are cheating and deceiving consumers. Know which brands to avoid!
(2) Visit Organic Consumer Association's site and learn how to use consumer-power to put bio-tech out of business:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/gelink.cfm
And here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Monsanto/index.cfm
Subscribe to OCA's Organic Bytes (weekly email) here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.cfm
(3) Learn more about the health risks from GMO foods here:
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/
(4) Keep up with other political and legal actions here:
http://gefoodlabels.org/
(5) Ignore Non-GMO Project and their "Non-GMO Project" food labels. Their label does not mean the food is GMO-free, many of the brands they promote as safe have never even been tested for GMOs, and for those foods that have been tested the test results are private, confidential and cannot be released to the public (by contract between Non-GMO Project and their Big Ag clients...who pay Non-GMO Project an annual fee for their label). In other words, Non-GMO Project has all the earmarks of a scam.
Read this article on Jim Gerritsen with great interest, congratulations to him and to Avery Yale Kamila for writing the article. Anyone be they an individual or an organisation who stands up against Monsanto needs our full support, their influence has spread to many countries, and sad to write, to many governments.
However, there is an opportunity coming on 24th January 2012 to express our anger and concerns at Monsanto, at its annual general meeting being held in St Louis on that day.
It will be the time for any shareholder to ask questions to Hugh Grant. President of Monsanto, and its board members. And if you have not got a share, to be outside with your posters, banners, etc. That is the call being made by the new organisation "Agent Orange Action Group". Monsanto befrore they started on GM were one of the makers of Agent Orange used on Vietnam US and other veterans who served in Vietnam will know how Agent Orange has affected them and their families. Here is the text of our Call for Action:
Agent Orange Action Group
Calls for protest at
Monsanto’s annual general meeting.
Monsanto, the company that manufactured Agent Orange used on Vietnam resulting in the deaths of many thousands of Vietnamese and the abnormal births of many thousands more, and also among military forces from the US and other countries who served during the Vietnam War, announced on 25th October that its Board of Directors has designated
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 as the date of the next annual meeting of shareowners.
Monsanto's annual meeting will be held at the company's headquarters facility in suburban St. Louis. Additional meeting details will be included in the company's proxy statement, which will be available in December.
Len Aldis, Chairman of Agent Orange Action Group called upon all who are suffering from the effects of Agent Orange to take this opportunity to purchase shares in the company in so doing they can express their anger and concerns by asking questions to the board members for the criminal damage Agent Orange has caused to all victims and their families.
For those unable to purchase share, to encourage others to join you outside the meeting in a peaceful expression of your anger.
Len Aldis. Chairman
Agent Orange Action Group
lenaoag@gmail.org
Visit our website: www.aoag.org
As I read this article, I was reminded of a history program I watched on the fall of the Ancient Egyptian Empire that collapsed due to the failure of the rainy season. Carved in stone was the story of Egyptians ". . . eating their own children."
This is the kind of present and future Monsanto is fomenting for the world, for profit.
I wonder if Dick Cheney holds stock in Monsanto.
"Sing songs, plant (organic) seeds."
The best of luck you're up against the budding (no pun intended) Military Industrial complex of agriculture
I think the bio tech companies need to step up and be proud of their creation. All foods that contain GMO or GE plant/animal products should be proudly labeled so that those fond of such foods can be assured of buying on GMO/GE food.
The rest of us will have to settle for conventionally farmed food and/or organic, bio dynamic etc.
This will also allow the overwhelming health benefits of transgenic crops to manifest. As those who eat them will have much less disease and allergic symptoms that those of us who settle for non GMO/GE food.
If GMO labeling is implemented, either due to consumer demand or government regulation (and the latter isn't going to happen as long as bio-tech owns both political parties), you can bet Monsanto will mount a PR campaign to indoctrinate the public in the manner you suggest. Unfortunately.
However, your sardonic comments are appreciated. If I ever meet one of the 5% who oppose labeling I'll suggest the "GMO-assured for better health" angle.
I think the bio tech companies need to step up and be proud of their creation. All foods that contain GMO or GE plant/animal products should be proudly labeled so that those fond of such foods can be assured of buying on GMO/GE food.
The rest of us will have to settle for conventionally farmed food and/or organic, bio dynamic etc.
This will also allow the overwhelming health benefits of transgenic crops to manifest. As those who eat them will have much less disease and allergic symptoms that those of us who settle for non GMO/GE food.