US Attorney General orders Monsanto to reveal secrets
Posted: 09/18
From: Mathaba

Farmers and the public should be informed that there is no seed which contains a GM trait that increases yield potential. Yield potential has been developed by farmers and seed breeders who have selectively bred for the trait of yield potential by conventional means.

by Trevor Wells
Farmers' Legal Action Group-South Africa

According to The Associated Press, September 13, 2007, The Iowa State Attorney General has ordered GM seed manufacturer Monsanto to provide full information on it's seed trait, chemical and it's licensing and marketing programs.

Monsanto has consistently withheld information from the public and was recently ordered by a South African Court to disclose information on i's seed traits in the public interest.

In Germany, Monsanto had suppressed the evidence of serious damage to the liver and kidneys of rats in their own GM MON863 maize trials until ordered to release this evidence by a German Court.

In July, 2007, Monsanto told the South African Advertising Standards Authority that MON863 was not their product and was ordered by Judge King to withdraw an advert that claimed that in food tests "No negative reactions have ever been reported. "

In January, this year, Monsanto was fined 15,000 euros (19,000 dollars) in a French court for misleading the public about the environmental impact of herbicide Roundup.

A former chairman of Monsanto Agriculture France was found guilty of false advertising for presenting Roundup as biodegradable and claiming that it left the soil clean after use. Monsanto's French distributor Scotts France was also fined 15,000 euros.

In 2005, Monsanto was caught smuggling South African produced GM Bollgard cotton seed into Indonesia disguised as rice. Monsanto was fined for bribing Indonesian officials.

More recently in June this year, a second peer-reviewed case involving another variation of Monsanto's GM maize, namely, NK603, has been shown by studies to be potentially toxic to humans. NK 603 has been approved for food, feed, processing, and propagation in Europe and the Philippines The new research, carried out by the French scientific research institute CRIGEN, involves biotech firm Monsanto's NK603 GMO corn (marketed commercially under the name Round-up Ready) which was approved as food and feed in the country in 2003, and for propagation in 2005.

In response to the Iowa Attorney General's demand Monsanto's press release said, "Farmers buy seed each year based on the yield and value brought to their farms at harvest which has resulted in rapid and broad adoption of biotech seed products."

Farmers and the public should be informed that there is no seed which contains a GM trait that increases yield potential. Yield potential has been developed by farmers and seed breeders who have selectively bred for the trait of yield potential by conventional means. Area specific heritage seeds with desired traits are adulterated with the patented GM herbicide or larvae resistant gene and then sold at a premium to the very farmers that had developed these desired heritage traits over several generations of selective breeding. They are paying a heavy penalty for so called research when in fact all they are paying for is the insertion of a single patented gene in crops which they themselves have developed over generations.

The GM crops which are commercially available contain a trait which makes the plant resistant to the seed producers brand of herbicide and another gene from a bacteria which constantly exudes a poisonous toxin which is limited to killing insect larvae (worms).

Both insect larvae and weeds can be effectively controlled by other methods. These methods are more cost effective and environmentally friendly when Full Cost Accounting as defined by the ISO14040 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) standards 'based on an assessment of the full economic, social and environmental costs are taking into account.

Farmers using GM seeds should also be aware that the technology agreements which they sign with the owner of the patented gene prescribes that they have to have gene fences and refuges failing which the seed company will hold them fully liable for any contamination of their neighbour's non-GM crops.


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