evil Monsanto one step closer to taking over all of nature

[soothsayer]

Monsanto to Buy Seed Company for $1 Bln

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - Agriculture products company Monsanto Co. (MON) on Monday said it will buy vegetable and fruit seed company Seminis Inc. for about $1 billion from a private equity firm to capitalize on the trend toward healthier eating and enhance its seed portfolio.

snip

Monsanto, a leading developer of genetic modifications for crops like soybeans and corn, said biotechnology modifications to Seminis' fruits and vegetable lines were an option over the long term.

Seminis, which supplies more than 3,500 seed varieties to commercial fruit and vegetable growers, dealers, distributors and wholesalers, currently offers a genetically modified squash, according to Monsanto.

snip

Monsanto Chairman Hugh Grant said in a statement that Seminis was "uniquely positioned" to capitalize on a growing trend toward healthier diets.

snip

Monsanto has been shifting its business focus from the highly competitive herbicide chemical business to the seed industry, where it has been seeing strong growth.


snip
Monsanto already controls an estimated 14 percent of the U.S. corn seed market and through licensing arrangements provides germplasm and technology traits that extend its influence into about one-third of the U.S. market.

http://money.iwon.com/ht/nw/bus/20050124/hl_bus-n24314980.html?PG=home&SEC=news

[Redstone]

1. Evil doesn't even begin to describe

those fucking monsters at Monsanto.

How the hell can these people stand to look at themselves in a mirror?

Redstone

[CoffeeCat]

2. I found this example of Monsanto evil...

...describing their horrid actions in Iraq.

According to this blog: http://abutamam.blogspot.com / we are not only destroying the Iraqi's water and electricity--we're pilfering their agriculture in order to reap corporate profits for U.S. companies.

"U.S. declares Iraqis can not save their own seeds"

"As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo:
Pay Monsanto, or starve.

"The American Administrator of the Iraqi CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) government, Paul Bremer, updated Iraq's intellectual property law to 'meet current internationally-recognized standards of protection'.

The updated law makes saving seeds for next year's harvest, practiced by 97% of Iraqi farmers in 2002, and is the standard farming practice for thousands of years across human civilizations, to be now illegal.. Instead, farmers will have to obtain a yearly license for genetically modified (GM) seeds from American corporations. These GM seeds have typically been modified from seeds developed over thousands of generations by indigenous farmers like the Iraqis, and shared freely like agricultural 'open source.'"
Iraq law Requires Seed Licenses November 13, 2004

--more on the blog site.

[illflem]

3. I've been a farmer for 40 years

and in ag research for ten and have worked with Monsanto on several occasions, have yet to see the "monster" that you city folks describe. Do hear a lot of misinformation about them here though.
They're just the same as any other big company as far as I can see.

[CoffeeCat]

4. I don't know a great deal about Monsanto...

...however, it is clearly wrong for our military to strip away the indigenous agriculture from the Iraqi people, and force them to use Monsanto products--or starve.

Clearly, the Iraqi people want to use their own seeds, as reported on this blog from an Iraqi citizen. They're being forced to buy from Monsanto, through our government.

Although I don't know a great deal about Monsanto in general--I do understand that making profits off of vulnerable, traumatized people by force of the U.S. military--is immoral.

[illflem]

6. Keyword here is 'new'

Unless the new Iraqi law is different than the rest of the world heirloom seeds and plant varieties are exempt. Shouldn't a company that has sometimes spent up to years developing a new variety be compensated for it development?

"Inserted into Iraq's previous patent law is a whole new chapter on Plant Variety Protection (PVP) that provides for the "protection of new varieties of plants." PVP is an intellectual property right (IPR) or a kind of patent for plant varieties which gives an exclusive monopoly right on planting material to a plant breeder who has discovered or developed a new variety. So the "protection" in PVP has nothing to do with conservation, but refers to safeguarding of the commercial interests of private breeders (usually large corporations) claiming to have created the new plants."

http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6

[drthais]

12. ok. fine

and how long do you think
that 'heirloom' seeds or organic seed
or any other kind of seed
will maintain its integrity
when infected (cross-bred....accidentally)
with 'engineered seeds?

and, by the way
the 'advances' you speak of
patented 'improvements' to seed
are in some cases
seeds that ...ok....WAIT FOR IT!
have the pesticides IN THE FREAKIN SEED
so guess what?
you can't wash it off! its in the FRUIT!
isn't that fabulous>?

take your admiration of MONSANTO elsewhere

[gaia_gardener]

5. Okay

Does Monsanto produce a seed with genetic engineering that will easy migrate to other plants of the same species?'

If an organic farmer grows soybeans next to a conventional farmer who is using GM seed, can his soybean crop be contaminated?

If his soybean crop is contaminated and he is saving seed, can Monsanto sue him for patent infringement?

Has Monsanto indeed done these things?

The answer to these questions is YES!

Also, has Monsanto produced a potato which will effectively destroy organic farmings best pesticide?

Answer - Yes, they produced a potato which produces it's on Bt and has been shown to cause Bt resistance in caterpillars.

Of course, I think conventional farming is pretty bad. I think that a lot of our antibiotic resistance is from farming. Indiscriminate medication of animals and spraying bacteriocides on crops has caused massive antibiotic resistance. But Monsanto is the worst offender.

[illflem]

7. How can Monsanto be the worst offender since they aren't in

the actual farming business? Don't farmers have their choice of which practices and products they want to use?

As far as "The answer to these questions is YES!" there have only been a few cases of this where the growers brought it on themselves by selling seed. All the cases have been in Canada.

Beware of your sources, many times they tell you only what you want to hear.

[bobbyboucher]

8. I have a feeling that

your thought process is the one that might be suspect.

Farmers will make many decisions based upon money and their ability to compete and the market price of their commodity. All of these are heavily influenced by the actions of a Monsanto.

[illflem]

16. To the contrary

80% of my own 1200 acre farm is organic and over half of the research I do is on sustainable or organic. Some of the acreage has been in organic since before organic certification was even dreamed of, 35 years. Was personally involved in setting organic standards for Calif, Wash and the federal. If anything I would be more favorable to your feelings if I saw proof. I haven't and keep quite current on Ag.

[gaia_gardener]

9. I have a list of people who were harassed by

Monsanto for having genetically modified seed. I'll have to try to find it - maybe it survived my computer crash.

[gaia_gardener]

10. My list was eaten by the computer, but I have a link for you

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/Monsantovsusfarmersreport.cfm

"Recently released report documents Monsanto's lawsuits against American farmers, revealing thousands of investigations, nearly 100 lawsuits and numerous bankruptcies."

It's interesting reading. You might be surprised.

[drthais]

11. MONSANTO? HEALTHY DIETS???

don't GET me started

as an organic farmer
well....
I cannot tell you how I feel about GMO's
or MONSANTO
because it would be all too obscene

[No Exit]

13. What if every farmer in the world decided to

just not abide by Monsanto's patents, or by any of the other patents held by the other big agribusiness companies? (That is, if every one of them went ahead and saved seed and replanted it, as has been done since the beginning of human agriculture?)

Could the big agribusiness companies take them all down? If they did, would that be enough justification for a war against the big agribusiness companies? I'm talking about an actual, not figurative, war.

If fighting for the very food you eat isn't justification for civil disobedience and maybe even war, what is?

[JAbuchan08]

15. The problem is Monsanto is moving towards seeds that are genetically

engineered to only reproduce once, forcing the farmer to buy new seeds every year. No doubt Monsanto will pursue exclusive contracts with developing nations using its economic clout as leverage toward monopoly over the seed industry. Monsanto is already positioning opponents of genetically engineered food as standing in the way of their efforts to prevent starvation. Of course Monsanto could sell cheap grain that doesn't bear sterile seeds, but where would the profit in that be?

[No Exit]

18. Yes, I've heard that... but there have also been suits

against farmers over "patent" violations. That is, some big agribusiness company (might not have been Monsanto) has sued farmers in both the U.S. and Mexico, simply for harvesting the seeds off the mature plants grown with seeds bought from said big agribusiness company.

I mean, I think it's two separate issues here. And both are about the megalomania of Monsanto and similar big companies.

Throughout history, there have been some people/entities that just got TOO greedy. Those people/entities had to be destroyed for the good of all the people. Ahem.

[JAbuchan08]

14. I just can't wait till the "ownership society" moves in on air

you liberals seem to think that there's a "right" to breathe, friggin pinkos (sarcasm)

[loritooker]

17. Here's a good link...

http://www.sprouting.com/GMalfalfa.htm