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 Monsanto & Co On 2008-03-18 08:25 I used to think people like José Bové who were uprooting transgenic corn from various fields around France were a bit stupid. That they could try to follow the law, etc... But I've seen a documentary on Arte last week about Monsanto (who produces transgenic corn & other vegetables seeds) and honestly it is very scary. Apparently what they do is submit a patent for their seeds that says that if you want to use them, you need to buy them every year. You cannot use what they produce to re-plant the same kind of product. If you fail to pay them every year they sue you and it most oftenly leads to bankrupt. So what they do in various countries around the world is submit the patent and as soon as it is accepted, they buy the largest seeds company (ies) in that country so that farmers don't realy have the choice anymore. They sell their seeds way more expensive than regular seeds and it looks like their facts about producing more and using less chemicals is a big fat lie. The other interresting point is that that modified gene seems to be very easy to transmit so people who don't even plant transgenic corn, might end up growing them, and if companies like Monsanto find them, they would, according to their patent, be able to ask them to pay for the seeds that they didn't plant. So I don't know what is true in this and what is exagerated but it is very scary and looks like Monsanto & co are trying to control the world using patents and their transgenic/virus food. In France, we just suspended the use of this kind of corn until we find out if it is dangerous or not (I haven't talked about health problems here, this is just on top of all of this) but a few associations supported by a firm named...... Monsanto are going to court to ask the government to suspend the suspension... Result should be today... I hope we don't go one step backwards. |