Buffy Plays With Demons

“It is a historic decision in so far as it is the first time that a (pesticide) maker is found guilty of such a poisoning.”

Monsanto found guilty of chemical poisoning of a farmer in France

Well this is bad news for Monsanto and very good news for anyone who cares about their health.  Monsanto makes tremendous profits by not only engineering (and placing patents on) seeds for food but also for developing pesticides like Roundup.  Chemicals and genetically modified food don’t make for a healthy supper, and in the case of this French farmer inhaling Monsanto’s weedkiller left him with serious health problems.  A french court found Monsanto guilty for their failure to adequately notify consumers of their products just how toxic they really are.  Approximately 200 farmers a year notify the French government of health problems related to pesticides they use in farming.  What do you think happens to the people who eat the food these farmers are producing?

This isn’t nearly as big as the $2 billion judgement on behalf of Brazilian farmers (source), but it’s one more step in the right direction.

Full article. 

Brazilian farmers sue Monsanto

June 4, 2012

Five million Brazilian farmers are locked in a lawsuit with US-based biotech giant Monsanto, suing for as much as 6.2 billion euros. They say that the genetic-engineering company has been collecting royalties on crops it unfairly claims as its own.

The farmers claim that Monsanto unfairly collects exorbitant profits every year worldwide on royalties from “renewal” seed harvests. “Renewal” crops are those that have been planted using seed from the previous year’s harvest. While the practice of renewal farming is an ancient one, Monsanto disagrees, demanding royalties from any crop generation produced from its genetically-engineered seed. Because the engineered seed is patented, Monsanto not only charges an initial royalty on the sale of the crop produced, but a continuing 2 per cent royalty on every subsequent crop, even if the farmer is using a later generation of seed.

“Monsanto gets paid when it sell the seeds. The law gives producers the right to multiply the seeds they buy and nowhere in the world is there a requirement to pay (again). Producers are in effect paying a private tax on production,” Jane Berwanger, lawyer for the farmers told the Associated Press reports.

In the latest installment of the legal battle erupting in South America, the Brazilian court has ruled in favor of the Brazilian farmers, saying Monsanto owes them at least US$2 billion paid since 2004. Monsanto, however, has appealed the decision and the case is ongoing.

Source

Source

(Source: thepeoplesrecord, via guerrillatech)