posted December 17, 2011 03:29 PM            

Sad, though not entirely surprising, to see this story buried in the Dining & wining section of the NYTimes. Also disappointing to notice the author made no mention of Jim Gerritsen's lawsuit against Monsanto...
http://bangordailynews.com/2011/12/08/news/aroostook/aroostook-farmer-the-face-of-organic-growers%E2%80%99-fight-against-monsanto/
"Gerritsen heads OSGATA, based in Montrose, Colo., which is leading 83 plaintiffs in the case against Monsanto. The individual farmers, seed companies and agricultural organizations that have signed onto the case represent about 300,000 members nationwide.

“Monsanto is trying to achieve seed control based on aggressive assertion of patent infringement,” Gerritsen said, explaining that the farmers’ lawsuit has two goals: to protect organic farmers against patent infringement lawsuits and to challenge the validity of patents issued to Monsanto.

“Organic farming is predicated on the concept of crops free of GMO content,” he said, noting the irony of a suit against a farmer by the company that has destroyed that farmer’s crop.

“If organic seed is contaminated, there is no way to grow nongenetically modified crops,” he said. “The outcome will be either seed controlled directly by Monsanto or contaminated by Monsanto.”

If the 83 plaintiffs led by OSGATA are successful, Monsanto would be forced by the court not to sue farmers whose crops are contaminated by the corporation’s product. When lawyers for the farm groups — working on a pro bono basis — requested such a guarantee, Monsanto refused.

“They are reserving the option to go after those farmers,” Gerritsen said, adding that Monsanto filed a motion to dismiss the case last July. “We need to get the court to protect farmers from invasion, trespassing and patent infringement. We are anxious to get into court.”

If the plaintiffs achieve their second goal, the court will agree that the U.S. Patent Office erred in granting Monsanto patents for crops that do not fulfill the “social utility” standard, which requires that a new invention will result in some “social good.”

Gerritsen faults not only the U.S. Patent Office, but also the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which accepted Monsanto’s claim that GMO products are “substantially equivalent” to traditional seed and need not be labeled. Thus, consumers can’t know what foods have been grown using GMO technology.

“They can’t have it both ways,” he said, questioning the awards of patents for products because they are new, which then evade labeling because they are not new.

“President Obama promised mandatory labeling of genetically modified products and we must hold him to that,” Gerritsen said, acknowledging a possible challenge: The current deputy commissioner of the FDA, which regulates labeling, Michael R. Taylor, is a former vice president of Monsanto.

Gerritsen said the plaintiffs hope the case will go to trial by late winter or early spring. At this point, they are still awaiting a ruling on the motion to dismiss.

“Once we win the case, one can imagine Monsanto will want to appeal,” he said, predicting a process that could take three to five years and end up in the Supreme Court, where they might face another challenge: Justice Clarence Thomas served as an attorney for Monsanto from 1976-1979 and has failed to recuse himself from other cases involving the corporation."

This is also good, I think ...
http://rawearthliving.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/occupy-your-food-supply-radical-farmers-march-aims-to-bridge-urban-rural-divide-focus-in-on-food-justice/

posted December 18, 2011 08:19 AM            

some of what Monsanto has accomplished is irreversible.

to the smelly farmers seeking to curtail further encroachment.

quote:

---

“President Obama promised mandatory labeling of genetically modified products and we must hold him to that,” Gerritsen said,

---

posted December 19, 2011 07:20 PM            

quote:

---

Monsanto, in my ever so humble opinion, is currently one the most evil powers on the face of the earth. And when I say "evil"( in this particular case anyway) I am not using the word lightly.

---

posted December 20, 2011 01:04 PM            

now kucinich is not my favourite in every way but he has been ON this for years now. unlike most of the rest of congress.

posted December 22, 2011 03:04 AM            

Many farms (in liberal states) get money for NOT growing food to feed our Families. We are importing food from China which is tainted with more pesticides than are allowed in the US.