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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Is GM fruit and vegetables the incentive for Monsanto to buy worlds largest fruit & vege seed company
  • Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 20:26:38 -0700


26 January 2005
Is GM fruit and vegetables the incentive for Monsanto to buy worlds largest
fruit & vege seed company
http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_details.asp?ID=1970

In a move that opens the door to the aggressive marketing of biotech fruits
and vegetables, Monsanto has agreed to purchase Seminis, the world's
largest
producer of fruit and vegetable seeds, for about $1 billion.

Monsanto seems to be downplaying the significance of this move in relation
to genetically engineered fruits and vegetables. In a somewhat coy
statement, their chief executive officer, Hugh Grant, stated "In the long
term, there may be opportunities in biotech."

Many activists feel this is a gross understatement and that Monsanto will
push hard to bring genetically engineered vegetables and fruits out sooner
rather than later. Some insiders speculate that Monsanto wants to get a
significant variety of biotech crops into the marketplace quickly while the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations are still incredibly lax.

Until recently, a significant focus of Monsanto was to move forward on the
introduction of genetically engineered wheat. However, U.S. and
international opposition to biotech wheat caused the company to shelve
those plans in the short term.

Some feel this new grandiose move by Monsanto into the fruit and vegetable
market is a strategic move to gain broader acceptance of biotech crops.
They feel Monsanto will then again try to move forward with genetically
engineered wheat.

Monsanto is considered by many to be one of the world's most controversial
companies. The company has faced numerous legal charges over the years that
continue even in recent days.

In 2001, Monsanto was found guilty of releasing tons of PCBs into the city
of Anniston, Alabama and covering up its actions for decades. The jury
found Monsanto liable on all six charges it considered: negligence,
wantonness, suppression of the truth, nuisance, trespass and outrage. Under
Alabama law, the charge of "outrage" requires conduct "so outrageous in
character and extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of
decency so as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in
civilized society."

Most recently, on January 6, 2005, the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) filed two settled enforcement proceedings charging
Monsanto with making illicit payments in violation of the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act (FCPA). It appears that Monsanto had bribed more than 140
current and former Indonesian government officials and their families by an
amount totaling more than $700,000 between 1997 and 2002. The cash was paid
to allow the company to develop genetically engineered crops in Indonesia.

The SEC lawsuit charged Monsanto with violating the FCPA and imposed a
civil penalty of $500,000. They also issued an administrative order finding
that Monsanto violated the anti-bribery, books-and-records, and
internal-controls provisions of the FCPA and ordered the company to cease
and desist from such violations. Further, the U.S. Department of Justice
filed criminal information charging that Monsanto violated the anti bribery
and books and records provisions of the FCPA. Monsanto agreed to pay a $1
million monetary penalty to defer prosecution charges by the Department of
Justice.

Considering the track record of Monsanto, you might think that the FDA
would closely scrutinize any new genetically engineered crops the company
plans to bring to market. But under current FDA regulations, Monsanto is
not even required to notify the agency that they are bringing out a new
genetically engineered crop (unless the nutrient value is significantly
altered or the product contains a known allergen.) Apparently the FDA
trusts Monsanto to do the right thing. Do you?

Posted below are three articles about Monsanto's $1 billion purchase of
Seminis. The first article from the Wall Street Journal is titled "Monsanto
Co. to Pay $1 Billion For Produce-Seed Firm Seminis." The second article
from the Associated Press is titled "Monsanto to buy seed company Seminis
in $1B deal." And the third article from The New York Times is titled
"Monsanto Buying Leader in Fruit and Vegetable Seeds."

Craig Winters
President
The Campaign
PO Box 55699
Seattle, WA 98155
Tel: 425-771-4049
E-mail: mailto:label@thecampaign.org
Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org





  • [Livingontheland] Is GM fruit and vegetables the incentive for Monsanto to buy worlds largest fruit & vege seed company, Tradingpost, 01/27/2005

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