--Dan Worley in Sunny Puerto Rico--
>Errors-To: <rwolfson@concentric.net>
>X-Sender: rwolfson@pop3.concentric.net
>Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 22:22:23 -0500
>To: info@natural-law.ca
>From: Richard Wolfson <rwolfson@concentric.net>
>Subject: GE News
>X-UIDL: 235892c6294e421c0b750fad187931a9
>
>Financial Times (London)
>February 25, 1998 USA EDITION
>
>Monsanto to pay cotton farmers
>
>Monsanto, the pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and agriproducts company,
>confirmed yesterday that it was paying compensation to settle complaints
>brought against it by several dozen farmers in the Mississippi Delta, who
>claimed that the company's genetically engineered cotton seed resulted in
>inferior yields last year. The company, which has always maintained that
>the problem was an isolated incident and probably the result of extreme
>weather conditions, said it had been working in recent months to calculate
>the shortfall in yields, compared with other recent crops.
>
>The total monetary compensation was not disclosed but is understood to be a
>few million dollars.
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>
>MONSANTO WITHDRAWS 5 TYPES OF COTTON SEED
>
>Bloomberg News
>
>Saturday, February 21, 1998
>Section: BUSINESS
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>* Company says its genetic technology wasn't the problem. Monsanto Co.
>said Friday that it has withdrawn five genetically engineered cotton seed
>varieties from commercial sales because of substandard seed quality.
>The withdrawal is the latest blow to Roundup Ready cotton, which contains
>a synthetic gene produced by Monsanto that makes cotton plants tolerate
>Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. Last year, some farmers in the Mississippi
>Delta complained that the cotton was not growing properly. "The withdrawal
>is related to the quality standard of the varieties and has nothing to
>with the technology," said Gary Barton, a spokesman for Monsanto.
>
>The seed was produced by Paymaster, a subsidiary of Delta Pine Land Co.
>of Scott, Miss.
>All five varieties allow farmers to spray Roundup over their crops,
>killing weeds without damaging plants. One of the five contains an
>additional gene, also produced by Monsanto, that makes the plant resist
>certain major pests. The gene is derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus
>thuringiensis.
>
>The companies expect farmers to plant more than 4 million acres of Roundup
>Ready cotton this year, up from about 800,000 acres last year, Barton
>said.
>
>The companies will continue to sell other Roundup-resistant varieties.
>Monsanto does not expect the withdrawal of the seed to affect its sales
>goals, although "preferred varieties might be tight in certain geographic
>areas," Barton said.
>
>St. Louis-based Monsanto first introduced genetically enhanced insect
>resistant cotton in the United States in 1996.
>
>_________________________________________________________
>Richard Wolfson, PhD
>Consumer Right to Know Campaign,
>for Mandatory Labelling and Long-term
>Testing of all Genetically Engineered Foods,
>500 Wilbrod Street
>Ottawa, ON Canada K1N 6N2
>email: rwolfson@concentric.net
>
>Our website, http://www.natural-law.ca/genetic/geindex.html
>contains more information on genetic engineering as well as
>previous genetic engineering news items
>Subscription fee to genetic engineering news is $35 for 12 months
>See website for details.
>__________________________________________________________
>__________________________________________________________
>
>
>
>
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