Vancouver Sun, Page B01, Saturday, August 14, 1999 -- Saskatchewan farmer
battles agro-chemical giant: Percy Schmeiser is being sued for having
patented canola seeds growing on his land. He says he's done nothing wrong,
and is fighting back, by Dave Margoshes
Regina -- Percy Schmeiser was mad as hell, and decided he wasn't going to
take it. Schmeiser has been growing canola -- the yellow-blossomed
oilseed that used to be known as rapeseed -- for 40 years, and he knows his
stuff. He's been experimenting, developing his own varieties, using his own
seed and generally prospering with canola, reaping the benefits derived
from growing an increasingly popular crop. So when Monsanto, the giant
multinational agro-chemical company that is at the forefront of developing
genetically modified foods, accused him of patent infringement and demanded
restitution for its seeds, his pride was hurt. He chose to fight rather
than roll over and take it. This week, following a failed mediation effort
and fed up with Monsanto's "high-handed and arrogant actions," Schmeiser
had his lawyer launch a $10-million plus countersuit against the company,
claiming defamation of character, trespass and ecological havoc.
Schmeiser's not convinced the seed in his fields last year was Monsanto's,
and argues that, if it was, it got there through courtesy of wind or
cross-pollination, forces of nature farmers know lots about but, he
complains, Monsanto seems to have forgotten. No way, says Monsanto, and it
has filed an affidavit from an independent agricultural expert to back up
its claim that Schmeiser was in unlawful possession of its seeds. Craig
evans, Monsanto canada's general manager for biotechnology and seeds,
defended the company's actions this week, saying, "what it boils down to
is, can farmers protect their investment? If one farmer's getting a
significant break over others -- no matter how he comes by it -- well, you
can imagine how that makes the others feel." Evans said Monsanto is
convinced Schmeiser is not an innocent victim. "if we thought that, we
wouldn't have taken this as far as we have." The david and goliath case,
which surfaced a year ago, was set to go to court last fall, but goliath
blinked and, instead, Schmeiser and Monsanto attended a one-day
court-appointed mediation session earlier this week. Neither side will say
exactly what happened, but the case is headed back to court and, barring
any further blinking, will be before a judge sometime next spring --
probably around the time Schmeiser is seeding his fields with canola. He
farms about 570 hectares at bruno, about 90 kilometres east of Saskatoon --
with about two thirds of it planted to canola -- and also runs a farm
implement business. He planted canola again this year -- but from brand new
seed, and definitely not Monsanto's. Schmeiser, a 68-year-old former reeve
and councillor of the local rural municipality, and a liberal mla in the
government of ross thatcher in the late '60s, is a respected member of the
community, not the sort of fellow one would expect to steal someone else's
seeds -- especially when he's had so much success with his own. But that's
exactly what Monsanto has accused him of. Monsanto, headquartered in st.
Louis, makes the popular herbicide roundup. Farmers all over the prairies
-- Schmeiser among them -- spray it on their fields, whereupon it kills
everything growing there. Then they plant. Using the controversial alchemy
of genetic engineering, which has alarmed environmentalists and consumers,
Monsanto has developed a canola seed completely immune to roundup. That
means a farmer can spray the herbicide over a planted field, kill all the
weeds growing there, but not hurt the crop -- as long as it comes from
Monsanto's seed. The company sells the seed -- about half the canola
planted in Saskatchewan this year comes from it -- but keeps the rights to
the dna itself. It means that, rather than save seeds from last year's crop
to use this year, as many do -- and as Schmeiser traditionally does --
farmers have to buy new seed from Monsanto every year. In order to
protect its investment, Monsanto has been vigilant in rooting out frugal
farmers who might be cheating and saving seed, or borrowing a bit of seed
from neighbours. Farmers buying Monsanto's seed must sign a contract
promising to buy fresh seed every year. And they must let Monsanto inspect
their fields. The company also employs snitch lines and encourages farmers
who are loyal customers to rat on their neighbours who might be cheating --
which, apparently, is how Schmeiser came to its attention. If this sounds
heavy-handed, or overly big brotherish, lend an ear to Monsanto official
randy christenson. "we've put years, years and years of research and time
into developing this technology," says christenson, a former regional
director for Monsanto in western canada. "so for us to be able to recoup
our investment, we have to be able to be paid for that." Monsanto claims
its investigators found the company's patented dna in Schmeiser's crops.
Since Schmeiser never bought any Monsanto seed, the company sued him. The
farmer was annoyed, to put it mildly. "i've been farming for 50 years,
and all of the sudden i have this," he told the vancouver sun. "it's very
upsetting and nerve-wracking to have a multi-giant corporation come after
you. I don't have the resources to fight this." Monsanto uses private
investigators to check out tips it receives on its snitch lines.
Investigators patrolling grid roads took crop samples from Schmeiser's
fields to check for hijacked dna. Schmeiser calls these methods
"completely unethical" and accuses Monsanto of trespassing. "you can just
imagine what would happen if i went onto one of their fields and took some
of their seed." Monsanto, he said, "wants control of everything." His
countersuit against the company "is going to set a lot of precedents," he
predicted this week. He figures Monsanto sued him in the first place when
"they saw a farmer in western canada developing his own seed; that must
have upset their apple cart." Now, he believes, he's going "to make them
sit up and take notice. A message has to be sent to Monsanto that they
can't keep on treating farmers this way. "once you let these altered
genes into the environment, you can't take them back, they're there
forever." Monsanto doesn't apologize for its methods, which it refers to as
"audits." But it denies trespassing or infringing anyone's rights in the
process. "yes, we do have a group that do audits, they do make farm
visits, but they do it in a way that is extremely respectful to the
farmers," christenson says. "we never, never, go on their property, never,
without their permission." Proving to the satisfaction of a judge that
Schmeiser stole Monsanto's seed may be difficult -- but it could be hard
for the farmer to prove his innocence too. The problem is, mother nature
has been moving dna around for millions of years. It's called evolution.
"it will blow in the wind," Schmeiser says. "you can't control it, you
can't just say, 'put a fence around it and say that's where it stops.' "
he also argues seeds or pollen could have been blown into his fields off
farm equipment or from uncovered trucks passing by. But keith downey, an
agriculture canada scientist, says the evidence contained in an affidavit
he produced on Monsanto's behalf indicates the seed in Schmeiser's fields
last year could only have been purloined. "i can't say exactly how it got
there, but it's not the result of trucks passing, and there are no other
Monsanto-seeded fields within five miles, so wind action and
cross-pollination didn't do it." Could Schmeiser be an innocent victim of
other forces of nature? "that's for the courts to decide," said downey,
who also runs a private consulting company. But he doubts it. The presence
of the Monsanto gene in Schmeiser's canola was "too consistent to have been
accidental." The Schmeiser case is not an isolated one. The company is
aware of 16 violations in canada, and has settled eight of them out of
court, according to evans. The Schmeiser case has gone the furthest, downey
said in a telephone interview from his winnipeg office, "because he's
challenging us. But we need to stick to our principles. We're fulfilling
our promise to other farmers." The krams are another Saskatchewan farm
family that have butted heads with the giant company. Elizabeth kram
complains that planes and a helicopter have buzzed the fields she and her
husband farm near raymore. "we are honestly disgusted with the way things
are going," kram says. "who put the canola in? It is the farmer. It doesn't
belong to Monsanto or anybody else, and i don't see anybody else's name on
the titles of all the land we own. It's my husband and myself. Nobody
else." As for Schmeiser, he vows to continue fighting. "i believe what
is happening to farmers is wrong. And i'm fighting this not just for
myself, but for my children and my grandchildren. And for my farmer
friends. "my grandfather and my father homesteaded here. There was no
such thing as chemical companies, or even seed companies. They were free
and independent."
>
fear of science and love of the land -- biotechnology in agriculture is
the key to having our cake and rain forests too, monday, august 16, 1999
the case of a Saskatchewan farmer battling Monsanto co. About the use of
genetically altered canola seeds and the chemical herbicide that goes with
them will deepen suspicions among many people about biotechnology in
agriculture. Http://www.Globetechnology.Com/
>
>
labour brain drain -- professionals like doctors, nurses and engineers are
leaving canada for higher paying jobs and better job opportunities in the
u-s. A new conference board of canada report says the "brain drain" is
real and cannot be ignored. It says the number of canadians heading for
jobs in the u-s has risen from 17-thousand a year a decade ago -- to
98-thousand in 1997. (command news).
brain drain no myth, study says -- webposted mon aug 16 09:02:17 1999
ottawa - the conference board of canada says canadian professionals are
moving to the united states in record numbers, in large part because of new
rules under free trade. In its report released monday, the board says
close to 100,000 highly skilled canadians emigrate to the u.S. Each year.
The study proves canada's skill exodus is no longer a myth
commentary: human embryo 'pharming' human reproductive cloning -- creating
children who are genetically identical to the cell donor -- is a major
ethical concern. Now, we are also discussing the ethics of human
therapeutic cloning. This involves producing human embryo clones, then
using stem cells from them as "living human tissue generators" or for other
research purposes. What ethical .......
Terry J. Klokeid, Ph.D.
Amblewood Organic Farm --Vegetable and herb seeds and seedlings--
126 Amblewood Drive, Fulford Harbour, SaltSpring Island BC V8K 1X2
Voice & fax (250) 653-4099
E-mail amblewood@mail.com
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