Excerpt: "Launching a lawsuit against the very company that is responsible for a farmer suicide every 30 minutes, 5 million farmers are now suing Monsanto for as much as 6.2 billion euros (around 7.7 billion US dollars)."
Five million farmers are suing Monsanto over excessive royalty fees. (photo: Friends Eat)
5 Million Farmers Sue Monsanto for $7.7 Billion
06 June 12
aunching a lawsuit against the very company that is responsible for a farmer suicide every 30 minutes, 5 million farmers are now suing Monsanto for as much as 6.2 billion euros (around 7.7 billion US dollars). The reason? As with many other cases, such as the ones that led certain farming regions to be known as the ‘suicide belt’, Monsanto has been reportedly taxing the farmers to financial shambles with ridiculous royalty charges. The farmers state that Monsanto has been unfairly gathering exorbitant profits each year on a global scale from “renewal” seed harvests, which are crops planted using seed from the previous year’s harvest.
The practice of using renewal seeds dates back to ancient times, but Monsanto seeks to collect massive royalties and put an end to the practice. Why? Because Monsanto owns the very patent to the genetically modified seed, and is charging the farmers not only for the original crops, but the later harvests as well. Eventually, the royalties compound and many farmers begin to struggle with even keeping their farm afloat. It is for this reason that India slammed Monsanto with groundbreaking ‘biopiracy’ charges in an effort to stop Monsanto from ‘patenting life’.
Jane Berwanger, a lawyer for the farmers who went on record regarding the case, told the Associted Press:
“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.”
The findings echo what thousands of farmers have experienced in particularly poor nations, where many of the farmers are unable to stand up to Monsanto. Back in 2008, the Daily Mail covered what is known as the ‘GM Genocide’, which is responsible for taking the lives of over 17,683 Indian farmers in 2009 alone. After finding that their harvests were failing and they started to enter economic turmoil, the farmers began ending their own lives — oftentimes drinking the very same insecticide that Monsanto provided them with.
As the information continues to surface on Monsanto’s crimes, further lawsuits will begin to take effect. After it was ousted in January that Monsanto was running illegal ‘slave-like’ working rings, more individuals became aware of just how seriously Monsanto seems to disregard their workers — so why would they care for the health of their consumers? In April, another group of farmers sued Monsanto for ‘knowingly poisoning’ workers and causing ‘devastating birth defects’.
Will endless lawsuits from millions of seriously affected individuals be the end of Monsanto?
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Comments
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So glad to hear about these lawsuits against them!
Michael R. Taylor’s appointment by the Obama administration to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 7th 2009, sparked immediate debate and even outrage among many food and agriculture researchers, NGOs and activists. But American's have a short memory, perhaps from eating Monsanto's GMO Corn!
HE WAS The Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto Corp. from 1998 until 2001, Now he is an Obama appointment...
who reading this article really thinks Obama cares about anyone but himself and his personal finances...
Obama will do nothing about Monsanto while this nauseating company continues to cause serious organ damage to people world wide and as long as Obama has a financial future as pay back, Monsanto, Wall Street his list of financial supporters grows daily as more comes out about this bumb...
Hey, but we need this creep in the White House another 4 years...God help us for what he will accomplish if he should be re-elected...
don't make it up -- look it up:
http://cleanfoodearth.blogspot.com/2012/03/meet-our-monsanto-dupont-usa-government.html link to
http://www.organicconsumers.org/usda_watch.cfm
Also http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/02/09/monsanto-employees-in-the-halls-of-government/
http://wellfedneighbor.ning.com/profiles/blogs/obama-appoints-monsanto-man-as
Not to mention Rumsfeld also got aspartame (artificial sweetner) in foods that have killed and made thousands of people sick. They marketed this stuff as diet...indicati ng healthy. He paid a lot of people off to ram that crap through, so him being involved in Monsanto really doesnt surprise me.
I know people hate to be "informed" that Obama personally hand selected both Vilsack (USDA) and Taylor (FDA) so just keep pounding that in please. I do. If you arent interested in that relationship (President to corporations) You arent interested in a real solution.
However, John, your concern about him being re-elected vs a GOP candidate? Same difference. (in this case)
I am a liberal farmer. I voted for Obama on his pledge to get GMOs labeled. He lied. Instead he stuck Vilsack in office. Someone we all hate.
For those who dnt understand this:
As incoming president he is responsible for appointing the heads of these govt entities. (and many many more)
They are definitely "thank You" jobs which presidents hand out to those most beneficial to their party's agenda.
Your health is NOT their agenda. If you think it is, you are delusional. Money is the agenda.
He put these "bad-boys" in, no one else did. Not the republican held congress, and there was no strong arming done at all.
And the GOP would had chosen the same criminals. Not worse, the same ones. Imagine that.
I hate Monsanto. But at least they are obvious in their insincerity and wanting to take over the food industry. The politicians you rally behind are much more clever.
We no longer eat any corn or soy and try to watch which products use GMO Products..we won't buy them....
Where were you all in the sixties too high to pay attention to Love Canal? Nam? Didn't like us Environmentalis ts I am sure
Now you want to blame OB I do for continuing doing business with these corporate poisoners but then he is in bed with GOP
But if you all hate Monsanto...wher e were you all 40 years ago when this crap started with these Poisoners We were telling everyone 'Love Canal" 25 Years ago we all started a Campaign again against them...Farmer's ignored us I live in Farming area, I plant my own crops I use heirlooms, traders. We all were on TV, in Media. I also remember when we said no more Agent Orange Chemicals were to be used, like our Pesticide Campaign...KNow where these Chemicals went? Lead Paint, Lead, Merucy, Arsenic? We sold it and dumped it on Third World Countries. So before we vent on Obama...Where were you all for forty plus years?
Did you all know Disney, that's right, Walt Disney and Disney Productions was sighted in the forties and fifties and sixties onward for dumping chemicals? Study and learn keep those fingers pointed inward...you either were too young, ignored or didn't car about us environmentalis ts. I remember so well how you all hated us... Got Problems blame someone .... not an answer.
Monsanto is GOP run so want to let us know who to vote for. DUH
This company cannot do right. The world simply lacks adequate criminal justice systems to deal with criminal corporations. That is our real problem right now. There are many of these criminal corporations. BP and Exxon are among the ten most evil corporations. But they are untouchable by law.
And of course, they're about to come out with the second generation of seeds that will eventually create new generations of super bugs and weeds ad infinitum.
There is also scientific evidence pesticides contribute to diabetis, which is growing world wide at an astonishing rate: http://climatetoday.org/?p=3033
Monsanto needs to be brought under control and it needs to happen now, before they destroy the world's food supply one crop at a time. Money can't buy food if it wont grow.
Let's keep it exact and not invoke another bogey man to scare the peoples.
.http://en.mercopress.com/2012/06/04/major-gm-soy-legal-feud-between-monsanto-and-five-million-brazilian-farmers
Typical scare mongering over something that is old news. Its not about GM seeds, its about royalties.
Most of our organizations and citizen groups have been fighting them since the sixties.....Lov e Canal movement against chemical dumping so they sent it
So of the Boarder and to East and in 80's to Africa Wake Up everyone this has been going on for over a half a century...goin to blame OB for that too
I think you all ignored it ... easy to do so
So now we have Monsanto who has bought out many of its poisoned farms to do their experiments. Where do you think these hybrid seeds come from outer space?
I discussed these poison seeds, asked people to go to sites who had petitions for over two years...where were you then?
Awareness of these Poisons were relevant and fought. We won...then GOP found ways to make money dumping these chemicals on Third World Countries..then you all wanted Super Walmarts..guess what your eating, your pets, your kids.
Right now there is Flame Retardent in your lunch meats, mostly fowl. Also found in your Peanut Butter. It was on CBS on Weekend. Bon Apetit. I have been fighting poisons for 40 years...I also do my own small acre and use no herbicides, pesticides and buy heirloom seeds. I have approached farmers for decades to be shunned so do not lay this all on OB although I did my share of letters on this matter, You are the Problem. You are the Consumers who obviously are not demanding Product Labeling. Not surprised, haven;t seen ya marching either by the amount of Posts.
RSN has made you all aware because I made them aware of many articles...
Monsanto is involved in the U.S. government and possibly many others. Expressing frustration does not equate to ignorance. Be kind and stick together with all folks you know to prepare for the future.
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