bj taylor
Garden Ornament
some soybean farmer in illinois got sued by monsanto for $84,000 for using seed that had their gene in it. it will be very interesting to see how it turns out.
fight against monsanto made it to the supreme court this week
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Carol Dee
Garden Master
Watching, too.
journey11
Garden Master
Yes, I wonder how long it will drag out.
897tgigvib
Garden Master
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Polo, we've had huge arguments here about monsanto. myself, i've gotten into avoiding talk about the issue, but sometimes it creeps back.
There are many of us who feel that the huge faceless corporation is getting its hands onto too much of the heirloom and natural seeds and varieties, and is on the verge of patenting heirloom varieties, or certain genes of heirloom varieties.
there are a lot of folks who feel that gmo varieties can have adverse affects on health, those kinds of corn that make their own fungicide or that get roundup on them because they are roundup tolerant.
Some of us are opposed to a huge faceless company that actively works hard to put individual farmers out of business.
Lots of folks are concerned that the pollen from monsanto's products contaminate the seedstock. where that can be a problem, what is worse is that contaminated seed then grown is considered a patent infrigement. Some folks do that on purpose, but others try not to let it happen, but it does anyway.
the best thing to do is google it yourself, and probably learn more about it than i can tell you here. you're new here. look at some of the old posts about it. you'll see why i want to kind of avoid the issue of monsanto, and you'll see that it keeps on coming back.
There are many of us who feel that the huge faceless corporation is getting its hands onto too much of the heirloom and natural seeds and varieties, and is on the verge of patenting heirloom varieties, or certain genes of heirloom varieties.
there are a lot of folks who feel that gmo varieties can have adverse affects on health, those kinds of corn that make their own fungicide or that get roundup on them because they are roundup tolerant.
Some of us are opposed to a huge faceless company that actively works hard to put individual farmers out of business.
Lots of folks are concerned that the pollen from monsanto's products contaminate the seedstock. where that can be a problem, what is worse is that contaminated seed then grown is considered a patent infrigement. Some folks do that on purpose, but others try not to let it happen, but it does anyway.
the best thing to do is google it yourself, and probably learn more about it than i can tell you here. you're new here. look at some of the old posts about it. you'll see why i want to kind of avoid the issue of monsanto, and you'll see that it keeps on coming back.
vfem
Garden Addicted
You'll have to do a lot of reading. It is very 2 sided.
The main this is, Monsanto has patients on certain genes from their gmo products (and other products of course) but the argument is farmers are planting their own crops and they have been contaminated by wind pollination by gmo patented crops in other fields. Monsanto is claiming it stolen property and is suing the farmers who plant seed that was contaminated for not paying royalties. (<---adding: this part is what the court issue at this time is. Marshall is right, I'm sure some people have done it on purpose.)
***
If you can help it, this will turn into a HUGE blow up and get threads locked pretty quickly around here, just read what you can and determine how you feel on your own.***
The back and forth is the farmers are suing back, or fighting that monsanto infact wrecked their crops... ect.
It's never gone this far with the courts before, mainly due to the farmers not being able to afford to even fight through the court system.
It will be very interesting to see what the final ruling this.
A lot of us are VERY passionate about this. I can't wait to see the outcome. I feel very strongly against patenting seeds or genes since dna will NEVER hold strong, its a growing changing thing. The fact plants cross pollinate, and then later hold a number of genes that have now evolved a new plant (the whole fight as you see in the courts) is that a NEW creation emerges. In this case, it was a plant that wasn't pure, but held a gene that held a patent. One side says its stealing because they own the rights to part of the new creation, and the other side fighting the new creation was a wrecked crop and not even the plant they wanted or attempted to plant. I personally blame it on the 3rd party, Mother Nature, but since they can't bring her to court legally.... she is laughing at us humans and reminding us she is in complete control right now.
That's right Mother Nature... I'm on to you!
The main this is, Monsanto has patients on certain genes from their gmo products (and other products of course) but the argument is farmers are planting their own crops and they have been contaminated by wind pollination by gmo patented crops in other fields. Monsanto is claiming it stolen property and is suing the farmers who plant seed that was contaminated for not paying royalties. (<---adding: this part is what the court issue at this time is. Marshall is right, I'm sure some people have done it on purpose.)
***
If you can help it, this will turn into a HUGE blow up and get threads locked pretty quickly around here, just read what you can and determine how you feel on your own.***
The back and forth is the farmers are suing back, or fighting that monsanto infact wrecked their crops... ect.
It's never gone this far with the courts before, mainly due to the farmers not being able to afford to even fight through the court system.
It will be very interesting to see what the final ruling this.
A lot of us are VERY passionate about this. I can't wait to see the outcome. I feel very strongly against patenting seeds or genes since dna will NEVER hold strong, its a growing changing thing. The fact plants cross pollinate, and then later hold a number of genes that have now evolved a new plant (the whole fight as you see in the courts) is that a NEW creation emerges. In this case, it was a plant that wasn't pure, but held a gene that held a patent. One side says its stealing because they own the rights to part of the new creation, and the other side fighting the new creation was a wrecked crop and not even the plant they wanted or attempted to plant. I personally blame it on the 3rd party, Mother Nature, but since they can't bring her to court legally.... she is laughing at us humans and reminding us she is in complete control right now.
That's right Mother Nature... I'm on to you!
journey11
Garden Master
The word Monsanto here is almost equilvalent to speaking of PETA on BYC. 
Definitely a big topic of interest though.
Definitely a big topic of interest though.- Thread starter
- #8
bj taylor
Garden Ornament
i'm new and didn't mean to bring up a touchy subject. my bad. it's pretty big to me, so i just threw it out there - again didn't mean to stir a pot.
baymule
Garden Master
You haven't done anything wrong. Monsanto is considered to be Corporate Satan by some, including me, and the savior of cheap food by others. People take sides, there is no middle ground, there is a bottomless chasm between the two sides and take no prisoners. 
Chickie'sMomaInNH
Garden Master
like most companies when they start have good intentions. they were mostly designing chemicals to help farmers extend and protect their valuable fruits and veggies but probably thought the downsides weren't all that bad. they used to focus on trying to grow veggies and grain crops in areas that wouldn't normally survive in less than idea areas of the world, like deserts in parts of Africa that had high populations of poor people, or places that had issues with drought. then someone just got greedy and thought they could patent everything.
