Monday, December 06, 2004

Farmers' legal guide to GMOs;
class-action suit

Farmers’ Legal Action Group and the Rural Advancement Foundation International have published a Farmers' Guide to GMOs to aid farmers in understand their rights and vulnerabilities under laws protecting the ownership of GMO seeds and plants.

GMO seed-makers have targeted farmers for illegally growing their seeds, even when their seeds blow onto the property by mistake as was the case with Canadian farmer, Percy Schmeiser, who lost a landmark case in the Canadian Supreme Court.

But, Monsanto Corp. which sued him may rue the day it tangled with Canadian farmers. A class-action suit alleging damage to organic farmers who say they cannot grow organic canola because of widespread genetic pollution from the GMO kind is being heard in Canadian courts. (Organically grown foods cannot contain GMO-derived products.) If it succeeds, it could set a precedent for huge damages against the makers of GMO seeds who have little ability to control the transfer of genetically altered genes to non-GMO plants.

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