“The
floodgates open. The heart of darkness opens to devour us. Now couple
this with Obama's proposed law that gives corporations equal standing
with nation states and the ability to ignore/sue/eviscerate local
governments..”
---Mike
Ruppert
Corporate
Win: Supreme Court Says Monsanto Has 'Control Over Product of Life'
Indiana
farmer must pay agribusiness giant $84,000 for patent infringement
Jacob
Chamberlain, staff writer
Indiana grain farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman walks past the US Supreme Court on February 19, 2013 in Washington (AFP/File, Mandel Ngan)
13
May, 2013
The
U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of biotech giant Monsanto,
ordering Indiana farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman, 75, to pay Monsanto more
than $84,000 for patent infringement for using second generation
Monsanto seeds purchased second hand—a ruling which will have broad
implications for the ownership of 'life' and farmers' rights in the
future.
In
the case, Bowman had purchased soybean seeds from a grain
elevator—where seeds are cheaper than freshly engineered Monsanto
GE (genetically engineered) seeds and typically used for animal feed
rather than for crops. The sources of the seeds Bowman purchased were
mixed and were not labeled. However, some were "Roundup Ready"
patented Monsanto seeds.
The
Supreme Court Justices, who gave Monsanto a warm reception from the
start, ruled that Bowman had broken the law because he planted seeds
which naturally yielded from the original patented seed
products—Monsanto's policies prohibit farmers from saving or
reusing seeds from Monsanto born crops.
Farmers
who use Monsanto's seeds are forced to buy the high priced new seeds
every year.
Ahead
of the expected ruling, Debbie Barker, Program Director for Save Our
Seeds (SOS), and George Kimbrell, staff attorney for Center for Food
Safety (CFS), asked in an op-ed earlier this year, "Should
anyone, or any corporation, control a product of life?":
Bowman
vs. Monsanto Co. will be decided based on the court's interpretation
of a complex web of seed and plant patent law, but the case also
reflects something much more basic: Should anyone, or any
corporation, control a product of life?
[Monsanto's]
logic is troubling to many who point out that it is the nature of
seeds and all living things, whether patented or not, to replicate.
Monsanto's claim that it has rights over a self-replicating natural
product should raise concern. Seeds, unlike computer chips, for
example, are essential to life. If people are denied a computer chip,
they don't go hungry. If people are denied seeds, the potential
consequences are much more threatening.
Bowman
had argued that he was respecting his contract with Monsanto,
purchasing directly from them each year, but couldn't afford
Monsanto's high prices for his riskier late season crops. Bowman's
defense argued that Monsanto's patent was "exhausted"
through the process of natural seed reproduction and no longer
applied to Bowman's second generation seeds.
“If
they don’t want me to go to the elevator and buy that grain,"
Bowman had stated, "then Congress should pass a law saying you
can’t do it."
The
Center for Food Safety released a report in February which shows
three corporations control more than half of the global commercial
seed market.
As
a result, from 1995-2011 the average cost to plant 1 acre of soybeans
rose 325%.
As
AP reports, more than 90 percent of American soybean farms use
Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" seeds, which first came on the
market in 1996.
Vandana
Shiva, an expert on seed patents and their effects on farmers around
the world, wrote recently:
Monsanto’s
concentrated control over the seed sector in India as well as across
the world is very worrying. This is what connects farmers’ suicides
in India to Monsanto vs Percy Schmeiser in Canada, to Monsanto vs
Bowman in the US, and to farmers in Brazil suing Monsanto for $2.2
billion for unfair collection of royalty.
Through
patents on seed, Monsanto has become the “Life Lord” of our
planet, collecting rents for life’s renewal from farmers, the
original breeders
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