Friday, August 28, 2009

CORPORATE GREED: Canadian Battles Corporate Giant Monsanto And Wins


A cornfield is cultivated near the Mekong River in Northern Thailand.

Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved

If you are a regular reader here, you know by now that I'm fond of the "little people" on our planet. And why not, since the old saw, "It takes one to know one" proves I fit right in.

Here is a little story that appeared online on July 3, 2008 on the Global Research website about a "little guy" living in Canada named Percy Schmeiser.

It begins, "On 19 March 2008 Monsanto accepted their responsibility for the genetic contamination of Schmeiser’s canola fields in an out of court settlement between Percy Schmeiser and Monsanto."

Apparently, a morally corrupt corporate giant, Monsanto, contaminated his field with their genetically modified seeds and then decided not to pay Schmeiser the $660 it cost him to remove the mature plants from his property!

Why didn't a wealthy multi-national corporation fork over $660 bucks?

According to the story, "Monsanto would have paid for the contamination damage, but only under the condition that Schmeiser signed a “gag agreement”, i.e. he would agree not to talk about the damage case, which would have deprived him and/or his wife of the right for the remainder of their lives to ever speak about the case publicly or to ever again sue Monsanto for contaminating their harvest in future before any court."

Schmeiser rejected being silenced by the firm's corporate lawyer, Richard W. Danyliuk, by saying, "The demands raised by Monsanto were totally immoral."

The story concludes by pointing out, "The acceptance of responsibility by Monsanto as the owner of the patented Transgene for the contamination of neighboring fields opens the path for all farmers in the world to demand compensation by Monsanto."

The genetically modified (GM) food story is becoming bigger each year in Asia as food prices rise, population grows and agri-businesses move in.

Nevertheless, we have to stick to our guns folks, just ask Percy Schmeiser!

John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
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