"Monsanto" news and stories

Biotech giant Monsanto has been sitting pretty on their patent for herbicide-resistant seeds for more than 15 years now, but that may all come to an end soon. On behalf of 270,000 plaintiffs, including thousands of certified organic family farmers, seed-saving organizations and farmer advocacy groups, the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Manhattan yesterday.

Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto is groundbreaking. It challenges the very "usefulness" of the GM seed product (a requirement for patents) and calls for protection for organic farmers from "being accused of patent infringement should they ever become contaminated by Monsanto's genetically modified seed," states the PUBPAT foundation.

It's sadistic but true: Monsanto has aggressively sued farmers whose organic crop fields became contaminated with their product simply by way of the wind. In Monsanto's mind, that equals patent infringement.

The next skirmish over genetically modified foods is getting underway, pitting a coalition of environmental, consumer and food-safety groups against the federal government.

Early this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved unrestricted planting of a type of GM alfalfa engineered by Monsanto. To the average consumer, that might not sound like such a big deal-after all, we're not rabbits.

But rabbits aren't the only animals that like to munch on the sweet grass. Alfalfa is the primary food source for cows, too. No only that, but alfalfa has a wily propensity to cross-pollinate across miles; over time, opponents say, there's no way to ensure that the GM variety doesn't intermix with the non-GM variety.

In the bubbling debate between genetically modified foods and organic ones, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack reportedly called for a truce in an open letter released just before the clocks struck 2011. Agricultural resolution? Not so easy, Tom.

"Complexity surrounds American agriculture today," he begins. True. By the end of 2010, federal courts had barred use of Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa, even though planting continued while the USDA kept working on its Environmental Impact Statement [EIS] on the genetically engineered (GE) crop, which it completed two weeks prior to Vilsack's letter. A federal court in San Francisco ordered removal of a test plot of GE sugar beets. And the Food and Drug Administration remained indecisive over approval of GE salmon, the would-be first genetically engineered animal, which may or may not be labeled.

Vilsack doesn't appear to be pro or con for either but believes the two can cohabit. "As a regulatory agency, sound science and decisions based on this science are our priority, and science strongly supports the safety of GE alfalfa," he writes.

All you pro-organics who just felt a scrunch in your brow, follow this next line: "But agricultural issues are always complex and rarely lend themselves to simple solutions. Therefore, we have an obligation to carefully consider USDA's 2,300-page EIS, which acknowledges the potential of cross-fertilization to non-GE alfalfa."

A non-GE farmer can hope.

"Heart-smart" bacon? "Healthy" hamburger? Monsanto thinks it's found a way to make red meat better for you, and that's got some overseas environmental activists worried.

The biotech giant has genetically engineered a type of soybean that contains a plant-based version of omega-3, the fatty acid that has been shown to improve cardiovascular health. Omega-3 is typically found in seafood; hence, all those recommendations to eat more fish.

But what if you could ditch the salmon fillet and get your dose of omega-3 from, say, sausage instead?

That's exactly what Monsanto had in mind when it began replacing regular soybean feed with its omega-3 enhanced soybeans and feeding it to livestock. The result? Meat that contained higher levels of omega-3.

Saving whales; closing BP service stations: Greenpeace accomplishes things many of us fainter environmentalists only dream of, and last week was no different. A courageous bunch snuck into a field of GMO corn to deactivate the crop's pollinating tassels -- by way of machete or delicate plucking, we cannot say, but we'd like to think they had some fun.

The event took place in -- where else? -- Italy, the heirloom-touting country responsible for constructing Slow Food's global umbrella in the '80s, from which all sustainable, green, local and such movements have sprung since. Specifically, the crop-beheading went down on a field in the northern region of Friuli, one of the country's 16 regions (out of 20) that were gradually designated as GMO-free zones starting in 2007.

Greenpeace Italia first took a sample from the field in question and brought it to a certified lab to confirm that it was, in fact, the patented Monsanto GE maize type MON810. Since pollen can quickly spread to other fields, further contaminating non-GMO land, Greenpeace decided to nip it in the bud and send a message to the Italian government to follow through. GMO-free zone or not, a landowner would still need to obtain a permit to grow GMO crop in Italy, which Greenpeace claims the owner had not done.