It's not that i am against GM food, what i worry about is once that particular genie is out the bottle, and if science discovers GM food is not as healthy as we are told it is, it will be impossible to put it back in again.
For that reason i am hoping that Australian farmer local farmer Steve Marsh wins his case against Michael Baxter for negligence over the alleged contamination of the land that Marsh used for growing organic crops.
The case is expected to determine GM farmers’ liability if their crops affect neighbouring territories in the world’s first trial over GM contamination.
Non-GM farmers fear losing their organic certification because of contamination as GM crops production increases.
Marsh claims that 2010, Baxter’s GM seeds were blown by the wind onto his farm, causing him to lose his guaranteed organic certification on 70 percent of his land, costing him an estimated $85,000.
Baxter's case is being backed by GM seed firm Monsanto while Marsh is relying on donations from the public to cover his legal costs.
I hope Marsh, and common sense, win the case as GM food has yet to be proven as safe for human consumption and tests on rats have shown those given GM feed have developed tumours and suffered severe liver and kidney damage leading to a suspension of GM crops in the EU.
8 comments:
how do you control the wind? maybe we need to insure that GM crops are downwind from organic...
q
You can't which is why they should not be experimented with out in the open where they can contaminate organic.
what would keep us from genetically modifying it back to the way it was before we genetically modified it?
q
Interesting case.
There have been cases where IP owners have successfully sued neighbors of their licensees for the spread of GM crops. I never much liked the reasoning of these pro-IP owner cases because it effectively places the duty to prevent spreading on the neighbor.
But this is the first I've heard of the neighbor bringing suit.
Genetically modified non-genetically modified would never fit on the label.
First time i have heard of anything like it also Nog, could set a precedent.
Here's the case I was thinking of which is the reverse of the Australian case. It's a Canadian case where Monsanto sued a farmer who was a neighbor of a farmer who bought Monsanto's GM seeds claiming that the neighbor whose fields were pollinated by Monsanto's GM crops was infringing on Monsanto's IP by saving and replanting seeds of his own crops.
Yep, that amused me when i read it. Will be interesting to see what way the law comes down on in both these cases.
why doesn't monsanto just wait until the corn is sold to consumers then sue the citizenry for eating the corn?
weak claim Monsano. get a life
Q
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