- One point about my struggle against Monsanto, which has
accused me of infringing the patent on its genetically modified Roundup
Ready canola, that really bothers me is its claim that something like 98
percent of my 1998 canola crop tested positive for the presence of the
Roundup gene.
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- Monsanto is being deceitful in this regard. I do not
believe that this sample with such a high reading came from my farm. But
before I explain further, I should tell you that the Robinson Investigation
firm, which Monsanto hired to take canola samples from farmers, is itself
under investigation. During my trial, Monsanto made no apologies for the
actions of the Robinson firm, which acted on "tips" and "rumors"
that farmers were growing Roundup Ready canola without a license.
-
 At
times investigators from Robinson would wear Monsanto or Roundup Ready
clothing when they called on farmers. Their first words to farmers were:
"We're ex-RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] officers." It
was intimidation!
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- And now, back to the issue of my seed.
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- Before sowing my 1998 crop, I took some of my seed to
Humboldt Flour Mills for inoculation against diseases and insects. Later,
I learned that the milling company had kept one sample, which it returned
upon my request.
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- In 1999 Monsanto formally accused me of illegally planting
its transgenic seed the year before. It based this accusation on what its
agents claimed was Roundup-resistant canola that they found growing in
the ditch next to my fields.
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- Feeling uneasy about the pending lawsuit, I took samples
from all of my fields, plus what the flour mill had returned to me, to
the University of Manitoba to be tested for the presence of Monsanto's
patented genes. I had to send the samples there at my expense because Agriculture
Canada, a government agency, refused to test my seed. Yet, it did testing
for Monsanto at taxpayer expense.
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- The U. of Manitoba test results revealed no detectable
level of modified genes in several of the samples; in two other samples
they detected 2 percent and 8 percent. The samples taken from the field
and the ditch where I first noticed the Roundup Ready canola volunteers
growing had a 60 percent level of genetic contamination. Notably, those
areas abut land on which my neighbor planted Roundup Ready canola in 1996.
Seed and or pollen from those canola plants, could quite easily have been
transported to my field.
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- Months before the June 2000 trial began I received some
shocking news. Monsanto announced that an employee of Saskatchewan Wheat
Pool, which a year before had purchased Humboldt Flour Mills, found and
turned over a sample of my seed from 1998. (Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was
and is licensed to sell Monsanto's genetically modified canola seed.)
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- I phoned the employee, Morris Hofmann, to ask how he
knew it was my seed. Hoffman replied: "You don't know."
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- At trial, Hofmann, a good friend to the local Monsanto
representative, testified that he had found the sample. My lawyer, Terry
Zakreski, pointed out that it would be difficult to know, after the passage
of two years, the origin of the seed. To wit, I had not cleaned my saved
(bin run) seed, full of chaff, that I delivered to Humboldt Flour Mills
in 1998 for inoculation.
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- The one-pound sample that the mill later returned to
me was in the same condition. Contrast that with what Monsanto claimed
Hofmann had discovered: 20 pounds of clean seed in Saskatchewan Wheat Pool
bags. I ran into Hofmann after the trial. He apologized to me for lying
about supplying Monsanto with a sample of clean Roundup Ready canola seed
for use in court. He told me that Monsanto had taken him on trips, to lunch
and given him free products to use on his farm.
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- But he wasn't the only witness whom Monsanto wined and
dined. Hofmann told me that Monsanto had a reception room where liquor
and other refreshments were served to witnesses while the trial was happening.
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- http://www.connectotel.com/gmfood/cc240502.txt
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