A good man with the right attitude. Where do I send my donation? Ken
At 08:28 AM 4/25/02 EDT, you wrote: >From: http://www.theglobeandmail.com >Fight against Monsanto vaults farmer into spotlight > >By KRISTA FOSS > >Monday, April 8, 2002 Print Edition, Page A3 > >Monsanto did not know what it was getting into when it tried to teach Percy >Schmeiser a lesson. > >Two years after losing a patent dispute with the biotechnology giant, the >71-year-old grain farmer from Bruno, Sask., has taken his story -- and his >message about farmers' rights -- from Brazil to Bangladesh, from Australia to >Austria. > >He has at least as many international gigs as boy band 'N Sync this year, yet >the jet lag is not slowing him down. > >In the fall, he visited South Africa. In March, he was in Thailand. This week >he kicks off a tour that will take him through Europe. Then he's off to >Seattle, followed by a spin through South America. > >"It has been pretty hectic," he said recently. > >Farmers groups, environmentalists and United Nations policymakers all want to >hear Mr. Schmeiser's tale of being taken to court over the kind of canola >found growing in his fields four years ago. > >Some will pay his air fare and expenses to have him tell it in person (he >doesn't charge speaking fees.) > >And the next time this grandfather of 14 will be back home in Saskatchewan is >mid-May, when a Saskatoon judge is to hear his appeal of the March, 2000, >ruling that made him an international folk hero. > >"Monsanto couldn't have picked a worse person to get into a fight with," said >Pat Mooney, the executive director of the Winnipeg-based technology watchdog >group ETC, who has seen Mr. Schmeiser speak at international forums. > >"He's articulate and emotional, and he always creates a stir when he tells >his story." > >Born and raised in Bruno, a farming community 90 kilometres northeast of >Saskatoon, Mr. Schmeiser has grown canola, wheat and legumes on 1,400 acres >of land for the last 47 years. > >In the last two years, it has become increasingly difficult for him to >maintain his packed travel itinerary and his grain farm. This year, he will >rent out most of his land to neighbours and cultivate just 300 acres himself >with the help of family. > >In 1998, Monsanto informed him he was infringing on their patent for a >herbicide-resistant strain of canola, called Roundup Ready, because they had >found it growing in his fields. He had not paid the necessary fees to >cultivate it. > >Mr. Schmeiser argued that the seed had blown into his field or had been >dumped there by accident, and that made Monsanto's patent invalid. Monsanto >wanted to settle out of court, but Mr. Schmeiser refused. > >A federal court judge ruled in March, 2000, that it was unlikely the patented >canola ended up growing in Mr. Schmeiser's fields by accident and that he >must have knowingly harvested the patented strain without informing Monsanto. >"What the judgment said was it doesn't matter how Monsanto seeds get into >your fields; it's their property. All the farmers' rights go out the window," >Mr. Schmeiser said. > >The case cost Mr. Schmeiser and his wife Louise $200,000 in legal fees. To >pay, they mortgaged their land and gutted their retirement savings. But the >judge also awarded costs to Monsanto, which this fall asked for nearly >$1-million. > >"Sometimes we wake up in the middle of the night and ask ourselves, 'What did >we get ourselves into? We could lose everything we worked our whole lives >for,' " Mr. Schmeiser said. > >But rather than sit at home and fret, Mr. Schmeiser has turned himself into a >global poster boy for the rights of small farmers. > >Through his Web site (http://www.percyschmeiser.com), which touts his story >as "the classic David vs Goliath struggle," he has raised tens of thousands >of dollars to pay for next month's appeal. > >The site sports a photograph of him holding the Mahatma Gandhi award, >presented to him in Delhi in 2000 for his work promoting non-violent >improvement of humanity. > >Meanwhile, Monsanto Canada is resigned to losing the public-relations battle, >as long as it wins in court. > >"We knew going into this that this was a no-win situation for us in the >public's eye. It has all the classic things that people can take a spin on," >said Trish Jordan, Monsanto Canada spokeswoman. "The bottom line is that this >case for us is about protecting intellectual property. There are 30,000 >farmers who use this technology in Canada and pay to use it." > >Ms. Jordan said the company is not at all worried about Mr. Schmeiser's >appeal and she noted he has not paid "one cent" of the costs owed to Monsanto. > >But high-profile lawsuits against Monsanto are not likely to end with Mr. >Schmeiser's appeal. > >Earlier this year, the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate launched a >class-action suit against Monsanto and Aventis claiming that pollen drift and >contamination from their genetically modified strains of canola have made it >impossible for Saskatchewan farmers to grow certifiably organic canola. > >Mr. Schmeiser has also registered a lawsuit against Monsanto for damages >related to alleged contamination of his fields by Roundup Ready canola, a >suit he hasn't yet had time to pursue. > >"My wife said we won't live long enough to see the end of it," he said. > > >-- >The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. > >To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: >[email protected] -or- [email protected] >with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. > >To post, address your message to: [email protected] >Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html >List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]> > >
