12 years ago

New Lawsuit by Organic Farmer May Finally Prove Monsanto Is Not ‘Invincible’

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Erin Trauth is an instructor of professional and technical writing for health sciences. She is... Read More

In the on-going battle between Monsanto and farmers across the globe, Monsanto has reigned king in most every case. According to Daily Finance, since 1997, “[Monsanto] has filed 145 lawsuits against farmers who’ve improperly reused its patented seeds, or on average about one lawsuit every three weeks for 16 straight years.” And in these suits, Monsanto hasn’t lost a single case.

This trend may finally be beginning to change, though.

Steve Marsh, an organic farmer in Western Australia, found in 2010 that “his harvest had been contaminated by his neighbor’s genetically modified canola/rapeseed crops planted with Monsanto Roundup Ready seed.” As a result, Marsh “subsequently had 70% of his farm’s organic status for produce stripped from him causing severe financial harm, some $85,000 in earnings.” Because of this, Marsh is now suing his neighbor for the financial loss incurred in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit that has people talking.

If Marsh is able to defend his property rights in the case, it will produce a “disincentive for farmers to use GM seeds if they know they will be held liable for the equivalent of “polluting” a neighbor’s property. Just as a company can be held liable for toxic runoff that contaminates an adjacent piece of land, this lawsuit seeks to hold GM farmers liable for their “runoff” that ruins a neighbor’s livelihood,” says Daily Finance.

In the event Marsh is victorious, Monsanto would not be impacted directly, per say, but the win would show that Monsanto isn’t invincible after all.

“Because Monsanto requires farmers to sign non-liability clauses when they purchase seeds from the biotech, it’s insulated from being a party to the lawsuit directly, though it demurred when specifically asked whether it was providing financial assistance to the defense. But a win by Marsh could show there is indeed a chink in Monsanto’s armor of invincibility,” Daily Finance reports.

We will keep you posted on the results of this case – in any event, it’s great to see talk that Monsanto, with its highly-financed, seemingly unshakable coat or armor, could be taken down in one of these cases.

Image source: John Serrao / Wikimedia Commons