The Greed Of Monsanto Continues
Posted by Michelle Moquin on March 13th, 2013
Not to mention their horrific impact on the planet.
Good morning
From Think Progress:
How One 75-Year-Old Soybean Farmer Could Deal A Blow To Monsanto’s Empire Today
By Aviva Shen on Feb 19, 2013 at 1:40 pm
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a 75-year-old soybean farmer’s appeal against biotech giant Monsanto, in a case that could permanently reshape the genetically modified (GM) crop industry. Victor “Hugh” Bowman has been battling the corporation since 2007, when Monsanto sued him for violating their patent protection by purchasing second-generation GM seeds from a grain elevator. An appeals court ruled in favor of Monsanto, and despite the Obama administration’s urging to let the decision stand, the nine justices will hear Bowman make his case today.
Monsanto is notorious among farmers for the company’s aggressive investigations and pursuit of farmers they believe have infringed on Monsanto’s patents. In the past 13 years, Monsanto has sued 410 farmers and 56 small farm businesses, almost always settling out of court (the few farmers that can afford to go to trial are alwaysdefeated). These farmers were usually sued for saving second-generation seeds for the next harvest — a basic farming practice rendered illegal because seeds generated by GM crops contain Monsanto’s patented genes.
Monsanto’s winning streak hinges on a controversial Supreme Court decision from 1981, which ruled on a 5-4 split that living organisms could be patented as private property. As a result of that decision, every new generation of GM seeds — and their self-replicating technology — is considered Monsanto’s property.
Unfortunately, second- and third-generation seeds are very hard to track, which may explain why Monsanto devotes $10 million a year and 75 staffers to investigating farmers for possible patent violations. Seeds are easily carried by birds or blown by the wind into fields of non-GM seeds, exposing farmers who have never bought seeds from Monsanto to lawsuits. Organic and conventional seeds are fast becoming extinct — 93 percent of soybeans, 88 percent of cotton, and 86 percent of corn in the US are grownfrom Monsanto’s patented seeds. A recent study discovered that at least half of the organic seeds in the US are contaminated with some genetically modified material.
Bowman’s appeal gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to determine whether or not Monsanto is using patent enforcement to control their monopoly on a vital resource. As GM seeds become more ubiquitous, farmers who want to avoid Monsanto’s strict patents have few alternatives. As a recently released Center for Food Safety reportnotes, the concentration of market power among Monsanto and a handful of other companies has led to skyrocketing seed prices and less innovation by smaller firms:
USDA data show that since the introduction of GE seed, the average cost of soybean seed to plant one acre has risen by a dramatic 325 percent, from $13.32 to $56.58. Similar trends exist for corn and cotton seeds: cotton seeds spiked 516 percent from 1995-2011 and corn seed costs rose 259 percent over the same period.
[...] USDA economists have found that seed industry consolidation has reduced research and likely resulted in fewer crop varieties on offer:“Those companies that survived seed industry consolidation appear to be sponsoring less research relative to the size of their individual markets than when more companies were involved… Also, fewer companies developing crops and marketing seeds may translate into fewer varieties offered.”
Furthermore, emerging evidence indicates that Monsanto has hardly perfected the technology. A core argument for GM seeds in the 1990s claimed they would reduce chemical pesticide use because the plants themselves would repel pests and weeds. But studies have confirmed the spread of so-called “superweeds” that have developed a resistance to Monsanto’s gene, leading farmers to deploy even heavier doses of herbicides like Monsanto’s own product, Roundup. Another new report debunked the company’s argument that GM seeds would have higher yields; in fact, two of Monsanto’s most popular genes caused yields to drop.
Despite the mounting evidence against their products, the biotech industry enjoys a cozy relationship with government regulators. In December, the Justice Department abruptly dropped their investigation into anti-competitive practices in the industry without so much as a press release. The stalled Farm Bill also contains generous provisions that would allow these companies to put their products on the market with cursory or no review by the USDA.
Today’s oral argument is a study in these intertwined interests: the Obama administration is presenting their own defense of Monsanto, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was once a Monsanto lawyer (but will not recuse himself from Bowman’s case). Still, the same high court that enabled the current state of American agriculture in 1981 now finds itself in a position to check Monsanto’s power — or help them tighten their hold on the industry.
**********
Readers: And as was expected, Justice Clarence Thomas didn’t recuse himself from this case. From what I could find, this more recent article “Monsanto likely to score Supreme Court Win” is the update to this sad and sick story. If anyone has any more recent news on the Supreme Court verdict, please share. Blog me.
Cheryl: What a nice thing to say. And I agree with you. There are many great women role models on my blog. And yes, I too love wearing dresses in the summer. I was a big fan of Hillary as well. We’ll just have to wait and see what she has planned.
Jennifer: I am inspired everyday that I am here.
Ella: And it is a shame that the media does the same same thing, which perpetuates the issue.
Harrietta: It is because of readers like you and so many other that say such things that keep me here going. If I wasn’t inspired or feeling like I was making some contribution I wouldn’t be doing this. I now can’t imagine my life without waking up to read my blog either.
Alicia: You sound like you have a wonderful father. A real man. Lucky lucky you.
Tracy: :) You talking to you husband on the blog reminds me of that commercial where the couple is texting each other while sitting on the couch next to each other.
Rebecca: That about covers everything except my beloved four-legged pals. :)
Ingrid: My fave word too. :)
Hmm…what’s going on here on this day? It feels very much like a “blog appreciation” day. Sweet. Thanks to all for the nice things you are saying about the happenings here.
Robert, RT: I was driving home in my car and listening to 60 Minutes on the radio and caught this exact show. It is a sickening story. Thank you for sharing. The way the numbers are going, at some point OTWs will be the majority and will run this country, but the question is when and will it be in time before this country is destroyed? I HOPE you are good.
Irene: Really? HRH declared gay rights? It’s about time. After all that country is full of queens, and I mean that in the most respectful way. :) I like the link. Thanks.
Martha: I have not until now. Quite an interesting story, albeit grossly barbaric toward the women, but that’s not surprising. Thanks for sharing.
Zen Lill: Love the video. And I checked out her site too. Interesting. Thanks for remembering the animals. It’s been awhile since I gave them some blog time. Done.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
Thank you for your loyal support!
All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012
“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream
" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"
March 13th, 2013 at 10:39 am
Thank you Michelle for acknowledging my post. Yes, my father is the best!
March 13th, 2013 at 10:51 am
The Catholic church’s influence is growing exponentially in the backward countries of Africa and Asia. The reason is the bullshit the church puts out and the fact that it gives men an unchallengable position of authority as the head of the family.
Men will support anything that gives them free pussy.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:29 am
Cardinal Bergoglio has been elected Pope. He is a jesuit and has taken the name Francis I.
Let’s hope there is a sense of hope in this man for all the peoples men and women.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:41 am
Isn’t it ironic that countries that have banned assault weapons after a gun tragedy, like Australia, have fewer reports of gun deaths.
The U.S., on the other hand, seems to want to arm their people more. You can’t even buy ammo anymore in the gun shops. We are going the opposite direction which will lead to the opposite conclusion of the example of Australia. Unless we come to our senses.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:42 am
If some lunatic got into the halls of Congress with a high capacity assault weapon and magazines, this bill will pass in a second.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:48 am
The President is a funny and likable guy, and some people just can’t stand it.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:48 am
Obama is the 2nd best President ever….all the others tied for first.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:49 am
C’mon man. I didn’t vote for him either time, but he’s still an alright guy, personally. We could have done a whole lot worse. I may not like a whole lot of his politics, but he ain’t a bad human being.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:50 am
So sad that people like you, Chuck, consistently vote against their own self interest.
March 13th, 2013 at 11:50 am
The President is the master of “comedic judo.” He uses their hate and envy against them with humor, then they feel stupid and hate him even more. It’s genius!
March 13th, 2013 at 11:51 am
He is the best President ever.
March 13th, 2013 at 12:06 pm
That piece of shit Bergoglio stood by when all the people in Argentina was being killed and disappearing. He supported on Dictator after the other.
fuck him and alter boys asses he rode in on.
March 13th, 2013 at 12:10 pm
We keep hearing about how he is from South America. This is a south american like whites claiming they are South Africans.
They are racist white bastards that came to my country and pushed out my peoples or enslaved and raped them. After a few centuries of controlling our country they now claim title to our land and ethic heritage.
They will never be latinos anymore than those white bastards in South Africa will be Africans. Just more white boy propaganda. Sucking their own dicks so to speak.
March 13th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
I agree with you Sonja. The men are so happy with him. They say he is “conservative,” but he is concerned with the poor.
Male translation: He will keep men in power and give a little help to the poor.
Another white boy choice. How does this mean two shits to women who were looking for a person to bring some equality to the church when it comes to women’s issues.
It is like when white boys are okay with the george wallaces, gingrich, and other obvious bigots running for president. Since they pose no threat to them, hey let him run.
Just another romp rustler named Francis I.
March 13th, 2013 at 1:02 pm
Pope Francis, lost to the previous pope 8 years ago and he spent his time nailing down this one. He was determined not to lose if he got a second time.
The “piece of shit” as he has been accurately tagged has been against everything the leaders of Argentina have been trying to accomplish when it comes to LGBT rights.
He has fought against birth control information and assistance and he came out against gay adoptions. Sure he is the darling of men but he is no friend to women’s rights.
Some are asking that Obama weigh in. He was notified of the selection by the cardinals as an overture to his forcing the pedophile to resign.
The Vatican is feeling the pressure of the knowledge getting out about the ex pope.
Mike, TM
March 13th, 2013 at 2:58 pm
Is Your Pharmacy Selling You Drugs That Your Doctor Told You to Stop Taking?
Recently, a friend had a doctor’s appointment. During the visit, the doctor told him that his cholesterol levels were low enough that he could stop taking Lipitor, the cholesterol-lowering statin drug.
Great news, he thought.
But the next time he visited his pharmacy to pick up his allergy medication, my friend was surprised and confused when, along with the allergy drug, his pharmacist handed him his usual refill of Lipitor.
He wondered…
Did my doctor neglect to tell my pharmacist that I’m not supposed to take this drug anymore?
Or did my doctor change his mind, decide that I should stay on
Lipitor and neglect to tell me?
Because my friend was alert during his pharmacy visit, he called his doctor on the spot and also talked with his pharmacist to get to the bottom of it.
And it’s a good thing that he did—because the doctor had not communicated the change to the pharmacist, and my friend did not need the Lipitor.
But his story has me worried. For instance, suppose there are elderly patients who may not be as mentally sharp as they used to be and who are accustomed to picking up, say, four or five medications at once from the pharmacy. In a situation like my friend’s, would such patients have simply kept on taking unneeded medications?
DON’T MAKE ANY ASSUMPTIONS
Communication lapses between doctors and pharmacists—and between those medical professionals and patients—occur more often than you might think, according to a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a medical group practice in Boston. The consequences of those lapses can be significant.
In fact, the study researchers found that about 1.5% of all discontinued prescriptions were nonetheless refilled by pharmacies. Even worse, 12% of those errors caused potential harm to the patients. In some cases, the harm consisted of mild side effects such as nausea or lightheadedness…but in other cases, the harm involved potentially serious problems such as low blood pressure or allergic reactions.
The moral of the story:
Never make any assumptions when it comes to your prescriptions—and that includes stopping old drugs as well as starting new ones. Physicians and pharmacists are human and sometimes make mistakes.
For instance, your doctor might flat out forget to pass along the message to your pharmacy or assume that you will tell your pharmacist to stop refilling the prescription.
Or, as the study revealed, the doctor might enter the medication halt into your electronic health record, supposing that this information will be transmitted to the pharmacy—though in fact this does not automatically occur.
Safest:
If your doctor tells you to stop taking a certain drug, before you leave his or her office, call your pharmacy to confirm the change. And if your pharmacist ever hands you a drug that your doctor told you to stop taking, don’t accept it without question.
Instead, call your doctor that instant to clear things up before you pay for the drug—and certainly before you use any of it.
Source: The study, “Pharmacy Dispensing of Electronically Discontinued Medication,” was published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:32 pm
When conservatives post on this blog to slam liberals, remember: conservatives supported slavery, segregation, exclusion, redlining, apartheid, poll taxes, child labor, miscegenation laws, unchecked pollution, ripping off consumers, government mandated religion and voting rights for only wealthy, white men.
Liberals overturned all that, and conservatives are *still* angry. Liberals are now starting to win on marriage equality, and overturning Citizens United is next.
March 13th, 2013 at 10:36 pm
Some cosmologists theorize that there may be other, parallel similar universes where different outcomes play out…
In the alternative universe where the presidency was NOT stolen by the right wing SCOTUS, and Al Gore became president…
We would be the world’s leader in renewable energy technology and deployment.
We would not have the blood of 100,000 innocent Iraqis and 4,000+ US service members lives on our hands.
We would not have given huge tax cuts to the wealthy.
GWB would be an obscure nudist painter. Oh wait, he IS that, in our universe…
March 14th, 2013 at 12:46 am
Go figure:
Pope Called Gay Marriage ‘Destructive Attack On God’s Plan’… ‘Staunchly Opposes Abortion, Contraception’… Believes Gay Adoption Is ‘Discrimination Against Children’… Accused Of Conspiring With Murderous Junta In Priest Kidnapping
March 14th, 2013 at 12:52 am
Hafa adai, once again the white boy has dissed Guam. That BAPF idiot, hypocrite and LSOS McIdiot screwed Guam again today. The U.S. Senate this morning adopted an amendment proposed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to eliminate funding for Guam civilian infrastructure projects provided by the Consolidated and Continuing Appropriations Act.
The funding in the bill would have provided funding for water treatment facilities and a public health laboratory for the island.
The amendment passed by a voice vote, according to a press release from Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo.
“I am appalled that Senator McCain continues to use funding for Guam projects as an example of ‘pork barrel’ spending—he dismissed water and wastewater improvements, which are already overburdened by our island’s existing civilian and military populations, as egregious and unnecessary,” said Bordallo.
Bordallo said she is “deeply disappointed” that McCain’s amendment carried and said she plans to secure these funds for next year.
March 14th, 2013 at 1:09 am
It is so scary that we are eating all this genetically modified food. Do we know what the consequences will be in the short term much less the long term???
Organic all the way! I hope that Monsanto loses every lawsuit that they enter forever more, and that they go bankrupt so that their toxic GMO monopoly will end.
March 14th, 2013 at 5:41 am
GET MILK… NOT BARIUM… WITH NEXT ABDOMINAL CT SCAN
Got milk? It’s a question patients who need to undergo an abdominal and pelvic CT scan might want to ask their doctors, as new research finds that whole milk is as effective a contrast agent as the nasty-tasting barium “shake” more commonly used.
Not only does milk have a taste most people find more pleasant, it’s also less likely to cause potential unpleasant side effects such as abdominal cramping, nausea and diarrhea.
MILK WORKS
The research comes from a group of doctors at the department of radiology, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City. They were looking to find a cost effective and more tolerable contrast agent for people having abdominal and pelvic scans for gastrointestinal problems, specifically of the small bowel, such as inflammatory bowel disease, neoplasm or intestinal ischemia.
The scans are good diagnostic tools but the barium preparation that distends the bowel to enable the imaging is notoriously problematic for patients.
The research involved 215 gastrointestinal abdominal/pelvic scan patients, about half of whom drank a quart of whole milk while the other drank a little more than a quart of the barium fluid in the hour before the test.
The findings: Images facilitated by both drinks were equally useful, and the milk group patients reported the milk was easy to drink and caused few if any side effects.
One of the study authors, Lisa Shah-Patel, MD, explained to me that whole milk has a high fat content, which is what helps to create bowel distention.
On a CT scan, the milk inside the bowel looks gray, while the IV contrast agent (used in all abdominal/pelvic CT scans) looks brighter.
This outlines the bowel wall, giving the radiologist sufficient contrast to visualize what could be causing a patient abdominal pain. Since it’s the high-fat content of milk that makes it work, I found myself musing about whether researchers might consider studying how well Häagen-Dazs would work… but in the meantime, milk is an improvement over barium, at least in terms of taste.
Source(s):
Lisa Shah-Patel, MD, department of radiology, St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York City.
March 14th, 2013 at 8:34 am
Howie, we have had our coldest winter in 20 years here in Jerusalem. You would love the white look everywhere from the snow.
I have missed your post. I hope I you will return soon.
Kate