Monsanto Lawsuits Pile Up as American Farmers Demand Rights

By Wood Prairie Farm
Published on February 13, 2013
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Photo By Fotolia/Brocreative
Farmers have planted and saved seeds for more than 10,000 years without interruption until Monsanto's genetically engineered seeds entered the market in 1996.

Reposted with permission from Wood Prairie Farm.

Dozens of family farmers, Plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association et al v. Monsanto, traveled from across America to Washington, D.C. to take on Monsanto and demand the right to farm. They attended the January 10th Oral Argument in the Appeal of Dismissal which was aired before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. A Citizen’s Assembly in support of family farmers coincided in Lafayette Square with the beginning of the Oral Argument inside the court room.

“Our farmers want nothing to do with Monsanto,” declared Maine certified organic seed farmer, Jim Gerritsen, President of lead Plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association.   “We are not customers of Monsanto.  We don’t want their seed.  We don’t want their gene-spliced technology.  We don’t want their trespass onto our farms.  We don’t want their contamination of our crops. We don’t want to have to defend ourselves from aggressive assertions of patent infringement because Monsanto refuses to keep their pollution on their side of the fence.  We want justice.”

Many farmers have been forced to stop growing certain crops to avoid genetic contamination and potential lawsuits from Monsanto. This case challenges the validity of Monsanto’s genetically engineered seed patents and seeks Court protection for family farmers who, through no fault of their own, may have become contaminated by Monsanto’s patented seed and find themselves accused of patent infringement.

Monsanto filed 144 lawsuits against America’s family farmers and settled another 700 out of court between 1997 and 2010. These aggressive lawsuits have created an atmosphere of fear in rural America and driven dozens of farmers into bankruptcy.

“The District Court erred when it denied the organic seed plaintiffs the right to seek protection from Monsanto’s patents,” said attorney Dan Ravicher of the not-for-profit Public Patent Foundation “At the oral argument on January 10, we will explain to the Court of Appeals the District Court’s errors and why the case should be reinstated.”

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