Monsanto

Monsanto is still cheating.
NEW YORK - Monsanto on Thursday said it agreed to pay $1.5 million in penalties to settle US criminal and civil charges for bribing an Indonesian government official and concealing the payment as consulting fees. The company said it accepted full responsibility for the improper activities and regretted that people working on behalf of Monsanto engaged in such behavior.

The Justice Department said Monsanto was charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for making an illegal payment of $50,000 to a senior official in Indonesia's Ministry of the Environment in 2002 and falsely certifying the bribe as "consultant fees" on the company's books and records.

An "independent compliance expert" will audit and keep watch on Monsanto's compliance program, the Justice Department said in a statement. Monsanto also agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty to settle SEC charges for the $50,000 bribe and related violations. The charges also included at least $700,000 of "illegal or questionable payments made to at least 140 current or former Indonesian government officials and their family members," the SEC said.

A former US-based Monsanto senior manager directed an Indonesian consulting firm to make the $50,000 bribe to a senior official in the Ministry of the Environment to get him to repeal a requirement for an environmental impact study the company needed before it could cultivate genetically modified crops, the Justice Department said.

Here is the link.

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Monsanto to pay $1B for Seminis
Purchase of seed company is seen as an effort to move away from competitive agro-chemical business.
January 24, 2005: 11:30 AM EST

KANSAS CITY, Mo., (Reuters) - Agriculture products company Monsanto Co. said Monday it will buy vegetable and fruit seed company Seminis Inc. for about $1 billion in a move to capitalize on the trend toward healthier diets and enhance its portfolio of seed operations.

Monsanto (down $1.37 to $56.35, Research) will also assume about $400 million in debt and will make a performance-based payment of up to $125 million by the end of fiscal 2007.

Monsanto, a leading developer of genetic modifications for crops like soybeans and corn, said biotechnology modifications to Seminis' fruits and vegetable lines were an option over the long term.

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Seminis, which supplies more than 3,500 seed varieties to commercial fruit and vegetable growers, dealers, distributors and wholesalers, currently offers a genetically modified squash, according to Monsanto.

Seminis' seeds are sold in more than 150 countries around the world. The company is based in Oxnard, California.

Monsanto has been shifting its business focus from the highly competitive herbicide chemical business to the seed industry, where Monsanto has been seeing strong growth. Late last year, Monsanto created a new subsidiary called American Seeds Inc. and bought regional seed business ChannelBio Corp. of Kentland, Indiana.

Seminis will operate as a own wholly owned subsidiary of Monsanto, officials said.

Monsanto already controls an estimated 14 percent of the U.S. corn seed market and through licensing arrangements provides germplasm and technology traits that extend its influence into about one-third of the U.S. market.

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Monsanto scares the crap out of me. Their legal counsel has been flip-flopping back and forth between jobs with Monsanto and high-ranking positions within the FDA. No mention of conflict of interest. They just get all those GM sees approved and then right back to Monsanto. How do these people sleep at night?

I couldn't agree more.

Once Monsanto shifts from the herbicide chemical business to the seed industry, growers who have been buying seeds elsewhere, will find they are tied to Monsanto for a l-o-n-g time - and they won't be able to exchange seeds with neighbouring growers any more, because Monsanto seeds are 'terminators'.

Monsanto has been suing small farmers whose crops have been cross-pollinated with Monsanto frankenseeds for patent violations. They have been forcing these small farmers to hire lawyers and fight to keep their farms. Monsanto also targets small, struggling farms and offers them money to save their farm as long as the farmers sign a contract that they will only grow Monsanto crops. Since buying these terminator seeds is not cost-effective, many farmers are unable to maintain their farms even after this money influx and Monsanto gets the farm. ARGH!

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feline01

Monsanto scares the crap out of me.

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Me too ........ "evil company" just doesn't cover it .

I think this is more likely a buy and die operation. You purchase small corporations that block your monopoply, fire all the emplyees, and use their name to sell your products.

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phillip888

I think this is more likely a buy and die operation. You purchase small corporations that block your monopoply, fire all the emplyees, and use their name to sell your products.

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um.....1 billion dollar is involved...that gives me the idea that we are not talking about a small company...

Personally, I think monsanto is buying themselves into the seed selling business so they have more control over putting their Geneticly Manipulated stuff on the market.

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1vegan

Personally, I think monsanto is buying themselves into the seed selling business so they have more control over putting their Geneticly Manipulated stuff on the market.

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Those are my thoughts. I wonder what market they are thinking of entering into next? I know I have bought seeds/plants from Thompson and Morgan Seed Company years ago. They are a large company.
I think my mother still purchases from them. I sent her an article about this.

As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo: Pay Monsanto, or starve.: http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htm

The updated law makes saving seeds for next year's harvest, practiced by 97% of Iraqi farmers in 2002, and is the standard farming practice for thousands of years across human civilizations, to be now illegal.. Instead, farmers will have to obtain a yearly license for genetically modified (GM) seeds from American corporations. (http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6 ). These GM seeds have typically been modified from seeds developed over thousands of generations by indigenous farmers like the Iraqis, and shared freely like agricultural 'open source.'"

Monsanto already sold seeds as a primary business. They're also doing $1-2billion in business quarterly. It's common practice for multinationals to purchase competitors and extinguish them, and they have done it in the past. I work for a small corporation, but it's worth over six billion dollars, and it's really not all that common for corporations with a world domination view that are in bed with the GOP to do these kinds of things.

Monsanto assault on US farmers detailed in new report: http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/m...us_farmers.htm

Isn't Monsanto great? They have now given us new weeds that are resistant to their blockbuster RoundUp! What's the point of their lovely GE RoundUp resistant crops when they now don't matter?

Here is a link to the article.

The following is a great environmental concern to many. According to ETC Group, the top 10 multinational seed firms control half of the world's commercial seed sales. With a total worldwide market of approximately US$21,000 million per annum, the commercial seed industry is relatively small compared to the global pesticide market ($35,400 million), and it's puny compared to pharmaceutical sales ($466,000 million). But corporate control and ownership of seeds - the first link in the food chain - has far-reaching implications for global food security.

A single firm, Monsanto, now controls 41% of the global market share in commercial maize seed, and one-fourth of the world market in soybean seeds. Their seeds and biotech traits accounted for 88% of the total area planted in GM seeds worldwide in 2004.

ETC Group's report includes a table listing many of the world's top 20 seed companies and their acquisitions and/or subsidiaries. The full text of the 12-page Communique is available free of charge for download on ETC Group website: http://www.etcgroup.org

IMPACT: With control of seeds and agricultural research held in fewer hands, the world's food supply is increasingly vulnerable to the whims of market manoeuvers.

This saddens me immeasurably. It's one of the reasons I buy heirloom vegetables when available and have stopped buying hybrids when possible. I wonder at what point you could be sued for using a heirloom collected seed just because some corporation bought the "rights" to that seed. And the implications for the poorer countries are horrific.

You're quite right Dianecrna, in many developing countries, swapping seeds has been the way the poor farmers have existed and maintained their farms and families. It's tough for them now.

I recently learned of Monsanto and the horrific things they're responsible for. It seemed impossible to boycott them at first considering they hold positions in our government that they have no right to hold and considering their products are on pretty much every shelf in the supermarkets. I've just about got the hang of staying away from their stuff, and have resorted to making my own granola now that I refuse to buy from the companies they supply, (Kellog etc.) I was wondering if there are any other giant corporations out there that people are avoiding or if I'm on my own on this one?

I never by coca cola, I don't buy Nestle try not to buy Protor and Gamble, Unilever. I've boycotted various products over the years like French wine etc. It's pretty difficult as I didn't realise unilever made marmite until a few weeks ago. So I wasn't doing that great a job.

Hi CM!

As MD said, alot of vegans do boycott the shady large corporations such as Nestlé, Unilever and P&G. My view on it is try to support smaller companies over larger corporations where possible, but don't shoot yourself in the foot either. Depending on where you are the vegan products available to you may be limited and you need to take advantage of what is available. I buy supermarket own-brand stuff over the big corporations where I have the option. Fruit & veg on the other hand, I just pick up what is available in markets and supermarkets.

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eve

As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years.

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I had no idea about that, how are they even allowed to do that? There are so many things wrong with this world :(

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Thanks for all the links, guys. I mostly buy locally and from independent shops but I had no idea how much stuff in the supermarket was from companies like Monsanto and Unilever. It's frustrating that more people don't know about them, possibly because Monsanto will sue anyone that says anything against them or their products. I hate that organisations like this can exist.

I avoid P&G, Unilever (except for my husband's PG tips), and Nestle, and when I looked at the Monsanto list, thankfully it seems I've also accidentally boycotted them mostly too, except for Heinz Ketchup and Baked Beans (both of which I buy the organic versions)...

But this seeds business is scary, and I wonder how much of the food will become their "property"? Like the (******) CEO of Nestle of Nestle who reckons water is not a human right and wants to privatise it completely.

It's astounding people like this even exist, let alone gain so much power and support in what they're doing. *shudders*

This goes someway towards explaining it http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...ace-jobs-study

Testing: http://gmo-awareness.com/2011/05/12/...o-dirty-dozen/

Monsanto is something that instills hatred for me. I think the hatred comes from helplessness. Our government and legal systems are in the Monsanto pocket. I surrender to disbelief that any judge would allow a multi-billion/trillion dollar company litigate against small farmers. The farmer's should be able to sue Monsanto for corrupting their seeds? Seed shifting attacks the very core of any form of vegetarianism. I appreciate being informed, but it's upsetting to know that it's a matter of time before the BIG companies have almost complete control of our food supply. I read on another thread that a vegan was happy that by eating organic vegetables and fruits he could avoid pesticides. I work in an organic produce market. Organics are sprayed with pesticides. They have to be Organic Certifiable insecticides. This means they don't have "residual", and cannot be "systemic" (they don't become part of the inner plant). There is also a time before harvest that the plants cannot be sprayed. When will Monsanto own the organic seed companies???

Monsanto is also in Africa
http://www.veganforum.com/forums/sho...irector-(AWDF)