The above video is a trailer to a new documentary about Percy Schmeiser, a farmer from Bruno -- a small town about 40 miles east of Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. In May of 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada in a narrow 5-4 decision ruled that the Saskatchewan farmer had violated a patent that Monsanto Canada Inc. held on genes of genetically engineered canola seeds.
At the centre of the litigation was a gene that Monsanto invented, patented and introduced into canola. Created in 1996 and known as Roundup Ready, it makes canola plants resistant to a common weed-control herbicide that the company markets under the name of Roundup. Its progeny are equally resistant.
The litigation dates to 1997, when Monsanto found its genetically engineered canola plant growing on Mr. Schmeiser's farm. Mr. Schmeiser contended that since a plant is a higher life form and cannot be patented, he had done nothing wrong. Monsanto did not claim protection for the genetically modified plant itself, but rather for the genes and the modified cells from which it is composed.
Mr. Schmeiser, already in his mid-70s, cast himself as a farmer of the old school who habitually used seeds from previous crops to plant new canola. No fan of chemical herbicides, Mr. Schmeiser used Roundup sparingly in 1997 to eliminate weeds around some power poles and ditches.
He has steadfastly insisted that the seed somehow blew onto his fields from passing trucks or from neighbouring farms, which had paid Monsanto Canada Inc. the licensing fee of $15 an acre to use it.
He said he was astonished to discover that a great deal of the canola in those areas survived his spraying, suggesting that had somehow acquired a resistance to the herbicide. He used portions of the seed from those areas for his crop the following year.
With the aid of environmentalists, he quickly acquired the image of a little guy taking on a greedy corporate conglomerate. Although Monsanto disputed Mr. Schmeiser's version of events, the company's main contention was simply that Mr. Schmeiser reaped and reused the herbicide-resistant seed without authorization.
Approximately 20,000 Canadian farmers now plant Roundup Ready canola, representing 40% of the Canadian canola crop. Though Monsanto thinks of itself as an agri-business, it is really more a chemical industry giant. Their goal is to create seeds that will increasingly withstand their herbicides. Monsanto, which gave us the deadly Agent Orange and the common household toxic weed killer Roundup, is not alone in its quest to manipulate, or to control the world's natural order. Germany's chemical giant Bayer, well known for its popular and effective Bayer aspirin, and for Aleve and Alka-Seltzer, was the first to introduce heroin as well as mustard gas, and produces a series of neonicotinoids -- insecticides that attack the central nervous systems of insects, such as bees. Other mega-corporations dealing in both pharmaceuticals and pesticides, to name a few, are Merck, DuPont, Dow Chemical, and Syngenta -- but Monsanto has been around for more than a century, produces 90-percent of genetically modified seed.
Mr. Schmeiser lost the first round on March 29, 2001. Mr. Justice Andrew MacKay of the Federal Court of Canada ruled that Mr. Schmeiser "knew or ought to have known" his 1998 seed was resistant to Roundup. He said it was more likely that he planted the seed himself than that he came by it innocently.
Rather than roll over, Percy sued Monsanto for contaminating his field and won an out of court settlement in March of 2008. Monsanto was ordered to pay all the clean-up costs of the Roundup Ready canola that contaminated Schmeiser's fields. Also part of the agreement was that there was no gag-order on the settlement and that Monsanto could be sued again if further contamination occurred. Mr. Schmeiser believes this precedent setting agreement ensures that farmers will be entitled to reimbursement when their fields become contaminated with unwanted Roundup Ready canola or any other unwanted GMO plants. And with no gag order, Mr. Schmeiser continues to let other farmers know his story through his eponymous website, Percy Schmeiser.
Here's a presentation by Percy Schmeiser, a giant in the fight against over-reaching corporate power.
You can view the full David versus Monsanto documentary on Journeyman Pictures for a modest fee. I urge you to support the work of independent filmmakers and the London-based Journeyman Pictures is the world's leading archive of independent films.
Learn more about farmers protecting the sustainability of farming at Network of Concerned Farmers.
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