April 15, 2000 / The Toronto Star / Daniel Girard / Toronto Star Western Canada Bureau
BRUNO, Sask. -- Another story about farmer Percy Schmeiser and his dispute
with Monsanto and it genetically modified canola seed.
Monsanto and its Canadian subsidiary launched a lawsuit
against Schmeiser two years ago. Attempts at mediation have
failed. The trial is set to begin June 5 in Saskatoon.
Monsanto wants Schmeiser to admit breaking the rules and to
pay the same $15-per-acre (about $37 per hectare) fee it
charges 20,000 farmers across Western Canada for using its
patented canola seed with a herbicide-tolerant gene. It's
also seeking an unspecified sum for the infringement as a
deterrent to others.
But rather than settle with Monsanto, as have about 50 other
farmers across the Prairies facing the same accusations,
Schmeiser is fighting back, maintaining that the seeds must have simply
blown on to some of his 560 hectares from neighbours' fields and trucks
taking crops for processing. Schmeiser has launched a counter lawsuit,
seeking $10 million from Monsanto for contaminating his farm and the
environment, defamation and trespassing to get crop samples.
Schmeiser's fight has captured media attention from around
the world, particularly Europe, where the debate over
genetically modified organisms is most intense. Reporters
from Dutch TV and newspapers in Britain and France are the
latest visitors to Bruno, 75 kilometres east of Saskatoon.
Craig Evans of Monsanto Canada was cited as saying the case against
Schmeiser isn't about picking on a farming pensioner but standing up for the
20,000 canola growers who pay to use the seed. If they shell out $15 an acre
but then have someone else get it for free, their investment isn't
protected. Evans, general manager of biotechnology in
Monsanto's Winnipeg office, was further quoted as saying, "That's a $15,000
advantage on a thousand acres and that's not fair. It's important that we
keep a level playing field."
However, the story cites critics as saying the lawsuit is about nothing more
than fattening the corporation's bottom line. In a letter to
Monsanto Canada president Ray Mowling, Grade 10 student
Natalie Martin slams the company as "petty and unforgiving."
"I honestly think that you have nothing to gain by this
except the guilt of taking an elderly couple's money,"
writes Martin, of Petawawa, Ont., in one of 500 letters
sent to Monsanto and copied to Schmeiser. "You know you
have more power and money over them and that makes it easier
for you to win."
There have also been three times as many phone calls and
donations from $5 to $1,000 - more than $10,000 in total -
to help pay for legal costs which, Schmeiser says, approach
$100,000 even with lots of free time donated by lawyers.
(posted without permission)
