Two new items from the GM Watch news archive

DON'T MEET MONSANTO

Message to GM Watch from pv satheesh:

Dear Jonathan

On behalf of the South Against Genetic Engineering a South Indian alliance of over 50 networks, farmers groups, civil society organisations, consumer activists, scientists, academics and media people we are urging the President and the PM of India not to meet the CEO of Monsanto. The essence of our argument is as follows:

"As the first citizen of this country, Mr Prime Minister, we hope you will stand by the millions of farmers of this country by defeating the Monsanto ploys and treating them just as another seed company, a dubious one at that. We urge you to refuse to meet Mr Grant. He and Monsanto do not deserve your august audience.

Peddling its wares as a "solution" to agriculture crises in the developing world, Monsanto has turned into a problem itself than a solution. Therefore it needs to be treated no better than a vendor whose real care is none other than his own monetary interest.

Moreover Mr Prime Minister, the legacy of Monsanto lies in deadly chemicals such as "Agent Orange" which burnt and destroyed the Vietnamese landscape and brought death to hundreds of thousands of its citizens. Things have not changed much today.

What Monsanto manufactures today does not remotely resemble agriculture as we know in the subcontinent. Mr Prime Minister, agriculture for us symbolizes LIFE. Monsanto spells DEATH. Through its herbicides and genetic engineering technologies it burns and destroys agrarian landscapes, poisons soils, creates deprivation and DEATH for farmers. Therefore they have no right to meet you, the Prime Minister of India, masquerading as representatives of "life" sciences.

The company also has a history of influencing governments in the South through means which are not above board. In Argentina its bullying tactics have turned the government against its very people and now there is a federal tax levied on farmers that goes directly into Monsanto's pockets.

In Indonesia the company is charged with corruption, bribing senior environmental officials to repeal the requirement for environmental impact assessment for new genetically engineered (GE) crop varieties to be able to speedily commercialise its GE cotton."

I have attached the press release and the letters we have addressed to the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

with warm regards
satheesh

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SOUTH AGAINST GENETIC ENGINEERING

PRESS RELEASE, January 20, 2006

It is with deep shock, concern and suspicion that we receive the news that the Prime Minister of India and the President of India are receiving the Chief Executive of Monsanto Mr Hugh Grant next week. We cannot simply fathom why the head of a dubious agro chemical company which has earned more notoriety than fame, is being given such a big honour of being received by the heads of this great country.

We are urging the President and the PM to refuse to meet Mr Grant. He and Monsanto do not deserve an audience by the heads of such an illustrious country such as India.

Monsanto is an international conglomerate in the business of agri-chemicals and biotechnology. In recent times Monsanto is the leading monopoly trader of seed and food – something in our culture that was never a tradable commodity.

The legacy of Monsanto lies in deadly chemicals such as "Agent Orange" which burnt and destroyed the Vietnamese landscape and brought death to hundreds of thousands of its citizens. Things have not changed much today.

What Monsanto manufactures today does not remotely resemble agriculture as we know in the subcontinent. Agriculture for us symbolizes LIFE. While Monsanto spells DEATH. Through its herbicides and genetic engineering technologies it burns agrarian landscapes, poisons soils and creates DEATH for farmers. Therefore they have no right to meet you the first citizens of this country, masquerading as representatives of " life" sciences.

Monsanto also has a history of influencing governments in the South through means that are not above board. In Argentina its bullying tactics have turned the government against its very people and now there is a federal tax levied on farmers that goes directly into Monsanto's pockets.

In Indonesia the company is charged with corruption, bribing senior environmental officials to repeal the requirement for environmental impact assessment for new genetically engineered (GE) crop varieties to be able to speedily commercialise its GE cotton. [Please see the annexed story: Monsanto, Indonesia and Corruption published in Bangkok Post] Some excerpts:

In fact, Monsanto was made to pay a fine of one million US dollars for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with an "illegal payment" of $50 000 to a senior Indonesian Ministry of Environment official. The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the US found out that from 1997 to 2002, Monsanto’s Indonesian affiliates made at least US$700,000 of illicit payments to at least 140 current and former Indonesian government officials and their family members. When their lobbying failed they bribed a senior Indonesian Environment Official US$50,000 to 'incentivize ' him.

The company also has had a dubious record in our country, from conducting illegal transgenic field trials to attempting to patent our traditional wheat variety.

Given this background of Monsanto, we are deeply worried whether the visit of the CEO is a preclude to its infamous ways of influencing governments to allow its writ to run. Therefore as citizens of this country it is our duty to caution the Prime Minister and the President that their meeting with the Monsanto CEO might sully their own clean image. In a metaphorical sense, they might be supping with the devil itself!

As civil society representatives from Andhra Pradesh, we are specially sensitive to the activities of Monsanto. The media in AP is painfully aware of the tragic losses suffered by farmers who grew Monsanto bred Bt Cotton seeds. The losses were so heavy and the performance of Monsanto seeds were so very bad that the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee [GEAC] of the Ministry of Environment, Government of India cancelled the license for Monsanto seeds in Andhra Pradesh. When AP Government asked Monsanto to pay compensation for the farmers who had lost their crops, the Company tried to duck its responsibility. This forced AP Government to ban all Monsanto operations in AP.

Very recently the GoAP has also filed a lawsuit against Monsanto using the MRTP act for the abnormal prices of its seeds. The cost of a good hybrid cotton seed which produces 10% more than the Monsanto Bt Cotton is around Rs.800 per kg [sufficient to sow two acres] while the Monsanto Bollgard seeds cost an astronomical Rs. 3600 per kg, 4.5 times higher. Therefore AP Government was forced to file a lawsuit. In continuation, it also has asked the governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to join in this effort to halt Monsanto’s monopolistic effort.

All these events have obviously rattled Monsanto. It views India as its greatest market now that China has started producing its own Genetically Engineered cotton and in the Europe it has got a severest drubbing. Therefore they do not want to suffer any reversals in the Indian market. They will try to go till the last mile to control the Indian market. The meeting scheduled with you is a part of their aggressive market-grabbing tactics.

We urge the President and the Prime Minister, as the first citizens of this country, to stand by the millions of farmers of this country treating Monsanto just as another agro-chemical company, a dubious one at that.

If they still choose to meet him, we urge them not to give even an inch from what the Government of Andhra Pradesh has demanded. If at all, in the interest of their countrymen and farmers they should ask Monsanto to stop introducing anti farmer, anti environmental and anti-life technologies into this country.

[p v satheesh]
Convenor