26.11.98 00:14
GM Oilseed Rape at centre of land pollution row in Canada
WESTERN PRODUCER: Saskatoon newsroom
http://198.169.210.5/current_news/this_week/news/news12.html
Sask. farmer says charge bees and wind, not him
By Ed White and Rodney Desnomie
Percy Schmeiser says he's innocent and wants his name cleared.
And if he ends up facing Monsanto in court, he's going to be
putting the
company's genetically altered crops on trial.
"It's in the ditches and the roadsides; it's in the
shelterbelts; it's in
the gardens; it's all over," said Schmeiser.
Monsanto is suing the Bruno, Sask., farmer for allegedly growing
Roundup
Ready canola without a licence.
The company claims Schmeiser bought the seed from one or more
local growers
and planted it in 1997. He then grew a crop, keeping some of it
for seed
for the 1998 crop year, Monsanto claims.
No court date has been set.
Monsanto has patented the genetic modification that makes canola
plants
resistant to glyphosate. Seed companies under contract to
Monsanto produce
the seed, which is sold through farm supply businesses. To grow
the seed,
farmers must sign a contract with Monsanto agreeing to sell all
their crop,
with none retained to seed future crops.
Schmeiser said he did not plant any of Monsanto's seed, and if
glyphosate-tolerant canola plants grew in his fields this summer,
it
occurred through pollination from other fields or from seed
scattered by
machinery and from trucks traveling the roads that run beside his
land.
Possible explanation
Schmeiser said his land is surrounded by other canola growers,
and pollen
could have drifted into his fields on the wind. His land also
lies beside
busy truck routes that lead to grain elevators.
Schmeiser spoke to reporters at his lawyer's office in downtown
Saskatoon,
saying he wants to clear his name of Monsanto's charges.
"It's very upsetting to me to all of a sudden see your name
in the paper --
that you maybe stole the seed," said Schmeiser.
He said he first noticed glyphosate-tolerant canola plants in his
fields 18
months ago, when he sprayed chemical to control weeds around the
power
poles in his fields. Some canola plants were unharmed by the
spray.
Pea crop planned
This past spring Schmeiser said he used a glyphosate pre-seeding
burnoff on
a field that had grown canola the year before and on which he
planned to
grow peas.
But so many volunteer canola plants survived that he decided he
couldn't
afford to grow the peas there, and planted canola instead.
"We're just touching the tip of the iceberg in polluted
fields,
contamination of fields by this Roundup genetic canola,"
said Schmeiser.
"It just opens up a vast area of uncertainty."
His first inkling of trouble came in a phone call from a Humboldt
Monsanto
representative. The man told him the company had received a tip
that
Schmeiser was growing seed covered by Monsanto's patent on the
altered
genes, and that the company wanted to take samples of his crop.
Schmeiser refused to allow the company to take samples, but with
a court
order Monsanto collected some of Schmeiser's crop.
Monsanto's statement of claim asks for an injunction preventing
Schmeiser
from using or selling any seed that breaks its patent protection.
It wants
his canola crop seized, and asks for general, punitive and
exemplary
damages, as well as legal costs.
Schmeiser's statement of defence said he never received any
patent-protected canola seed and never deliberately planted any.
It also challenges the validity of the Monsanto patent, arguing
it is
improper to patent a life form and is an attempt to entrap
farmers with
"nuisance patent infringement claims."
Schmeiser said he is upset by the lawsuit, but will not change
his farming
practices because of it.
"I plan to do exactly what I was doing this year, next
year."