Monsanto Hit With Fine for ‘Genetically Contaminating Wheat Supply’
And it isn't the first time
After paying an original sum of $2.4 million to reimburse farmers for contaminating their fields with genetically modified wheat that had not even yet been approved for farming, Monsanto has been forced to pay another $350,000 in order to settle a class action lawsuit brought upon by numerous farmers from over seven different states.
The news comes amid economic struggles for the biotech juggernaut that have resulted in the loss of share value and poor projections for the long term future. In last year’s fourth quarter, Monsanto reported a loss of $156 million. And for the multi-billion dollar company, it’s not about the monetary figure, but the future of its genetically modified creations that the public just simply isn’t buying.
In the latest legal settlement, we find that Monsanto’s new method of simply paying off farmers just isn’t going to cut it when it comes to international trade. Following the news that GMO wheat had contaminated nearby wheat supplies, Japan and South Korea suspended a number of wheat orders from the United States — a blow towards the national economy in full thanks to Monsanto.
Meanwhile, the EU also had enough, and announced it would be enacting much more serious testing in its wheat shipments to ensure that they are GMO-free. As for Monsanto in the United States? There will be no more rigorous testing or suspension of wheat supply. Instead, the company simply has to pay off the farmers that were affected (and potentially devastated) by the genetic contamination.
As NBC News reports:
“Genetically-modified food giant Monsanto said it will pay about $350,000 to settle class action lawsuits brought by farmers in seven states over tainted wheat. It will also reimburse the plaintiffs’ and their lawyers for a portion of the costs associated with the case. The company said that under the terms of the settlement agreement it can’t disclose how much that will cost.
The lawsuits relate to the discovery of genetically modified wheat on a farm in Oregon in May 2013. The wheat had not been approved, and after the discovery, Japan and South Korea temporarily suspended some wheat orders. The European Union called for tougher testing of shipments from the U.S.”
And remember, this is after the company paid out $2.4 million to settle with farmers in the Pacific Northwest for the same contamination style problem. The result? People around the globe are beginning to realize the brutal truth about Monsanto.
Nations around the world are taking a stand against Monsanto, with Germany and others now pushing GMO bans before the next harvest. In the US, the fight is also ramping up. As states like Maine introduce legislation to take immediate action against GMOs, it becomes abundantly clear that the 96% of US citizens who say they are in favor of GMO labeling may finally get what they have been asking for.
 | Natural Society staff contribution |
A history of Monsanto lies:
1.
Today… after paying an original sum of $2.4 million to reimburse
farmers for contaminating their fields with genetically modified wheat
that had not even yet been approved for farming, Monsanto has been
forced to pay another $350,000 in order to settle a class action lawsuit
brought upon by numerous farmers from over seven different states.
https://naturalsociety.com/monsanto-hit-with-fine-for-genet…/
2.
Monsanto was found guilty by France’s highest court of false
advertising, for claims that Roundup, its toxic weed killer, is
biodegradable and leaves “the soil clean.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8308903.st
3.
Environmental and consumer rights campaigners brought the French case
in 2001, shortly after Monsanto announced its new ethics “Pledge.” The
advocates noted that glyphosate, Roundup’s main ingredient, is
classified in Europe as “dangerous for the environment” and “toxic for
aquatic organisms.”
http://www.biotech-info.net/monsanto_propaganda1.html
4.
Monsanto has a long history of fraudulent statements about the safety
of Roundup. In 1996, the New York Attorney General fined the company
$50,000 for claims that Roundup was, you guessed it, biodegradable and
good for the environment.
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Monsanto-v-AGNYnov96.htm
5.
Glyphosate has been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and human
embryonic cell death. Far from “biodegradable,” Monsanto’s own studies
found residues of glyphosate on food crops up to five months after the
chemical was sprayed, and the World Health Organization found
“significant residues” of glyphosate after pre-harvest use of the
chemical on wheat.
http://www.mindfully.org/…/Roundup-Glyphosate-Factsheet-Cox…
6.
Two labs conducting glyphosate safety studies for Monsanto were cited
for “routine falsification of data” and other offenses. One lab study
claimed it used “specimens from the uteri of male rabbits.”
http://www.1hope.org/glyphos8.htm
7.
An EPA scientist found Monsanto doctored studies and covered-up the
dioxin contamination of a wide range of its products. She concluded that
the company’s behavior constituted “a long pattern of fraud.”
http://www.organicconsumers.org/dioxcov.html
8.
In response to the publication of Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking
indictment of the pesticide industry, Silent Spring, Monsanto and other
chemical companies launched a major PR offensive. The industry sponsored
public forums with purported “independent” experts speaking on the
benefits of pesticides; the company’s propaganda tools included
publication of a pamphlet called The Desolate Years, which posited a
world of massive food shortages resulting from over regulation of
pesticides (the company continues to repeat this lie to this day, in
countless ads and public statements suggesting that food shortages will
result unless the world unquestionably accepts its genetic food
experiments).
http://www.mindfully.org/…/2005/Monsanto-Public-Debate1oct0…
9.
For decades, Monsanto dumped highly toxic PCBs in Anniston Alabama,
then spent years covering up the dumping and the attendant health
hazards to residents. As the Washington Post reported, “for nearly 40
years, while producing the now-banned industrial coolants known as PCBs
at a local factory, Monsanto Co. routinely discharged toxic waste into a
west Anniston creek and dumped millions of pounds of PCBs into oozing
open-pit landfills. And thousands of pages of Monsanto documents ”many
emblazoned with warnings such as ‘CONFIDENTIAL: Read and Destroy’ ” show
that for decades, the corporate giant concealed what it did and what it
knew.
http://www.mindfully.org/Industry/Monsanto-PCBs-Anniston.htm
10.
Amazingly, following the article, Monsanto lied again: the company told
the Post it held no responsibility for its past operations, claiming
that the “new” Monsanto was not associated with prior operations of a
subsidiary. Monsanto demanded a correction, and the Post did initially
publish a “clarification.” But after activists who knew that Monsanto
was indeed legally liable, the paper printed a correction of its
clarification! When confronted about the lie, Monsanto officials lied
again, stating they did not recall discussing the issue of liability
with the Post.
http://www.slate.com/id/2061506/
11.
In 1999, the New York Times exposed that Monsanto hired public
relations giant Burson Marsteller to pay fake protesters who posed as
“pro-GMO” food demonstrators outside a Washington, DC FDA meeting.
http://www.nytimes.com/…/monsanto-campaign-tries-to-gain-su…
12.
The Biotech Industry Organization, a Monsanto-supported trade group,
similarly was charged with arranging for bringing African and Asian
pro-GMO speakers to the 2002 Earth Summit and posing them as poor
farmers.
http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/print.php?id=254
13.
In 2003, EU environmentalists charged Monsanto with arranging another
“fake parade” of purported African “farm experts” to a European
Parliament meeting.
http://ngin.tripod.com/070203d.htm
14.
A Monsanto-hired public relations firm, the Bivings Group, conducted an
email campaign to pressure the science journal Nature to retract a
paper showing that GMO corn had contaminated natural corn varieties in
Mexico.
http://ngin.tripod.com/130602a.htm
http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html
15. The paper’s findings of contamination were later confirmed by at least two other studies.
http://abc.com.au/science/articles/2009/02/24/2499950.htm…
Students find worms in Michelle O’s ‘healthy’ lunches
“Absolutely disgusting! Perfectly healthy worms surrounded by GMO fruit-derivative-substance…”
details and film: The Monsanto MISTAKE: http://www.goldenmean.info/food
WOW now that’s a keeper. Maybe if Bobo reads this he will see the light
Thanks Dan
The process we see over and over again as poison-pushing corporations
infiltrate the media, science journals, medical schools and legislative
agendas to twist the truth and harm the public.
This exact technique is what has been used to push a long list of poisons onto the public.
How they turn a corporate lie into a science “fact”
Whether
it’s big tobaccco, big food big pharma or biotech, the process of
turning a corporate lie into a science fact is always the same:
Identify the lie you want to become a science “fact”
gmo’s safe fluoride safe,vaccines etc safe.
pay
researchers or writers the fabricate studies or articles that support
your lie. Offer huge pay to academic researchers. Ghosst write “science”
articles and then pay scientists to add their names.
Get your
faricated studies published in the science journals or mainstream meea
articles…….. like the Journal of the american medical association
and others.
corrupt the media with advertising dollars so they begin to slant their news in your direction.
direct the media to invite your paid mercenary scientists to repeat the “facts” you got published in the science journals
characterize anyone who challenges your “facts” as being anti-science.
wash, rinse and repeat.
cigarettes,
DDT,Vioxx, gmos, vaccines, fluoride, glyphosate, chemical pesticides,
high frucose corn syrupk aspartame, chemical food preservatives and mass
medications: It’s all the same Corporate lie repackaged as science
fact.
Dear Member of Congress,
As a supporter of EWG
Action Fund, Just Label It and Food Policy Action, I strongly urge you
to oppose Rep. Pompeo’s DARK Act, which would keep consumers from
knowing whether their food is genetically engineered.
Consumers overwhelmingly support labeling of genetically engineered
food, but the Pompeo bill would block states and the FDA from requiring
labeling, codify the current failed voluntary labeling system and create
a “review” system based on industry science.
The Pompeo legislation keeps consumers in the dark. I urge you to oppose it
“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”
–Edmund Burke
By the way bisquickwhat kind of government do we have?
‘He who lets fart in church sits in his own pew.”
GMO Roberts ( aka Bobo)
Tell us again what kind of government we have here johnny bisquick
No comment required here. Nothing worth responding to
Just admit you don’t care what kind of government we have and we can all move on Johnny.
No comment required here. Nothing worth responding to
Just admit you don’t care what kind of government we have and we can all move on Johnny.
yeah right! that is peanuts for them they are a multi Billion dollar company that is like fining us a nickle. With the tpp online they will have to except gmo so monsonto has no worries….. seriously you really believe gmo’s are going to stop?????? MOre likely they will continue and there won’t be anything not contaminated!!!! I hate it so much you have no idea, but I am a realist and i really am not seeing any positive evidence that anything will change for the good which is end of gmo!!!!
It will take consumer pressure to put an end to this human experiment. Boycott GMOs
Get use to it johnny gmos are here to stay.
Nah, Monsatan’s days are number, dimwit.
Dear Member of Congress,
As a supporter of EWG
Action Fund, Just Label It and Food Policy Action, I strongly urge you
to oppose Rep. Pompeo’s DARK Act, which would keep consumers from
knowing whether their food is genetically engineered.
Consumers overwhelmingly support labeling of genetically engineered
food, but the Pompeo bill would block states and the FDA from requiring
labeling, codify the current failed voluntary labeling system and create
a “review” system based on industry science.
The Pompeo legislation keeps consumers in the dark. I urge you to oppose it.
“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”
–Edmund Burke
By the way bisquickwhat kind of government do we have?
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
Edmund Burke
“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”
Edmund Burke
Strange how you will go the extra mile to look up another governments representative (even if it did take you two days to find something), but don’t even care enough to find out about your own government. How sad Johnny.
No comment required here. Nothing worth responding to.
Translation required
Sorry I can’t translate to your idiot from my sensible. So just tell us what kind of government we have here johnny.
Chemical boy, You are very correct! The chemical bath that the Corporations are destroying us with will be here until JESUS comes back and sends it and it’s representatives to hell. Until than enjoy the medical bills once you get hit with the repercussions of what you have done to yourself & everyone else. Funk Obumer put it in a nutshell.
Yes and he will find a planet full of healthy gmo foods that fed his flock while he was away.
It’s a start to push American’s to understand what GMO’s are. When I was campaigning for WA state, people had no clue what a GMO was. Yes they do have money, that’s how they have bought the No vote. Notice the bill only loses by a small percentage. Call, push, support any state that is trying to get GMO labeling. It is happening, but when Monsanto has the government pockets lined, it’s a up hill battle.