Farmer puzzled by weed killer's surprise crop

Cathryn Atkinson / The Guardian 5feb00

It all began with a few stubborn weeds in a ditch. Percy Schmeiser, a 68-year-old Canadian farmer, was puzzled by the poor result of his annual herbicide spraying in the spring of 1997. As in previous years, he used Roundup, Monsanto's weed killer, along the outskirts of his 570-hectare farm near the hamlet of Bruno, in Saskatchewan.

Despite saturating the area with herbicide, he found rogue oilseed rape plants thriving in ditches and around telephone poles. Having crossbred his own seed for 35 years, he wondered if he had accidentally created some kind of mutant.

So he sprayed Roundup from the edge of his field into his own flourishing crop of oilseed rape. It should have killed everything but, to his alarm, more than 60 per cent of the plants survived. Only Roundup Ready oilseed rape - genetically modified by Monsanto to create a mutually exclusive relationship between its seeds and its herbicide - can survive.

Some time later, Monsanto was tipped off that Mr Schmeiser was, allegedly, growing Roundup Ready GM oilseed rape, and asked Robinson Investigations to take samples from the Schmeiser farm.

Mr Schmeiser's crop possessed Monsanto's gene. Although Mr Schmeiser says he had never bought seed from Monsanto or signed a contract, the corporation sued him for cultivating its gene, demanding all profits from the crop and unspecified punitive damages.

Mr Schmeiser argued that any number of potential contaminants could have infiltrated his seed - such as blow-offs from passing trucks laden with Roundup Ready oilseed rape, insects, wind or cross-germination - and that further contamination could have occurred when he kept back seed to plant.

Last August, the two parties met to resolve the dispute. They failed, so Monsanto's case goes to the Supreme Court of Canada in June.

Meanwhile, a furious Mr Schmeiser has brought suit against them, for allegedly contaminating his seed stock, for defamation and trespass, and the theft of seeds and plants. He is asking for punitive damages of $US6.7 million ($10.6 million).

Mr Schmeiser is one of more than 1,000 Canadian farmers investigated by Monsanto in the past three years for allegedly growing its patented GM crops and breaking the conditions of the company's technology use agreement (TUA).

This gives the farmers the right, for a price of $US10 an acre, to grow GM crops, and allows Monsanto unlimited access to their fields, seed stores and crops for up to three years.

Farmers must also agree to destroy any leftover seed each year in order to protect Monsanto's patent. If they wish to buy the seed the following year, they must sign the TUA and again pay the fee. Monsanto says that 400,000 North American farmers have signed the TUA (20,000 in Canada).

Mr Schmeiser's case is gaining worldwide attention, but it is, perhaps, most closely watched by those farmers who fear Monsanto's legal wrath for violations of the TUA.

source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/0002/05/world/world13.html