1-20-2004 Small Canadian Farmer Fights Monsanto
Agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. sued the farmer, Percy Schmeiser, after its agents found biotech canola growing in his fields in 1997. It contends he replanted seeds from those plants without paying a technology fee of about $12 an acre.
For centuries, farmers have improved their crops by culling their best plants and husbanding seeds for the next planting season. Developing nations see these practices as sacrosanct, but increasingly threatened by the spread of genetically modified crops, which even subsistence farmers are required to pay for each year.
"Who can patent life, and who owns life, whether it's seeds, plants, animals and so on?" Schmeiser asked Monday at a news conference. "Those are some of the main issues that really concern me on a personal level."
His supporters also include the government of Ontario, which argues that public health suffers when life forms are patented. The province is ignoring patents held by Myriad Genetics of Salt Lake City on two genes implicated in breast cancer, administering its own cancer tests at a third of Myriad's list price.
Schmeiser has visited 40 countries in the last two years, receiving standing ovations from organic farming conventions and anti-biotech rallies from Marin County, Calif. to Osaka, Japan. Worldwide donations have poured in.
Still, Schmeiser has paid a steep price for refusing to settle. He owes Monsanto about $140,000 in judgments, amassed legal fees of $230,000, and has rented out all but 140 acres of his farm.
"The stress this has caused my family is unreal," said Schmeiser, who considers himself an accidental activist.
"It was not by choice," he said. "I'd rather be fishing with my 15 grandchildren."
Agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. sued the farmer, Percy Schmeiser, after its agents found biotech canola growing in his fields in 1997. It contends he replanted seeds from those plants without paying a technology fee of about $12 an acre.
For centuries, farmers have improved their crops by culling their best plants and husbanding seeds for the next planting season. Developing nations see these practices as sacrosanct, but increasingly threatened by the spread of genetically modified crops, which even subsistence farmers are required to pay for each year.
"Who can patent life, and who owns life, whether it's seeds, plants, animals and so on?" Schmeiser asked Monday at a news conference. "Those are some of the main issues that really concern me on a personal level."
His supporters also include the government of Ontario, which argues that public health suffers when life forms are patented. The province is ignoring patents held by Myriad Genetics of Salt Lake City on two genes implicated in breast cancer, administering its own cancer tests at a third of Myriad's list price.
Schmeiser has visited 40 countries in the last two years, receiving standing ovations from organic farming conventions and anti-biotech rallies from Marin County, Calif. to Osaka, Japan. Worldwide donations have poured in.
Still, Schmeiser has paid a steep price for refusing to settle. He owes Monsanto about $140,000 in judgments, amassed legal fees of $230,000, and has rented out all but 140 acres of his farm.
"The stress this has caused my family is unreal," said Schmeiser, who considers himself an accidental activist.
"It was not by choice," he said. "I'd rather be fishing with my 15 grandchildren."
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