VeganMegan
05-16-2003, 12:10 PM
From Agribusiness Examiner #246
May 12, 2003
By <avkrebs@earthlink.net>
MONSANTO CRACKDOWN ON SEED USERS
IT CLAIMS VIOLATE GE AGREEMENTS
SENDS FIRST FARMER TO PRISON (http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/prison051403.cfm)
PETER SHINKLE, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: A farmer opposed to Monsanto Co.'s
genetic seed licensing practices was sentenced pMay 7] in federal court at
St. Louis to eight months in prison for lying about a truckload of cotton
seed he hid for a friend.
Kem Ralph, 47, of Covington, Tenn., also admitted burning a truckload of
seed, in defiance of a court order, to keep Monsanto from using it as
evidence in a lawsuit against him.
The prison term for conspiracy to commit fraud is believed to be the first
criminal prosecution linked to Monsanto's crackdown on farmers it claims are
violating agreements on use of the genetically modified seeds.
Ralph pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on February 21 of lying in a
sworn statement in the civil case.
At issue is seed-saving, the age-old agricultural practice of keeping seed
from one crop to plant another. Monsanto's licensing agreement forbids it, a
policy that has drawn bitter opposition from some farmers.
...continued here... (http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/prison051403.cfm)
May 12, 2003
By <avkrebs@earthlink.net>
MONSANTO CRACKDOWN ON SEED USERS
IT CLAIMS VIOLATE GE AGREEMENTS
SENDS FIRST FARMER TO PRISON (http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/prison051403.cfm)
PETER SHINKLE, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: A farmer opposed to Monsanto Co.'s
genetic seed licensing practices was sentenced pMay 7] in federal court at
St. Louis to eight months in prison for lying about a truckload of cotton
seed he hid for a friend.
Kem Ralph, 47, of Covington, Tenn., also admitted burning a truckload of
seed, in defiance of a court order, to keep Monsanto from using it as
evidence in a lawsuit against him.
The prison term for conspiracy to commit fraud is believed to be the first
criminal prosecution linked to Monsanto's crackdown on farmers it claims are
violating agreements on use of the genetically modified seeds.
Ralph pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on February 21 of lying in a
sworn statement in the civil case.
At issue is seed-saving, the age-old agricultural practice of keeping seed
from one crop to plant another. Monsanto's licensing agreement forbids it, a
policy that has drawn bitter opposition from some farmers.
...continued here... (http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/prison051403.cfm)