Farmer Percy Schmeiser settles contamination battle with Monsanto
By Vicky Uhland – Natural Foods Merchandiser (25 Mar 2008)
Canadian canola farmer Percy Schmeiser, who has battled biotech company Monsanto for a decade, last week settled a lawsuit that he said will allow farmers with fields contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed to get “compensation without giving up their freedom of speech or their future rights to sue.”
Schmeiser, 77, has been involved in two lawsuits with Monsanto since 1998, after the company discovered its GM Roundup Ready canola seeds growing on Schmeiser’s 1,400-acre Saskatchewan farm. Monsanto billed Schmeiser for unauthorized use of its seed, but Schmeiser claimed the seed drifted onto his fields from neighboring farms and passing trucks. In 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Schmeiser violated Monsanto’s patent by knowingly replanting and harvesting the GM seeds, but he didn’t have to compensate Monsanto because his profits weren’t affected by the Monsanto seeds.
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