International pressure on GM
ALAN DICK
North Queensland Register, 28 February 2010
http://nqr.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/grains-and-cropping/general/international-pressure-on-gm/1760450.aspx

BRAZILIAN farmers are reported to be preparing court challenges over the high cost of Monsanto's patent fee for genetically modified crops and its deduction of royalties where GM crops are grown intentionally or unintentionally.

Australia's Network of Concerned Farmers says the lawsuits are coming from the Sinop Rural Union and the Soya and Corn Producers Association.

NCF has seized on the information to demand legislation to protect Australian farmers from any future anti-competitive behaviour by Monsanto.

National spokesperson, Julie Newman, said the network was concerned a positive test for as little as 0.1 per cent GM contamination could trigger a deduction of fees from farmers' grain payments when delivering non-GM grain.

"What is dangerous for Australian farmers is that we have the same laws as Brazil."

She said farmers in Brazil were forced to pay large fines for false declaration if they delivered non-GM which registered a positive GM test, plus they paid the patent user fee through automatic deductions from grain payments.

South America has long proved a difficult region for Monsanto, which has had a long running skirmish in Argentina over the payment of patent fees.

Meanwhile, Monsanto has also run into a barrier in India where the government has banned production of a GM egg plant.

The decision followed angry demonstrations by environmentalists and some farmers, but more damning have been media reports a former managing director of Monsanto's Indian operations, Tiruvadi Jagadisan, has claimed the company had used "fake" scientific data to get regulatory approvals.