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CANADA: ORGANIC FARMERS APPLY FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION
IN LAWSUIT AGAINST GMO GIANTS
20 December, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
On 20 December legal counsel for the representative
plaintiffs of approximately 950 Saskatchewan certified organic farmers,
filed documents with the Court of Queen's Bench to have their legal
action against Monsanto and Aventis (now Bayer) certified as a class
action. The organic farmers are claiming damages for losses due
to GMO contamination of canola, and are seeking an injunction to
stop the introduction of GM wheat. The following are some of the
important points from affidavits submitted in support of the application:
The farmers' preliminary assessment of the economic impacts of GMO
crops, prepared by J. Wallace Hamm of darWall Consultants Inc, shows:
* losses due to the introduction of GM canola
at over $14 million
* the organic premium value for Saskatchewan
organic hard red spring wheat is estimated at over $170 million
over the next decade; and if GM wheat is introduced, losses in the
order of $85 million from the EU alone could occur within this same
period.
* furthermore, because wheat is so important
on Saskatchewan organic farms, the introduction of GM wheat "will
also cause the decline if not the demise of the Saskatchewan organic
industry." Dale Beaudoin, one of the two representative plaintiffs,
stopped growing canola when a buyer refused his 1999 canola crop
after it tested positive for GMOs.
He states that the canola was intended for the
European market and because of the contamination the buyer would
not purchase the canola. He further states; "Since wheat is my principal
crop, I do not believe I will be able to survive not being able
to grow wheat organically should GMO wheat contaminate the environment
to the extent of GMO canola." Larry Hoffman, the other plaintiff,
has not grown canola since 1994. He says "I do not wish to take
the chance of growing it only to discover my crop has become contaminated."
Furthermore he offered evidence to support the plaintiffs' case
that the defendants;
* knew, or ought to have known, that their canola
would spread adventitiously; * released the canola without segregated
production or distribution systems; and * knew, or ought to have
known, that such a release would entail the loss of the European
market. Dr. Rene van Acker, Associate Professor of Crop Science
at the University of Manitoba states:
* "the likelihood of contamination of non-GM
canola with GM canola in Western Canada is very high and perhaps
absolute;
* "non-GM canola has been contaminated to a
significant degree in Western Canada" and "it is likely that a release
of GM wheat with only the confinement regulations that existed with
the release of GM canola would lead to the uncontrolled spread of
GM transgenes within the wheat genome of Western Canada at an even
more rapid rate, and to an even greater extent, than is being realized
with canola." Gary Smith, Agrologist and Certified Organic Crop
Inspector states; "Canada is presently among the world's top five
producers of organic grain ...Canadian organic retail sales growth
is expected to rise from .7 billion dollars in 1997 to 3.1 billion
in 2005, an annual growth rate of 20%."
He states: "One of the most powerful tools that
an organic farmer has to control weeds and maintain fertility is
crop rotation. The loss of canola to organic farmers as a crop rotational
tool has negatively affected organic farmers in Saskatchewan. Further
GMO crops, such as GM wheat, provide a threat to the future of organic
farming in Saskatchewan." Michael Marriage, managing director of
the leading UK organic cereal manufacturer and supermarket supplier
states: "No one wants GM wheat; even non-organic millers in the
U.K and Europe are very concerned, even when they are allowed a
small percentage of adventitious contamination. With organic regulations
there is no leeway, and so we would have to buy from sources with
no chance of GM contamination.
If Canada introduced GM wheat we cannot assure
that we would make any further wheat purchases from Canada." Dr.
Mae Wan Ho, Director, and co-founder of the Institute of Science
in Society, London, UK, says that GMO contamination by ordinary
cross-pollination is well known. She states: "Less studied, but
of greater concern, is "horizontal gene transfer" wherein the genetic
construct is transferred to unrelated species interacting with GM
crops such as microorganisms, earthworms and arthropods in the soil,
insects, birds, mammals, and human beings. "There is no evidence
that horizontal gene transfer was adequately studied before the
Defendants' products were released, no convincing evidence that
it does not occur and, mounting evidence that it does in fact occur.
This should cause very serious concern." In the genetic engineering
of plants the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) is used as a promoter
to ensure that the introduced foreign gene is expressed. This is
done by Monsanto for its Roundup Ready products. Dr. Ho states:
"CaMV is closely related to human hepatitis B virus, and less closely,
to retroviruses such as the AIDS virus. "The prospect of "horizontal
gene transfer" means that CaMV 35S has the potential to reactivate
dormant viruses found in all genomes, plants and animals, and recombine
with them to create new viruses.
In addition, the fact that the promoter is active
in animal and human cells means that, if transferred into their
genomes, it may result in the over-expression of genes that are
associated with cancer." She concludes that: "Because of the serious
hazards associated with the Defendants' crops, they should be immediately
withdrawn from use." For further information please contact the
Organic Agriculture Protection Fund (OAPF): Arnold Taylor, OAPF
Chairman, (306) 252-2783 or (306) 241-6125. Marc Loiselle, Research
and Communications Director, (306) 258-2192 or (306) 227-5825 The
OAPF consists of a special fund and committee commissioned by the
Saskatchewan Organic Directorate to facilitate taking legal action
on behalf of the certified organic grain farmers of Saskatchewan.
For details of our class action suit and the Class Actions Act of
Sask., please see http://www.saskorganic.com
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