India Cheers While Monsanto Burns

[Ishtar]

If the Indians can do it, so can we.

by Paul Kingsnorth

"We send today, a very clear message to all those who have invested in Monsanto in India and abroad; take your money out now, before we reduce it to ashes".
Karnataka State Farmers Association, India

One of the most morally dubious claims made in Monsanto's recent newspaper advertising blitz was the assertion that the widespread use of food biotechnology is the only way to feed the world's poor. The corporation's argument went like this: millions of people currently go hungry in developing countries. In the future, as global population increases, this problem is set to worsen. Only high yield agriculture can possibly produce enough food to meet this increased demand. There fore, quite obviously, only "biotechnology can feed the world."

Monsanto's strategy was to try to portray its genetically modified (GM) crops as the solution to the hunger and poverty problems of the Third World. The company even tried to round up a group of 'respected voices' from developing countries to endorse an advert entitled 'Let The Harvest Begin', which praised biotechnology as the seed of the future", which will "feed the world in the next century." Monsanto was playing a clever game: it was trying to portray opponents of food biotechnology as selfish and insular. What right, asked the corporation, do well fed Western environ mentalists have to deny the poor farmers of the Third World access to this wonderful new technology, which could teed their families and improve their living standards dramatically in years to come?

But this tactic is beginning to backfire spectacularly. In trying to use developing countries as pawns in its game, as it plays for dominance of the world's food markets, it is alienating the very people it claimed to be supporting: the poor. In India, where millions of peasant farmers still live a life of small scale, subsistence agriculture, the corporation is facing nothing less than a crisis. Its trademark evasion, deception and subterfuge has enraged farmers all over the country. And if it won't go voluntarily, they are prepared to chase it out, by any means necessary.

At 1.30 in the afternoon on 28th November 1998, in Sindhanoor, in the Indi an state of Karnataka, the leader of the Karnataka State Farmers Association (KRRS), a movement which claims a membership of ten million, arrived at one of India's first Monsanto test sites. The owner of the field, Basanna Hunsole, came out to greet him. With the help of Basanna's neighbours, a number of KRRS members, other local grassroots organizations representing 'untouchables' and landless farmers, they proceeded to tear up every one of the genetically modified cotton plants growing there. They stacked them in a heap in the middle of the field, and set them on fire. In minutes, Monsanto's test crop was reduced to ashes.

This was the first strike in a grassroots campaign that is spreading rapidly across India: 'Operation Cremate Monsanto'. Professor Nanjundaswamy, a committed Gandhian and leader of the KRRS, issued a statement to the press as the field burned. "We denounce the ignorance, incompetence and irresponsibility of the Union government to gamble with the future of Indian agriculture," said the Professor. He went on to demand that all tests of genetically mod ified crops in India be stopped, that the country's Patent Act be amended to stop the patenting of basic crop varieties, and that Monsanto be banned from the country. Otherwise, he said, Indian farmers would continue to take the situation into their own hands .

Since that first action, at least three more Monsanto test sites have been burned, in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and more cremations are promised. The tactic has spread from the KRRS to other grass roots organizations. In December 1998, following actions by local farmers and con cern about illegal growing of GM crops, the government of Andhra Pradesh ordered Monsanto to stop the seven trials it was operating in the state. The first shots have been fired by Indian farmers in what is increasingly looking like a war against the giant corporation.

Monsanto has been operating in India since 1949, and is a market leader in agri cultural chemicals. In recent years it has spent much time and money trying to win over Indian politicians and officials to the cause of GM crops, on which it has staked its future. It operates three Indian sub sidiaries: Monsanto India, Monsanto Enter prises and Monsanto Chemicals, and early in 1998, Monsanto quietly acquired a 26 per cent stake in the Indian seed company Mahyco.

Mahyco Monsanto is the organization through which Monsanto is attempting to push its GM crops onto the Indian people. The company is already claiming patent rights over thirty 'new' crop varieties including corn, rice, tomatoes and potatoes which it has genetically altered to be resistant to its own herbicides. But Mahy co Monsanto's biggest effort in India at present is going into the testing of GM cot ton. Cotton is grown widely in India, and Monsanto hopes that its GM variety known as 'bollgard' cotton can corner this market. The cotton is modified to be resistant to the boll weevil, a major cotton pest.

Of course, Monsanto wouldn't be Mon santo without a bit of subterfuge, and this is where the tale gets murkier. Monsanto apparently doesn't trust Indian farmers to swallow its propaganda as easily as it would like. So, in order to avoid having to persuade farmers of the case for GM crops, it has tried a different tack: growing CM crops on the farmer's land without telling him. This is what happened to Basanna Hun sole, on whose land the first cremation took place. According to the farmer, he was approached in July 1998 by officials from Mahyco Monsanto, who offered him the chance to grow free of charge a new variety of cotton, which they claimed would give him wonderful results. They omitted to tell him that the cotton was genetically modified, or that it had not been approved for testing by the government. In effect, Monsanto tricked Basanna Hunsole into unknowingly growing illegal crops on his land. Moreover, Basanna was unim pressed with what he saw. Despite Mon santo's claims, he said that the GM 'bollgard' cotton grew "miserably", and reached less than half the height of the tra ditional strains he was growing in nearby fields. Worst of al}, they were heavily infested with boll weevils.

These illegal tests on Basanna Hun sole's land were carried out with no safe guards in place. There was no 'buffer zone' around the field, and none of the farmer s neighbours was notified of the potentially hazardous crops that were growing near their fields. Basanna only discovered the truth about what was growing on his land when Karnataka's Minister of Agriculture publicly announced, in November, the locations of Monsanto's test sites in the state.

Monsanto had obviously calculated that Indian farmers were easily fooled and too ignorant to bother informing about what was really happening on their own land. It is this corporate arrogance that has enraged farmers' groups all over India, and seen support for 'Operation Cremate Monsanto' spread rapidly since its inception. After the truth about Basanna Hunsole's field was discovered, Monsanto belatedly signed a statement in which they admitted their deception, and promised to behave them selves in the future. But when, a few weeks later, the government of Andhra Pradesh announced it was stopping all Monsanto trials in the state, it cited similar deceptions as the reasons for its decision.

So, what future for Monsanto in India? None at all, if another group of campaign ers the 'Monsanto Quit India' campaign has its way. 'Monsanto Quit India' is a coalition of NFOs opposed to GM crops, and to Monsanto's attempts to monopolize Indian agriculture. It was launched on 9th August 1998 the anniversary of the day when Gandhi famously told the British to 'Quit India'. Now, say the coalition, the same message is being sent to Monsanto's headquarters in Illinois. The Monsanto Quit India campaign has already distrib uted thousands of 'Quit India' postcards to NGOs, community groups and farmers across the country. So far, just four months after the campaign began, over 10,000 peo ple have signed these postcards and sent them to Monsanto's headquarters.

Resistance to Monsanto, and to their vision of a future where farmers every where will be dependent on global corporations for their livelihood, and where consumers have no choice about the food they eat, is growing fast in India. The recent decision by the Indian government to allow the mass import of American soya beans is beginning to alert the Indian pub lic to the potential hazards of GM foods. Campaigners say that, due to the lack of labeling, there is no way of telling whether or not the beans from America are geneti cally modified.

The Monsanto Quit India campaign already claims tens of thousands of sup porters, as do the various organizations and local efforts concentrating on burning Monsanto's crops until the corporation begins to listen to those who have worked the land for generations. Perhaps in future, before Monsanto claims that its super crops are the only way to save the people in developing countries from a future of penury and hunger, they might care to ask those people themselves. In India, at least, they will find themselves increasingly unwelcome.

From here: http://www.lightparty.com/Health/IndiaCheers.html

[aranuk]

Follow India's example I say.

Stan

[jorr lundstrom]

Thats the spirit

[Omni]

I hope Monsanto gets totally thrashed into oblivion... Good news to hear.

[Arrowwind]

People need to understand that Monsanto is moving strongly in Mexico. (Cargill too) We get lots of food from Mexico in the USA.

[modwiz]

This story happened 13 years ago. I wonder if the ensuing years have proven successful. One would think 13 years after this campaign had started that considerable gains would have been achieved by now. Unless I am misinformed, Monsanto still has a considerable stranglehold on the sub-continent. I like the story very much, I just do not wish to invest my emotions in an act and movement, that took place in the former century.

When this act took place Monsatan had already been in the country for 49 years. A persistent pest, to be sure.

[Ishtar]

I'm sorry, Modwiz, you're right. I didn't register the date of the actual act. I'll see if I can find out what happened since. There was another story about thousands of Indian farmers committing suicide because they lost their crops which were planted with Monsanto seeds, but I think that was after 1998. It was reported on in 2008, Wiki extract here:

A short documentary by Frontline (U.S. TV series) suggested that farmers using genetically modified seeds promoted by Cargill and Monsanto have led to rising debts and forced some into the equivalent of indentured servitude to the moneylenders.[100] Every thirty minutes an Indian farmer commits suicide and in the last sixteen years, more than a quarter of a million farmers have died.[101] Some claim a major cause is poor yields leading to mounting debt, an increased need for pesticides, and the higher cost of the Bt cotton seed sold by Monsanto.[102][103][104][105] Monsanto has responded by pointing to reports that link suicides to other factors, and argues that if it was the major cause of suicides then "why is it that Indian farmers represent the fastest-growing users of biotech crops in the world?”[101]

A report released by the International Food Policy Research Institute in October 2008 provided evidence that the cause of farmer suicide in India was due to several causes[clarification needed] and that the introduction of Bt cotton was not a major factor.[106] It argues that the suicides predate the introduction of the cotton in 2002 and has been fairly consistent since 1997.[106][107] Other studies also suggest the increase in farmer suicides is due to a combination of various socio-economic factors.[108] These include debt, the difficulty of farming semi-arid regions, poor agricultural income, absence of alternative income opportunities, the downturn in the urban economy forcing non-farmers into farming, and the absence of suitable counseling services.[108][109]

I don't believe that report by the International Food Policy Research Institute for one second.

[DouglasDanger]

Posted by Arrowwind (here)
People need to understand that Monsanto is moving strongly in Mexico. (Cargill too) We get lots of food from Mexico in the USA.

Cargill has a huge hand in Canada as well.. I know where one of our Universitys' small subsidiary GMO test field is as well, ripping it up wouldn't help anyone, it'd probably just ruin some students year giving them failing grades.. Anyhow with them having such a huge stake how do we convince people to use other routes if unavailabe or if they are extremly hard to take to get proper unmodified seeds etc?..

[Ishtar]

More recent burnings of seeds in India ~

Wiki Monsanto page

(Modwiz, I'm not going to call Monsanto Monsatan as I think that's an insult to Satan who has been much misunderstood. )

Monsanto has had a controversial history in India, starting with the accusation that Monsanto used terminator genes in its seeds, causing demonstrations against the company. Later, its GM cotton seed was the subject of NGO agitation because of its higher cost. Indian farmers cross GM varieties with local varieties using plant breeding to yield better strains, an illegal practice termed "seed piracy".[93][94] In 2009, high prices of Bt Cotton were blamed for forcing farmers of the district Jhabua into severe debts when the crops died due to lack of rain.[95]

In March 2010, Monsanto admitted that insects had developed resistance to the Bt Cotton planted in Gujarat. The company advised farmers to switch to its second generation of Bt cotton – Bolguard II – which had two resistance genes instead of one.[96] However, this advice was widely slammed by critics and even the Government of India who claimed that the admission by Monsanto was more of a business strategy. Maharastra Seeds, a Monsanto subsidiary, conducted several illegal trials in India and fields growing the GM seed were eventually burned in large scale protests.[97][98]

[Ishtar]

Posted by DouglasDanger (here)

Posted by Arrowwind (here)
People need to understand that Monsanto is moving strongly in Mexico. (Cargill too) We get lots of food from Mexico in the USA.

Cargill has a huge hand in Canada as well.. I know where one of our Universitys' small subsidiary GMO test field is as well, ripping it up wouldn't help anyone, it'd probably just ruin some students year giving them failing grades.. Anyhow with them having such a huge stake how do we convince people to use other routes if unavailabe or if they are extremly hard to take to get proper unmodified seeds etc?..

You can get them from abroad, for example, from the UK where GM seeds are banned from sale.

Order online here: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...EceI8gP7yInmAw

[modwiz]

Posted by Ishtar (here)
I'm sorry, Modwiz, you're right. I didn't register the date of the actual act. I'll see if I can find out what happened since. There was another story about thousands of Indian farmers committing suicide because they lost their crops which were planted with Monsanto seeds, but I think that was after 1998. It was reported on in 2008, Wiki extract here:

A short documentary by Frontline (U.S. TV series) suggested that farmers using genetically modified seeds promoted by Cargill and Monsanto have led to rising debts and forced some into the equivalent of indentured servitude to the moneylenders.[100] Every thirty minutes an Indian farmer commits suicide and in the last sixteen years, more than a quarter of a million farmers have died.[101] Some claim a major cause is poor yields leading to mounting debt, an increased need for pesticides, and the higher cost of the Bt cotton seed sold by Monsanto.[102][103][104][105] Monsanto has responded by pointing to reports that link suicides to other factors, and argues that if it was the major cause of suicides then "why is it that Indian farmers represent the fastest-growing users of biotech crops in the world?”[101]

A report released by the International Food Policy Research Institute in October 2008 provided evidence that the cause of farmer suicide in India was due to several causes[clarification needed] and that the introduction of Bt cotton was not a major factor.[106] It argues that the suicides predate the introduction of the cotton in 2002 and has been fairly consistent since 1997.[106][107] Other studies also suggest the increase in farmer suicides is due to a combination of various socio-economic factors.[108] These include debt, the difficulty of farming semi-arid regions, poor agricultural income, absence of alternative income opportunities, the downturn in the urban economy forcing non-farmers into farming, and the absence of suitable counseling services.[108][109]

I don't believe that report by the International Food Policy Research Institute for one second.

Thank you, Ishtar. I am aware of many recent suicides by farmers in India because of poor crop performance coupled with high priced seeds that need to be bought anew each season. These suicides lead me to believe that Monsanto is alive and well and wreaking environmental and human destruction, as usual, to enrich itself and the shareholders. Any more crop burnings should have a few executives thrown in. Monsanto might start paying attention then. Although it may just look at the bright side and figure it has avoided paying a few pensions. The accountants will handle it.

I take a very dim view of human predators, especially ones in suits and ties.

Of course, the villagers should ensure that they have a permit to burn 'trash'.

[modwiz]

Posted by Ishtar (here)
More recent burnings of seeds in India ~

Wiki Monsanto page

(Modwiz, I'm not going to call Monsanto Monsatan as I think that's an insult to Satan who has been much misunderstood. )

Monsanto has had a controversial history in India, starting with the accusation that Monsanto used terminator genes in its seeds, causing demonstrations against the company. Later, its GM cotton seed was the subject of NGO agitation because of its higher cost. Indian farmers cross GM varieties with local varieties using plant breeding to yield better strains, an illegal practice termed "seed piracy".[93][94] In 2009, high prices of Bt Cotton were blamed for forcing farmers of the district Jhabua into severe debts when the crops died due to lack of rain.[95]

In March 2010, Monsanto admitted that insects had developed resistance to the Bt Cotton planted in Gujarat. The company advised farmers to switch to its second generation of Bt cotton – Bolguard II – which had two resistance genes instead of one.[96] However, this advice was widely slammed by critics and even the Government of India who claimed that the admission by Monsanto was more of a business strategy. Maharastra Seeds, a Monsanto subsidiary, conducted several illegal trials in India and fields growing the GM seed were eventually burned in large scale protests.[97][98]

OK Ishtar, we will give Satan a break. Monsanto has no useful purpose. Understood. Edits have been made.

[Ishtar]

It's the deliberate destruction of seeds that gets me on an almost visceral level. There's something almost mythic about such an evil act against Life that makes my blood shiver in my veins. It is nothing short of an abomination against Nature.

[modwiz]

Posted by Ishtar (here)
It's the deliberate destruction of seeds that gets me on an almost visceral level. There's something almost mythic about such an evil act against Life that makes my blood shiver in my veins. It is nothing short of an abomination against Nature.

Exactly, they see Nature as a naive competitor willing to give it all away for free and in abundance. She is an interloper and gets in the way of profits and Her babies will all be aborted.

[Arrowwind]

Posted by DouglasDanger (here)
Anyhow with them having such a huge stake how do we convince people to use other routes if unavailabe or if they are extremly hard to take to get proper unmodified seeds etc?..

In the US other routes are still available. Recently farmers got together when they became advised that monsanto fields were moving into their neighbor hood. The sued them even before the incident to protect their crops from their genetically modified pollens... I do beleive that they won. would like to hear more on the story if anyone knows.

Unmodified seeds are available still.


Locally, it all comes down to education education education. This coming year I will be president of our local farmers market. I hope to develop some educational materials or pathways to the community on such topics. Farmers around here do like to use Roundup on occassion... but I have not seen fields dying from it. Local governmental agencies have actually been providing education on sustainable argriculture... pretty cool eh? I just yesterday attended a Agri-toursim one day seminar to promote agri-tourism in our state. We have Farm to market routes associated with senic Highway routes all over the state. The idea is to get city folks out to the country to see where their food comes from, introduce them to vegetables and other food sources, to participate in the growing, harvesting or just plain old understanding of what growing food is about by actually visiting farms and other production facitities.. all those peopel that showed up were small producers and mostly if not all, organic.

And the creme de la creme, I found out that a local city has an underground market where producers of food products sell their products that are make Illegally, stuff like raw milk, home butchered fowl, home canned meats and veggies, etc. It is actually a club that you join. The contracts of the club were drawn up by some pretty smart lawyers I guess that have an interest in protecting peoples rights... So far the club has been taken to court twice and in both cases they won and maintain their right to sell "illegal" products withing the club.

Ive seen this work in Texas with an organization called "alphabiotics" that essentially delivers certain types of health care by unlicensed people who have been trained in the organizations work of spinal alignment. You must join the organization to receive their healthcare. They have been holding steady now for over 30 years

[Zillah]

KUDOS!!

Hungary had their destroying party just this last summer... no GMO allowed. I was ecstatic to hear this, as Hungary will be my 2nd home.

Hungary destroys all GMO maize fields
//13 Jul 2011
Some 400 hectares of maize found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds have been destroyed throughout Hungary deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Lajos Bognar said.
The GMO maize has been ploughed under, said Lajos Bognar, but pollen has not spread from the maize, he added. Unlike several EU members, GMO seeds are banned in Hungary.

Authorities have been checking for GMO crops since the beginning of this year as a new regulation came in force this March which stipulates GMO checks before seeds are introduced to the market.

The checks will continue despite the fact that seed traders are obliged to make sure that their products are GMO free, Bognar said.

Compensation unlikely
Controllers have found Pioneer and Monsanto products among the seeds planted. The free movement of goods within the EU means that authorities will not investigate how the seeds arrived in Hungary but they will check where the goods can be found, Bognar said.

Regional public radio reported that the two biggest international seed producing companies are affected in the matter and GMO seeds could have been sown on up to thousands of hectares in the country.

Local farmers complain that the use of GMO seeds has only been revealed now when it is too late to sow again and the entire year's harvest has been lost.

Another problem is that the company that distributed the seeds in Baranya county is under liquidation, therefore if any compensation is paid by the international seed producers, the money will be paid primarily to that company's creditors, rather than the farmers.

Source

[Aryslan]

Posted by Arrowwind (here)
sell their products that is made Illegally, stuff like raw milk, home butchered fowl, home canned meats and veggies, etc. It is actually a club that you join.

It is such a sad, sad thing that what you speak is the truth. Our ancestors would be horrified at what we have allowed our nation to become.

[Ishtar]

Posted by Zillah (here)
KUDOS!!

Hungary had their destroying party just this last summer... no GMO allowed. I was ecstatic to hear this, as Hungary will be my 2nd home.

Hungary destroys all GMO maize fields
//13 Jul 2011
Some 400 hectares of maize found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds have been destroyed throughout Hungary deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Lajos Bognar said.
The GMO maize has been ploughed under, said Lajos Bognar, but pollen has not spread from the maize, he added. Unlike several EU members, GMO seeds are banned in Hungary.

Authorities have been checking for GMO crops since the beginning of this year as a new regulation came in force this March which stipulates GMO checks before seeds are introduced to the market.

The checks will continue despite the fact that seed traders are obliged to make sure that their products are GMO free, Bognar said.

Compensation unlikely
Controllers have found Pioneer and Monsanto products among the seeds planted. The free movement of goods within the EU means that authorities will not investigate how the seeds arrived in Hungary but they will check where the goods can be found, Bognar said.

Regional public radio reported that the two biggest international seed producing companies are affected in the matter and GMO seeds could have been sown on up to thousands of hectares in the country.

Local farmers complain that the use of GMO seeds has only been revealed now when it is too late to sow again and the entire year's harvest has been lost.

Another problem is that the company that distributed the seeds in Baranya county is under liquidation, therefore if any compensation is paid by the international seed producers, the money will be paid primarily to that company's creditors, rather than the farmers.

Source

Very pleased to hear that the Hungarians are kicking them out.

[Ishtar]

Interesting new blog post from Mother Jones about rootworm problems with GMO crops in Iowa. GMO crops are meant to kill rootworm but the rootworm has already developed resistance to it. Seems like Mother Nature is going to win in the end!

Back in August—as I reported here—something strange began to happen in isolated Iowa corn fields: Otherwise healthy corn plants were falling over, their roots devastated by a ravenous insect called the corn rootworm.

The weird part wasn't pest outbreaks in vast corn fields; farmers know that when you plant a huge amount of land with a single crop, you're also providing a friendly habitat for insects that like to eat that crop. The odd part was that the fields were planted with seed engineered by Monsanto precisely to kill the corn rootworm. Monsanto's product—known as Bt corn—had failed; rootworms were developing resistance to it.

At the time, the EPA—which is responsible for registering pesticide-containing crops like Monsanto's—maintained an icy silence on the matter. But last week, the agency released a report (PDF) that, in calm bureaucratese, rebuked Monsanto for its "inadequate" system for monitoring. It's one of those delectable reports written not by political appointees or higher-ups, but rather by staff scientists reporting what they see. The document offers a fascinating glimpse into the way the agency conducts business with Monsanto.

The report confirmed that resistant rootworms had risen up in four states (Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Nebraska) and suspected in three others (Colorado, South Dakota, and Wisconsin). Now, everyone—Monsanto, the EPA, ag scientists—have known all along that resistance was a danger with Monsanto's rootworm-targeting Bt corn. To avoid resistance, the EPA decreed back in 2003 that farmers using the product had to plant a "refuge" crop of non-Bt corn alongside their Bt corn, so that rootworms that had developed Bt resistance would mate with peers that had not been exposed to it, diluting the resistant trait and keeping it under control.

The question was, how large a refuge? Monsanto, hot to move as much product as possible, wanted to keep it small. In this post from early September, I laid out the whole tangled history of how back in 2003, Monsanto strong-armed the EPA into accepting a 20 percent refuge requirement, even after an independent scientific panel convened by the agency had recommended a 50 percent buffer. In a Nature article from the time, available here, scientists involved in the panel express rage at the EPA's cave-in.

With this document, the agency is tacitly acknowledging that its independent advisory panel was right, and Monsanto was wrong. What happens now? The Center for Food Safety's Bill Freese points to research from University of Illinois crop scientist Michael Gray suggesting that in some Illinois farm counties, 40 percent of farmers lack access to high-quality non-Bt corn seed. That same problem likely affects farmers throughout the corn belt. Just as farmers have responded to the collapse of Monsanto's Roundup Ready weed-killing technology by dousing their fields with "herbicide cocktails," we'll likely see farmers respond to superinsects with increased doses of toxic insecticides. Beyond that, here are the two takeaways of the EPA's recent bombshell.

• The EPA has been relying on Monsanto to monitor the development of rootworm resistance, and—surprise!—Monsanto has been doing a lousy job of it. When Monsanto hears reports from farmers and seed dealers about possible resistance outbreaks, it's supposed to investigate them. The company's monitoring plan is "inadequate and likely to miss early resistance events," the document states. A less polite but more accurate assessment might be "inadequate and designed to miss early resistance events."

The document lists no fewer than five major problems with Monsanto's monitoring program. The agency notes that when Monsanto gets a report of possibly resistant rootworms, it collects samples of them "within 1-2 miles from neighboring sites of failed fields." That's like a police dispatcher receiving a report of a crime in progress, and sending a cop car within one or two miles of the address. The EPA dryly notes:

Since the majority of adult corn rootworm may not disperse long distances, the greatest probability of capture of resistant genotypes should be in the problem fields, possibly in adjacent fields, but less likely in fields 2 miles away during that particular year.

The document also chides Monsanto for setting the threshold of root damage too high before an investigation is triggered, and thus missing possible early-stage resistance outbreaks that can later break out into large ones.

Perhaps most devastatingly of all, EPA reveals that Monsanto has been receiving reports of possible resistance since 2004—the year after the product's release—when it got 21 such complaints nationwide. The number of reports ballooned to 94 in 2006 and has been hovering at around 100 per year since. And guess what? "Monsanto reported that none of their follow-up investigations resulted…in finding resistant populations [of rootworms]."

In other words, to hear Monsanto tell it, resistance isn't a problem at all! And since Monsanto is responsible for monitoring it, the public would not know about the problem if an independent scientist, Iowa State University entomologist Aaron Gassmann, hadn't published a paper documenting four cases of it in Iowa in August, prompting a major story in the Wall Street Journal.

Monsanto responded to Grossman's findings with brazen denial: "We don't have any demonstrated field resistance," a Monsanto official insisted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch when asked about the study. As recently as last week, in the wake of the EPA document's release, Monsanto officials continued to assert that there had been no scientific confirmation of resistance to its Bt corn, Bloomberg reported. The response calls to mind the old Groucho Marx joke about the man pleading with his wife after being caught in flagrante with another woman: "Who are you going to believe: me, or your lying eyes?"
Monsanto's denial calls to mind the old joke about the man caught in flagrante by his wife: "Who are you going to believe: me, or your lying eyes?"

• Monsanto is already peddling a solution to the problem it generated—and it, too, looks vulnerable to resistance. Now, even though Monsanto has so far refused to acknowledge the resistance problem, the company has not shied away from promoting its new "Smartstax" corn seeds, which contain the current failing Bt toxin plus another that it has licensed from its rival, Dow, as a remedy. Bloomberg reports:

Farmers with root damage in their fields should consider changing practices to "stay ahead of this insect," Monsanto said in a statement. That could include rotating corn with soybeans or using a product such as Monsanto's SmartStax corn, which kills rootworms with two types of Bt, the company said.

Because it contains two separate rootworm-attacking pesticides, Monsanto insists that Smartstax is less prone to cause resistance and thus needs an even smaller refuge area. The company has persuaded the EPA to require only a 5 percent refuge for Smartstax, leaving the other 95 percent open for Monsanto's business.

But in its memo from last week, EPA scientists bluntly question the wisdom of that approach. With one of its Bt toxins having already lost effectiveness, the report notes, Smartstax will be "substantially less durable" when planted with just a 5 percent refuge, and it "could ultimately compromise the second unrelated toxin used to control the pest." In other words, the debut of Smartstax will likely delay, but not stop, the march of Bt-resistant superinsects. But putting off problems by forever rolling out profitable new "solutions" is precisely the agrichemical industry's business model.

The question now is, will the EPA's decision makers heed this bombshell of a report and start actually subjecting Monsanto to independent oversight? Of course, as for those ravenous corn rootworms squirming around the Midwest, the solution is simple: The Union of Concerned Scientist's Doug Gurian-Sherman has said it before and he said it again this week: Just stop growing so much damn corn. Simple biodiversity in farm fields, it turns out, trumps the latest patented geegaw conjured up by Monsanto. And it also makes for a healthier food supply.

[Robert J. Niewiadomski]

Indian casts system make its society deeply divided and very prone to conquer. Maybe thats the reason Mnsnto is doing well in India for so long... As long as there are any imaginary boundaries between people, darkness will reign

Unite And Love