Bayer admits GMO contamination out of control

[G_j]

http://www.naturalnews.com/028585_GMOs_Bayer.html

Bayer admits GMO contamination out of control
Thursday, April 15, 2010 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer


(NaturalNews) Drug and chemical giant Bayer AG has admitted that there is no way to stop the uncontrolled spread of its genetically modified crops.

"Even the best practices can't guarantee perfection," said Mark Ferguson, the company's defense lawyer in a recent trial.

Two Missouri farmers sued Bayer for contaminating their crop with modified genes from an experimental strain of rice engineered to be resistant to the company's Liberty-brand herbicide. The contamination occurred in 2006, during an open field test of the new rice, which was not approved for human consumption. According to the plaintiffs' lawyer, Don Downing, genetic material from the unapproved rice contaminated more than 30 percent of all rice cropland in the United States.

"Bayer was supposed to be careful," Downing said. "Bayer was not careful and that rice did escape into our commercial rice supplies."

The plaintiffs alleged that in addition to contaminating their fields, Bayer further harmed them financially by undermining their export market. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the widespread rice contamination, important export markets were closed to U.S. producers. A report from Greenpeace International estimates the financial damage of the contamination at between $741 million and $1.3 billion.

..more..
Sources for this story include: www.organicconsumers.org; www.bloomberg.com.

[crazylikafox]

1. k&r

[hatrack]

2. Gosh, who could POSSIBLY have predicted this?!?!?

:eyes:

[Sal Minella]

6. Yeah. If you listen closely, you can hear the dull thuds

as people all over the country fall off their chairs in astonishment.

And of course any attempt to rein in this rampant greed for profits will be deemed anti-capitalist (i.e. COMMUNIST).

Harming the many to enhance the profit for the few is the American way.

[CoffeeCat]

13. That's what makes me so furious..

...about these arrogant, greedy corporations. From the banks to these agriculture
companies--they knew DAMN WELL what the result of their "worst practices" would be.
However, at the time that they were doing them--they were raking in billions and
were swept up in greed. They didn't give a damn. They knew what the negative
consequences of their actions would be. They didn't want to hear it. They
were too busy listening to the cash registers go cha-ching.

So now, they hang their heads. Oh, we're sorry. Most of the rice is contaminated.
Or, the banks say...we're sorry we blew up the entire economy by making crap loans
and packaging them up as triple-A-rated securities that destroyed the entire financial
sector. Ooops, our bad.

They apologize after the truckloads of cash are secure in their accounts. Many people
sounded the alarm bells--about Wall Street, these ag companies and people continue to
sound alarm bells about big Pharma. They all deny that they're doing anything wrong.
They also position anyone who questions them as crazy conspiracy tin foilers.

So tired of all of this. Companies that destroy and make money off of destroying
should be shut down. Are we supposed to feel sorry for them now? Do they want
a prize for admitting their failures. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if they asked
for some kind of bailout.

[Newest Reality]

3. Has Monsanto heard about this?

Nice to hear the plaintiffs on on the other side of the issue for a change.

Well, can't their bio-engineering geniuses come up with a solution that they can sell next? How about anti-GMO rice that infects the infection and kills it? When that gets out of hand, they can repeat the process until we get ... TERMINATORS! ;)

[jody]

4. The enemy is us!

[Javaman]

5. Personally, I welcome our new Triffid overlords. nt

[Hannah Bell]

7. by design.

[elehhhhna]

8. hannah! we finally agree on something.

[G_j]

9. ---

[jgraz]

10. This should put Bayer out of business

But it won't.

[JohnyCanuck]

11. After Monsanto’s GM Meltdown in the USA…

Syngenta comes to the rescue to keep the transgenic treadmill going

By Prof. Joe Cummings

One major impact of crops genetically modified (GM) for insect resistance is that the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry toxins conferring insect resistance are specific for particular pests. After the Bt crops have been planted for several years, the target pest is usually diminished, leaving an ecological niche into which another insect pest species may invade. This has already happened with Bt cotton in India <1> (Mealy Bug Plagues Bt Cotton in India and Pakistan, SiS 45) and in the United Stated, where the tarnished plant bug has emerged as the major pest in the cotton belt <2> (GM Crops Facing Meltdown in the USA, SiS 46).

Now Christoph Then of Test Biotech, an independent German research group, reports on the spread of the western bean cutworm (Striacosta albicosta) and the massive damage inflicted on Bt maize in the United States <3>: “The infestation has been observed since the year 2000.…. This cutworm has historically been confined to very limited regions and did not cause any major problems in maize crops. For several years now the pest has been spreading into more and more regions within the US Corn Belt and causing substantial economic damage. In 2009, maize plants affected by the western bean cutworm were even found in Canada for the first time. According to scientific publications, this new pest has been caused by the large-scale cultivation of genetically engineered plants expressing Cry1Ab such as MON810. It is seen as a case of 'pest replacement', often found where there is extensive use of pesticides in industrial agriculture. Pest replacement means that new ecological niches open up which other competitors then occupy. In this case, a naturally occurring competitor of the western bean cutworm has been intentionally suppressed by the extensive cultivation of Bt maize plants, thus allowing the new pest to spread on a large scale and heavily infest the crop. A whole arsenal of insecticides - some of them highly toxic - and genetically engineered multi-stacked maize are recommended for controlling the pest.”

Full article at:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/AfterMonsantoGMcropsmeltdown.php

[G_j]

14. precisely why this is so insane

do they think they can keep modifying crops to keep up with opportunistic insect pests?

[TexasObserver]

12. Mod call out! I'm pretty Bayer did no such thing.

What? A drug company by the same name?

Never mind.

[northernlights]

15. good for those farmers standing up to Bayer

take the fight to them.

Monsanto...be warned. We are *all* onto you....

I hope they win a billion or so in damages.