Bayer AG admits GMO contamination out of control

See also: Monsanto: GM-Corn Harvest of 82,000 Hectares in South Africa Fails


bayer_logo

(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.

Bayer claimed that there was no possible way it could have prevented the contamination, insisting that it followed not only the law but also the best industry practices. The jury disagreed, finding Bayer guilty of carelessness in handling the genetically modified crops. The company was ordered to pay farmers Kenneth Bell and Johnny Hunter $2 million.

“This is a huge victory, not only for Kenny and me, but for every farmer in America who was harmed by Bayer’s LibertyLink rice contamination,” Hunter said.

According to Hunter, the company got “the wake-up call they deserved.”

Bayer is still being sued by more than 1,000 other farmers from Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

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

Thursday, April 15, 2010
by: David Gutierrez, staff writer

Source: Natural News

GM food alters your DNA, changes your brain waves, destroys your immune system, your organs and makes you infertile.

Don’t miss:

Multiple Ways Monsanto is Putting Normal Seeds Out of Reach

Monsanto’s Genetically Modified Seed Patents May Trump Antitrust Claims

Former Managing Director of Monsanto India: Monsanto ‘Faked’ Data for Approvals

Monsanto GM Corn Causing Organ Failure In Rats: Study (Everything You Need To Know)

Scientist: Monsanto’s herbicide could cause brain, intestinal and heart defects in foetuses

Hawaii: GMO taro ban proposal goes to full council

Monsanto to Charge as Much as 42 % More for New Seeds!

Monsanto lobbyists to be placed in charge of food safety by Obama

US Association of Physicians calls for Moratorium on GMO Foods

Monsanto sues Germany over GM corn ban

Germany bans Monsanto’s GM maize

Greenpeace: No need for condoms – GE corn can do the job

Austrian Government Study Confirms Genetically Modified (GM) Crops Threaten Human Fertility and Health Safety

BIODIVERSITY: Privatisation Making Seeds Themselves Infertile

At stake is no less than control of the world’s food supply.

Exposed: the great GM crops myth:
“Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.”

Highly recommended videos:

Life running out of control – Genetically Modified Organisms (!)

The World According to Monsanto – A documentary that Americans won’t ever see. (!)

Obama and Monsanto:

Obama Gives Key Agriculture Post to Lobbyist of CropLife America Whose Members Include Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont and Dow Chemical

Obama Gives ‘Pesticide Lobbyist’ Post as Chief Agricultural Negotiator

Monsanto lobbyists to be placed in charge of food safety by Obama

2 thoughts on “Bayer AG admits GMO contamination out of control”

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.