David versus Monsanto   
65 minutes   


10:00:24    Percy: No one should control nature, no one should control life. No one should have that right to put patents on nature and life. As long as my wife and I have life within us, we will always go down fighting  for  the rights of farmers always to be able to use their seeds from year to year. No one should take that right away from anyone.
10:01:04    Percy:This is what the judge ruled. Number One: If you are contaminatedagainst your wishes by Monsanto´s GMOs, you no longer own yourseeds, your plants. They become the ownership of a cooperation, inthis case Monsanto.
10:01:26    Percy:He also ruled we were not allowed to use our seeds or plantsagain.
10:01:35    Percy:He also ruled that all of our profit from our1998 canola crop goes to Monsanto
10:01:46    Narration:In 1997, as a result of a simple discovery, life changed dramatically for the 70 year old Farmer. A power line runs along the edge of Percy Schmeiser´s property. As usual, the power company had the surrounding vegetation controlled by applying the herbicide „Roundup“. But in spite of this powerful chemical, volunteer canola plants continued to thrive among the weeds.
10:02:14    Percy:This canola was sprayed with four times the normal rate that you would spray Roundup and yet it has not died. So it' s a very powerful resistant canola to Roundup. So it's definitely Monsanto's seed that is here. We've created a real big Frankenstein.
10:02:38    Narration:The pesticide Roundup produced by the multinational concern Monsanto is the most widely sold spray in the world. Monsanto made its canola resistant to Roundup.  That means Roundup kills every plant, without exception.  Only Monsanto’s genetically modified canola remains alive. 
10:02:58    Percy:It was introduced without really much testing beeing done and I think even at that time when it was introduced in the middle of the90´s that even the governments were taken in by what these cooperations told what it would to like increase yields and lesschemicals and more nutritious and I think the governments even believed the cooperation.


10:03:21    Narration:In 1996 the chemical giant Monsanto introduced its brand of canola into Canada. A brand resistant to the pesticide Round Up. In Schmeiser’s region three farmers agreed to plant Monsanto’s new  GMO canola.Due to a heavy storm during the harvest freshly cut GMO canola drifted into Percy Schmeiser’s fields.  His work of 50 years of breeding was destroyed because his harvest was contaminated by Monsanto’s seed.
10:03:52    Percy:It came like a – like a time bomb like a shock to me that my seed was ruined through cross pollination or direct seed drift by a substance by a seed I didn’t want in my land. So it was very disgusting and hard to take that I had lost something that I worked 50 years on.
10:04:14    Narration:Contamination and destruction of his own breed was irrevocably damaging to Percy Schmeiser.  But on top of that Monsanto turned him – the victim – into a culprit. August 1998 Schmeiser was sued by Monsanto for having illegally planted the corporation’s patented,  GMO canola.  He was to be forced by a court decision to pay damages in the amount of 100 000 Dollar. And all this for a canola seed he did not want in the first place.
10:04:47    Percy:Under the patent law it says to violate the patent you have to usethe patent. In my case I never used Monsanto´s patent. I neversprayed their chemical Roundup on my fields. So I never used theirpatent.
10:05:05    Narration:But Percy Schmeiser would not let himself be intimidated.  He filed a countersuit against the chemical corporation on grounds of environmental pollution, seed destruction and slander.From that time on Monsanto had the small wheat farmer spied on and pursued like a criminal.In summer 1999 the situation become even more menacing.For days, detectives with cars were in front of Schmeiser’s driveway, following him onto the fields and observing his every footstep.
10:05:38    Percy:In the fall of 1999 it did get quite serious. Although I hate to say it we did start carrying a rifle both in our tractors and in our combines. We were that concerned at that time. Not only that, but we would take different roads out to our farm not to use the same road. It was also a concern for my wife because she many times would bring out the meals to the farm and I was always concerned that something could happen to her. So it was very stressful to go through this period of time.We found out afterwards by taking licence numbers that they were people hired by Monsanto and also Monsanto representatives themselves. They didn’t even stop by the field. They would even drive into our yard here. And I don’t know it was just a means or a method of intimidation or whatever but these were the things that happened.
10:06:42    Luise:It was scary at times, you ´d just never known.
10:06:46    Percy:And the phone calls, you know, there would be somebody on the line saying: You better watch it, they gonna get you. So that was pretty scary and I was very concerned when I was gone. That´s someting would happen.
10:06:58    Luise:And they would watch us especially in our own house here theywatched days on end every move we made in our house and our office  we used for  our own land. I felt like I was a prisoner onmy own home.
10:07:12    Percy:They did everything to bring us down financially and mentally. Andthat´s what they´re doing : is to mentally and financally  break people. There is just...they are totally ruthless. They have noethics, they have no morals. It´s the bottomline.
10:07:41    Percy:I had a trust fund to help me with some of my legal bills. And some time ago, I get a phone call from the manager of the bank, saying they would close out that account. And they would not give me no explanation. So I went to see the bank manager, which was a lady, and I asked her, „why do you want to close out this account. You have to give me a reason. Even under the bank act you can't just close someboby's account out.“ And she would not tell me what the reason was. And finally I said to her, „is it because of Monsanto?“ and she said „Yes“. And I said „Why?“ and she said „Monsanto went to the head office and said to the head office of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, „if you don't cancel Percy Schmeiser's legal trust fund out, we will cancel all of our accounts with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce across Canada“.
10:08:37    Narration:In 2001, Schmeiser was ordered in his Monsanto trial to pay about 400.000 $ in damages and costs. The court had taken for granted that Schmeiser’s canola fields contained „95 to 98%“ of Monsanto’s GMO canola. The judgement is a scandal.  Of 28 test results, only 4 back such a figure.  The rest varies between 69 and 0 percent, with contradictions and different evaluations.  Most samples were procured behind Schmeiser’s back. Not one of them was taken in his presence.  The decisive expert witnesses in court were either Monsanto employees or paid by Monsanto. The judgement left people stunned worldwide. Today, even Canada’s government admits that GMO canola is everywhere.
10:09:26    Percy:And what the proud judge ruled, the first trial judge ruled, is what made the case become internationally known overnight what can happen with farmers when you introduce GMOs. And the judge ruled this.Number one: Is does not matter how a farmer is contaminated. And he went on to say, crosspollination with pollenflow in the wind, by birds, bees or by direct seeds blowing in the wind by or farmer´s transportation. If you are contaminated against your wishes you no longer own your seeds, your plants, they become the ownership of Monsanto under patent-law. We had about 550 hectars seeded to rapeseed in 1998. And  he ruled because of the contamination all the profit  from our crop from 1998 goes to Monsanto. Another important issue he mentioned: He said it does not matter, how much a farmer is contaminaded, if it´s half percent, one percent, two percent, it does not matter, you no longer own your seeds, your plants.
10:10:39    Narration:After this decision, Percy Schmeiser and his wife were very demoralized – just like many Farmers, who had been following the case. Percy decided to appeal the ruling and took the case to the higher court. But after two more years of legal battle and now 300.000 canadian dollars of legal expenses the judges again ruled: „If you are contaminated with Monsanto’s genes, you no longer own your seeds and plants“.
10:11:14    Percy:My wife is a very strong person. She has a very deep faith andmany times she said to me, she believes that she prayed more atnight than what she slept. And many times I  would wake up atnight and think, my God what am I doing to my wife and myfamily.
10:11:46    Luise:Percy couldn´t have done the fight without me because we needed each other for support. There was times he was down and verydepressed and then I had to cheer him up. One time he decided let´sgo fishing and then was times I was down and depressed, manytimes, I think I was many times more than Percy, and he alwayswould say, we are gonna live through this and we gonna be life afterMonsanto. So that's what he always told me to cheer me up.
10:12:44    Percy:The farmers here are very fearless independant people becausethey have to be. They left their homeland a hundred or 75 years ago to come to a new country. They had to work together.My grandparents and my parents had to work together with our neighbours, to build our country. Our roads, open up our land, theschools, hospitals and they are not  stand for a multi-national to come in and then try to take those rights away. And if the government will not help us or protect us the farmersthemselves will protect themselves and say to a company, enoughis enough we will not take anymore from you.
10:13:46    Percy:Then we only had one avenue left and that was the supreme court of Canada. First of all we said to the supreme court that a farmeralways should have the right, to use his seeds from year to yearif on his own farm. And the most important issue to my wife and myself by that time, was that no one, no cooperation, no individual should ever have the right to put a patent on higher life-forms like a seed or plant. When I use to term higher life-form I mean any life form, whether it´s a bird, bee, animal, fish or even a human beeing.
10:14:47    Percy:If you have a patent on that gene that´s in that pollen and it getsin your field, you no longer own your seeds or plants. So you couldhave one plant, GMO and all these could be regular or organic, but through patent-law they can claim all your plants. Becauseyou don´t know which on is GMO, which is not.
10:15:28    Percy:In 1996 when it was introduced, farmers were told three main things: It will always be a bigger yield, it would be more nutritious and less chemical. And within the three or four years we found out that the total opposite happened.  We are now using more chemicals than ever before and more powerful and more toxic chemicals, because it has become a superweed. And to give you an example of that: Even the United States Department of Agriculture, just a short time ago indicated that the yield on soybeans was down about 15 percent with the introduction of GMOs.
10:16:14    Narration:Monsanto’s technology contract virtually turns the farmer into an accomplice of the agrochemical industry.  He has to buy new seed every year, with the technology surcharge, and only then is he allowed to cultivate the seed. The natural right of every farmer to replant his harvest seeds is waived by contract. 
10:16:36    Percy:I have a contract here from Monsanto and I´ll just give you someof the clauses in that contract.A farmer must always buy his seeds from Monsanto. He must only buy the chemicals from Monsanto. He can never use his seeds.He must pay Monsanto about 40 Dollars a license-fee on eachhectare he owns each year. He must permit Monsanto´s policeforce to come on his land for 3 years after the contract eventhough he may only grow GMOs one year. And Monsanto´sPolice can go in your graineries, they can go in your fields, they can take your tax-records, your farming-records, with or withoutyour permission. And if a farmer commit some violation withthe contract, Monsanto can take all his profit, or Monsanto canmake him destroy his crop and a farmer is not allowed tosay anything to anybody about it.
10:17:38    Narration:Now the multinationals with these contracts are exercising more power than any government would ever dare to do.
10:17:44    Percy:Monsanto in their 2003 contract have another clause added which states that a farmer can no longer sue Monsanto or take Monsantoto court or lay a lawsuit against Monsanto, no matter for whatreason it could be, whether it´s poor seed or poor crops. They no longer can sue Monsanto. Monsanto takes their weights away of a farmer even taken Monsanto to court. So all the freedomof speech, expression is taken away. Total domination and control by a Multinational over farmer. It´s like stamping the farmer intothe ground. He has no longer any rights left. And that´s basicallywhat the judge ruled. In my case against ähm Monsanto´scase against me, that Monsanto´s patent law is over and abovefarmer´s rights. And we hope that the supreme court will changethat and give the rights back to the farmers, were they belong. Notto multinational cooperations.
10:18:52    Narration:In all of North America there are hundreds of farmers under the same threat as Percy Schmeiser. Only a few of them have had the courage to come forward to talk about it. David Runyon from Indiana is one of a few that are standing up to Monsanto. But even he took half a year before going public with his story.
10:19:14    Farmer David Runyon:Monsanto´s investigators arrived on my farm, it was probably 7:30 at night pm. They did not identify themselves, I really did not know who they were until about three days later. I was informed from a local feed mill where I have my seed cleaned every year, have for 20 years, and they informed me, that that´s who they were. That they were investigators for Monsanto and investigating me for patent infringement
10:19:49    Farmer David Runyon:All they really wanted to know - the investigators - was what kind of soybeans do I grow, what kind of  wheat do I grow, what kind ofcorn do I grow and the herbicides I use and also whom do I sell my products to. They wanted name and phone numbers. And at that point I refused to cooperate and I ended the conversation.
10:20:15    Farmer David Runyon:Yes. So anyone they investigate they will definitely find - will have someplace, a positive identification for genetic material.
10:20:43    Farmer David Runyon:I worried after I found out I was contaminated, I worried. I lost 30 pounds that year just over six or eight months, just the time frame.I was worried. Why wouldn’t I be worried.  Here I was going to be possibly drug in a  federal court. Never really been in a courtroom before, and let alone go to a federal court. But now I’m not afraid of 'em. I ´m not scared of ´’em, cause I know who I’m fighting and I know their tactics.
10:21:18    Farmer David Runyon:I contacted an attorney. I had to. I knew that. And cause I cannot fight them by myself. Monsanto is too big of a company and I don´t have the money to. After I had seeked council he advised me to put some signs up, so I did put some signs up to keep people off and particularly them, if I can, I don´t know. I guess time will tell on that.
10:21:56    Farmer David Runyon:Well most of the farmers that have relations with Monsanto, yes they are afraid of them and a lot of them have either settled and signed gag orders, so  they cannot speak about anything. So you will only find a hand full of farmers out here that can actually talk about this. I told no one, I talked to no one until I found out whom turned me in and advised by my council I just didn’t talk about it. I probably didn’t talk to anyone about it for 6 months.
10:22:41    Farmer David Runyon:I had one other person to go talk to that I knew had been through already and fortunate I could prove to him that day that I was a farmer and I needed his help. And he helped me. And I am thankful for him. I, which you’re going to interview him tomorrow. I called him, I was what, 120 miles away when I called him that day. A guy gave me his phone number over the desk, said here, you call this phone number and talk to him. He gave me his phone number. I didn’t know from Adam, didn’t know anybody, didn’t him at all, you know. Called him up, yeah I’m in the field, ok here’s my location, and you come to me. So I drove 120 miles  just to talk to him. That´s all the way up north in the state. And I talked to him and he helped me out and then it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be, but he helped me out a lot. If nothing else  just to see, help settle my nerves. And he survived it  and I come to the conclusion that I can possibly survive it too.
10:24:05    Narration:Also from Indiana, Troy Rush was wrongly accused of having reused Monsanto’s GMO-seed without paying the license fees – much like Percy Schmeiser. His family had to come up with 400.000 $ in legal expenses and finally – after several years of legal battles – agreed to settle with Monsanto including a provision to keep silent about his case. He is now advising farmers threatened by Monsanto like David Runyon.
10:24:27    Farmer Troy Rush:The first thing I advice  a farmer  who has non-GMO soybeans is you must have third-party sampling and testing of your crop, because Monsanto´s gonna falsify the results of your soybeans. The farmer actually most at risk in these situations is the farmer not growing the GMO soybean. Because, now he has to, in fact, prove his innocence. That´s the opposite of what people think, you know, our legal system does here in America. Innocent until proven guilty, well, maybe so in a criminal situation, I don´t know, but I can tell you, when you’re in a civil fight with a company like Monsanto, it is up to you to prove you did not, in fact, do what they´re accusin´ you of.
10:25:19    Farmer Troy Rush:The majority of farmers I speak with, they don´t have the financial wherewithal to fight these battles. A lot of `em, you know, I can call one particular farmer  I was workin' with, you know, he – they had to file bankruptcy and they couldn´t hire an attorney, it´s just terrible. It´s terrible. And then you’ve got this multinational corporation spendin' millions of dollars. They can, they can prove whatever they want. I often say that after my experience with the court system, lady justice holdin' those scales, those balances, and the way the court system seems to work in America, or at least from standpoint, is you pile money on the balance and the one who puts the most money on wins. Our court system is just, that was, that was a dismal experience and I’m just, just appalled that that´s allowed to go on in America.
10:26:24    Farmer Troy Rush:You know a lot of this- Monsanto, they publish a toll-free number and encourage farmers to call and turn their neighbours in. And that´s all part of this consolidation.  If Monsanto gives a neighbour the ability to contact, their legal team, as it were, and turn their the legal team lose upon the farmer and, and costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in defending themselves against baseless claims. And hopefully to remove the farmer, that competitor, from picture. It´s all part of this.
10:27:14    Percy:Monsanto advertised in their brochures that they sent out to farmers, that if a farmer felt his neighbour was growing genetically altered or Monsanto's Roundup Ready canola that they should inform on their neighbour. They should rat, they should squeal on their neighbour. In return, farmers tell me that if they did that they would get a leather jacket from Monsanto.
10:27:46    Percy:If a farmer would squeal or rat on his neighbour what Monsanto would do is sent out one of these or two of these ex RCMP or detectives or investigators whatever you wanna call them, and they would go to a farm home and this is what the farmers would tell me. They would come into this farm home and say to the farmer -- we have a tip or a rumour that you've been growing Roundup Ready canola without a license. And if you don’t come clean we'll get you, you won’t have a farm left when we're through with you and we know, if you tell us that you're not you’re lying.
10:28:31    Percy:The farmers began now not to trust one another. Because if you had a visit from an ex RCMP or a Monsanto representative the first person you would think was it my neighbour that turned me in? Or was it my neighbour who said this about me? So it was destroying that social fabric and I think this is one of the worst things that could happen. The breakdown of our communities by this policy.
10:29:04    Louise:This social fabric of a country it really was a, really I never witness that before, and when they were watching us and that, it was so scary you know and really with the farmers playing farmers against farmers, we never have that before. Because everybody was - like I grew up in a farm-  everybody would help one another. If your neighbour farmer was sick, then they were out to get and help to and put he crop in.  And now that´s kind of  disappearing because, you ´re scared you don´t trust one another anymore. The trust is gone. And it´s, it'll take a long time before that will be  regained
10:30:05    Percy:They wanna do introduce, when I say they wanna do, I mean like Monsanto and other commission, wheat, rice, flax, alfalfa, and no permission was given. And the Canadian people and the farmers and the consumers said, we have seen the damage it has done to health, the environment. More chemicals with the four crops. We do not want, anymore, no GMOs.
10:30:40    Percy:I’ve heard – not only in your country but also in my country – and the United States scientists say and some government people say, we must be part of this new technology.
10:31:00    Percy:But this new technology is crazy science, it´s unsafe science and it´s not proven science.
10:31:13    Percy:And if we’ve had in North America eleven twelve years of GMOs, how can we don´t have lots of food now to feed the hungry world.
10:31:25    Percy:The corporations want total, total control of the seed supply, which would then given total control of the food supply. That´s what GMOs are all about. Not more food , feed the hungry world, but control of the seed supply.
10:31:47    Percy:In Japan I met with lot of scientists, consumers and processors and importers. And this document here is a condensed version of all these scientific studies the Japanese have done, using Monsanto´s data is over 50 pages long. It has been all translated into English for me. That is on the food issue, the food part of GMOs. Monsanto always use to term substantially equivalent. The food is very similar.But the Japanese scientists say that it is not substantially equivalent. The food is different and that you’ve changed it through genetic engineering or genetic modification you’ve changed the structure of the food and it´s not the same and it can have very harmful allergens  or bacteria . Because the viruses and the bacteria that they use for the transferring of genes are also in that food. So that is not the same and it can have very pastful long-range health effects by eating it. In other words what Monsanto presented to our governments in North America is false and that it is not safe and it´s not substantially equivalent, which means it´s not the same as other regular food. And that has been a major, major announcement by the Japanese scientists.So there'd always be a small percentage or percentage that would mix together and so it would not be GMO free.
10:33:17    Narration:In North America the chain of transport is completely unprotected and open.  No one has every thought of the idea of transporting and storing genetically modified grain separately.  Now it is too late.
10:33:32    Percy:It's very difficult to segregate the grain from regular grain and genetically altered grain . Because you'd have contamination from the pit, from the elevation, from the trucks that are hauling it. So it would be impossible to keep it separate.
10:34:00    Narration:Thus the borders are open for the export of genetically contaminated grain and also seed into the whole world.
10:34:10    Percy:If you introduce GMOs there is no such things as coexistence and after several years it all becomes GMOs. I have also heard in Europe the companies saying that all our farmers have to do is leave a buffer strip:  50 meters, one hundred meters. There is no safe distance. It doesn’t matter if it´s 50 kilometers, it will spread. So if you introduce GMOs it all becomes GMOs after several years. And to give you an example how bad it is in Canada. We no longer have any pure rapeseed, we no longer have any pure soya, it is now all GMOs in Canada. I have often heard in Europe and we also told that in 1996, farmers can have a choice, they can grow GMOs, they can grow organic or they can grow conventionally. There is no more choice left. It all becomes GMOs. And you no longer can have an organic farmer.
10:35:44    Farmer David Runyon:They want control. And they basically have control is what they have. First they go in and they bought our seed stock producers, Holden´s corporation, I believe out of Iowa. And after that, they have, Holden´s has, like a whole family or group of seed growers, and the rule was that in ´95, they said in five years, I understood they told them, you will be selling 90 percent Monsanto product or you will not be in business selling seed. So if they did not push Monsanto´s product on the farmers, they would be out of business. And so that´s what all the seed growers did. They pushed the product on the farmers so that they could stay in business. Because if they went – didn’t have Holden´s to grow their seed stock, they would not have anything to sell.
10:37:12    Farmer David Runyon:Farmers are not that well informed. Farmers are people of the land. They´re not like real, how should I say, business man that have a bank of attorneys or have even secretaries, they’ve always been a business that has been run form their homes. And when they come in and if you want to use their products, you have to sign on the dotted line. And farmers have just gone in droves and signed those signatures. The seed man came out and said, here’s the best corn, here’s the best soybeans, if you want to use them, you have to sign the line over here. So they just signed it and they do not even read the contract.
10:37:52    Farmer Troy Rush:It all changed. It all changed overnight. In 1996 it all changed. And, and it´s interesting. The way Monsanto seems to enforce this thing is they go into the countryside and they try to determine who is cleanin´ their own seed. Well, savin´and cleanin´your own seed for replanting the next year is a perfectly legal activity. But over the course of the last ten years, it´s went from a perfectly legal and respected activity to one that is illegal. All because corporations have the money to own seed. They own life. And what’s even worse about it its his is life that-that human kind has spent eons developing. You know, we took the soybean 10.000 years ago from nothin´to what it is today. And then Monsanto comes along, inserts one little gene and then – then they turn around and patent all the germ plasm, not just the GMO but the conventional portions of the seed and say, yeah, we own this too. That´s nonsense. That belongs to human kind. And in my mind, you know, Monsanto likes to call pirate – our farmers that save their own seeds pirates, seed pirates the call us. But I think we ought to revisit who’s the real pirate here. These people stole our genetic heritage.
10:39:28    Percy:If farmers loose their rights to use your own seed, you become serfs of the land and we’re back to a feudal-system. And that could quite easy, quite quickly happen in a third-world country. But it will also happen in North America. And I think to some degree, farmers already are like a serfs of the land already because they have to buy the seed from a certain company, they have to buy the food license, they have to buy chemicals especially, all from the same company. They have to pay a fee to grow a crop on their own land. So I think already to a large degree we are already serfs on our own land by a multinational corporation like Monsanto.
10:40:30    Narration:Marc Loiselle is an organic farmer and neighbor of Percy Schmeiser. Together with 1000 organic farmers he sued Monsanto for damages arising from the contamination of their canola and mustard crop.
10:40:50    Marc Loiselle:The thing is what should always happen is the precautionary principle. We should not allow anything out of the laboratory into the environment, especially to do with our food, because this is so essential. We all need food, we need water, we need air. We should not allow this to happen.
10:41:14    Narration:Only four years later the Supreme Court of Canada, decided, that they could not bring the case as a class action. Now every Farmer has to claim his damages individually and assume the  high risk and high legal cost.
10:41:42    Marc Loiselle:When we were in Switzerland last year one interesting thing is, we had a journalist who was very surprised to find out that when we do surveys in Canada about labeling GM-foods that over 90 percent our Canadian say we want mandatory labeling on foods. And this journalist was so surprised, he said, we just assume, we take for granted that in North-America your comfortable with GM-foods. Look, you been eating it for 10 years, there seems to be no health-effects. We say people, when you survey them, when you ask them, they don´t want this. We are eating this unfortunately because we don´t know it´s in our food. There’s no labeling therefore been used like laboratory experiment, we're been used like guinea pigs. And who knows, we maybe effected with our health as we speak, with products that you purchase in a store. Anything that has soya or canola in it, or corn, you have to be aware, because they most likely  contain transgenetic or GM-products.
10:42:49    Percy:In Canada it was a approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. They are the ones that gives Monsanto regulatory approval for the introduction. But they only used the data supplied to them by Monsanto. They never did no testing whatsoever.  And so, when Monsanto said to the Canadian Food Inspections Agency it´s substantially equivalent it´s almost like the real food, then the government said, well then we don´t have to test it if it´s substantially equivalent, we don´t have to have our own scientists check it. But was has happened now is that Japanese scientists have taken those experiments that Monsanto said are based the analysis on and found that it´s totally false, it´s fraudulent. And the food is not the same. So anyone that says that it´s safe, because the Canadian government approved it. Canadian government approved it only on what Monsanto told them. There’s no testing whatsoever and that has really created a lot of fear in the Canadian consumers because what are they really eating, when Monsanto said it was safe, when Monsanto has a very bad track record. When DDT was safe, PCB was safe, Agent Orange was safe. Now are we to believe them when they say, GMOs, or GE or genetic engineering is safe. I would never trust them one bit because they don´t have a good track record. Cause everything they said before was false and a lie.
10:44:28    Narration:Also in the case of Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup there were studies demonstrating that Roundup could be used without risk, resulting in worldwide approval of the product. Many other studies show the negative health effects of the active ingredient of Roundup – Glyphosate. Monsanto itself warns in material safety data sheets of tissue damage, bloody vomiting, cardiac arrhythmia and pulmonary edema as a result of direct contact or ingestion of the toxin.
10:45:03    Percy:And now they've found that Roundup – studies done in Oregon show that it is the third biggest cause of farm related illnesses in the State of California. Originally we were told by Monsanto Roundup is so safe you could drink it.
10:    Narration:With the advent of gene technology the chemical industry entered into the business of plant breeding. DuPont and Monsanto bought seed producers for about 12,5 billion dollars in ten years.  Today the two chemical giants are also the biggest plant breeders in the world. Producing about three-quarters of the world’s GMO crops .
10:45:40    Percy:Many farmers are asking, many people are asking, can you ever bring back out of the environment, what you introduce a life-giving-form. And the answer that I received from scientists all over the world, at the present time there is no, no way to recall a new life-form that has been introduced. So that is something that people around the world, farmers especially and governments have to realise, when you introduce it, it´s gonna be there for always. I will never see GMO-free canola in my lifetime in Canada. All our seed is contaminated, our soybeans are contaminated, and as I said, I will never see the return to non-GMO canola. There is all contaminated.
10:46:40    Narration:The height of gene technology cynicism is the so-called Terminator technology.  It makes the farmers biologically dependent on the corporations.  The plants are genetically modified  in such a way that they are able to germinate only once.  Sowing the harvest seeds is pointless.  The harvest is dead.
10:47:17    Percy: Well, a Terminator plant or seed is that  - when the seed of a plant reaches a certain age of maturity, just before it is total mature, the Terminator gene will kick in and will destroy the germination of that seed. Which means it cannot be used for seed the following year. So you will have to go back, as a farmer, to buy seed the next year because the germination of that seed was killed by the Terminator gene
10:47:51    Percy:When the Terminator gene, that plant – blossoms and the pollen flow from it, it will also get into other plants and kill other plants when those seeds almost reach to the stage of maturity. So it will not only affect the Terminator gene plant that it was put into. It will also affect other plants and kill them – or not kill them, the seed will become sterile.
10:48:26    Percy:And if we carry that a little farther now - like Monsanto’s lawyer has said that they own anything they put that seed in or they develop - what about if they put a gene into a human being? Does that say they own me? Does that say they own you?
10:48:47    Percy:The other issue in my case that has to be addressed is this. If you patent a gene and you put it into any life giving form and you put it into the environment and you cannot control it - then should you maintain the rights to that patent? Because you can’t control it and you’re destroying the property of others. So then you should loose the rights on that patent. And you should also be liable for the liability, and the damage of costs. That’s another issue in my case.
10:49:53    Percy:I was from one end of South Africa, whether it was Johannesburg or Durban or Cape Town. Cape Town with the parliament is that I was invited to speak there and an incident happened in, in or at the parliament I never forget. One of Monsanto´s representatives also had given a small presentation and I had given a presentation how their seeds and plants and so could be contaminated. And coming out of the assembly – the parliament assembly – I went face to face into Monsanto´s representative from Johannesburg and he was very, very, I would say rude and he said to me and shaking his fist to my face, he said: Nobody stands up to Monsanto, we’re gonna get you and we’re gonna destroy you. And he also went on to say that when I get back to Canada, I was gonna be in big trouble. And sure enough 3 weeks later when I got back to Canada, Monsanto launched another lawsuit against me for a million dollars and for all the court costs because they said I was stubborn, I was arrogant, I didn’t do what Monsanto wanted. And after another year of trial, the judge, the same judge as the first one that I had in the federal court, awarded Monsanto 153.000 dollars of court costs. They didn’t get the million.So I am now faced with an additional costs, if I would loose my case in the supreme court. But that shows you how they go out to intimidate you and put a fear into people by threaten some lawsuit and also doing law suits against farmers.
10:51:53    Narration:In May 2004 the Supreme Court of Canada announced its decision: 1. Percy Schmeiser did infringe upon the patent owned by Monsanto Corporation by illegally seeding his canola, which was contaminated with Monsanto´s GMO-seed.2. Because he did not actively use the patent, he its not required to pay any damages to Monsanto.At the same time as the judgement is being announced in Ottawa, Percy Schmeiser and his lawyer Zakresky address a press conference in Saskatoon.
10:52:07    Lawyer:There was, you know, approximate 200 thousand dollars judgement that was set aside by the supreme court of Canada today. And that to Percy is a fairly major victory.
10:52:19    Percy:Well, I really feel that the fact that I can save my farm, save my home without paying that costs to Monsanto, you know, I was looking at a 200 thousand dollar bill, so that is a major victory to me.
10:52:33    Louise:The first thing I said, I got a roof over my head. And that was very important to me.
10:53:01    Narration:The court rules further:The patent on the gene allows the owner to control the entire plant. i.e.  The patent on the gene has priority over ownership of the plant.
10:52:41    Percy:It says „Schmeiser loses court battle to Monsanto“ and that´s I’d said and just was talking to another lawyer that it could be the biggest win for us or for the people concerned about GMOs and time only telling, I’m sure that the supreme court in 4 or 5 years will have to revisit. Because with the results of their decision could mean that a corporation could control almost anything that they put the genes into or anything they put the patents on. That´s the way it stands right now. Also some people, legal people, have expressed that maybe it was a wise decision that eventually now Monsanto will be faced to have to control what they put into the environment for under liability issue. And if they put something in the environment that they apparently, and it´s known they can’t control, they’ll take a second look at it if they put something in there and they will end up with a mass of law suits which can break  the company.
10:53:48    Percy:Well, if you go back to what Monsanto´s lawyer who said, he says it´s like patent a piece of steel on the side of a car. We’re not claiming the whole car but only the piece of steel, but the supreme court went further than that.
10:54:08    Percy:I would just been talking with Nathan Bush, the one that phoned you yesterday and he was really telling me, he said, I had a great victory yesterday. And he said that we should phone up Terry and really give him encouragement. But he said, what now has happened is that farmers could break Monsanto. If every farmer would phone up Monsanto and say I think there’s some of your GMO-canola or soybeans in my field, come and get it, we don´t want it here or there is, we take some of your GMO seeds of canola or soybeans in my seed, come and get it. How would Monsanto to be able and take the plant of a farmer´s field. How would they know if it´s a canola plant when it´s – the seed is the same and the flower is the same. So Monsanto couldn´t , they couldn´t do it.
10:55:44    Lawyer:The ground of appeal that we were wanting to win on was the one that, we would say that, you know, just because you have a patent to a gene or a cell, it doesn’t give you a patent to a plant. The other part of the problem is what responsibility is to biotec companies have to farmers for patented material that escapes and causes damage. That issue is yet to come up, although the, you know, in that respect, the legal battle is as far as Percy is concerned is drawing to a close and many, many people around the world who had packed their hopes on that ground of appeal and hoped that we will succeed. But I don´t think it ends the war. The war’s gonna continue, it’ll continue in a different form. I think this a matter that parliament needs seriously to look at the impact. For now, we are going to say in this country that you can give patents to people that allow them to control organisms that spread themselves around, that raises implications that were raised in this case. That need to be addressed by parliament and I hope they are advised and do so.
10:56:26    Journalist:I wanna ask you a question it´s been reported by our national broadcaster this morning that the supreme court ruled that you deliberately planted the genetically modified Monsanto seed in your crops. And I just wanna know if this is a correct report or if you could straighten the record for that for ones and for all.
10:56:46    Lawyer:In my view if you’re not planting something intending to grow a Roundup-ready crop, meaning some crop you’re intending to spray with Roundup, you know, I don´t see what that goes. But as far as the supreme court was concerned and the lower courts latched on to that too if the cultivation of plants with the gene in it was sufficient to be a infringement
10:57:09    Percy:Today as a person, as I said it´s a personal victory, 6 years of legal battle, when we stood up to Monsanto back in 1998, we never realised it would ever go this far. And at one other point I’d like to make, especially comments about the biotec industry. You always have to remember, Monsanto laid the lawsuit against me. I did not lay the lawsuit against Monsanto. They were the ones to start. And we took, my wife and I took the position that a farmer should never ever loose his rights to use his seeds from year to year. And that was the basis we fought that. For the rights of farmers. And I know that my grandfather and my father was here today, that´s exactly what they would want me to do, because that was the reason they came to this country to be free and to use their seeds from year to year and plant them and grow them.
10:58:20    Percy:Monsanto´s patent on a gene is valid. And wherever that gene arises, by wherever means in any higher life form they own and control that life form. And when I use the term higher life form I don´t only mean seed or plants. It´s birds, bees, animals, even a human being. So now we have more questions than we have answers in Canada regards who owns life.
10:59:39    Narration:Since 2004 Percy Schmeiser has not planted canola on his farm and is growing wheat, oats and peas instead. But increasingly there are volunteers of roundup resistant canola on his fields. He informed Monsanto which tested the plants and confirmed them as being their patented canola. But they would not remove the plants unless a full release and non-disclosure agreement was signed.
10:59:27    Percy:And in that release form first of all they said, we can never ever talk to anyone. To the press or neighbours what the terms of settlement were.
10:59:37    Louise:They wanted us to sign to give all our rights away. Well that is no way we’re gonna do that. Just no way we give our freedom of speech away, you know, and they wanted us that we could never take them to court for the rest of our life. It wasn’t only Percy and myself, it was our children, they decided too that they would speak any wrong against Monsanto. And that´s the reason why we didn’t wanna sign it because there’s no way wanna give our rights away to a corporation.
11:00:13    Percy:Monsanto said ok, we won't remove the plants then. Then I called Monsanto then we are going to remove, I will get help and we will remove the plants and we will send you the bill. Monsanto immediately send us an e-mail and said, you are not allowed to do to those plants whatever you want because they are property. So I told that it´s your property, it´s on my property, we own the land, we pay the tax, get your property of our land.
11:01:23    Narration:Percy hired a neighbor to remove the plants and sent the bill to Monsanto for a total amount of 600 canadian dollars. Monsanto refused to pay and Louise Schmeiser filed a claim in the local small claims court.
11:01:00    Percy:Can you imagine the embarrassment to Monsanto, a billion dollar corporation coming to court for 600 dollars. But 5 minutes before  the trail Monsanto agreed to settle out of court. And they agreed that there would be no gag order, my wife and I could talk about it, I could talk to you about it here tonight. The most important thing, if I was contaminated again tomorrow morning, we could take Monsanto back to court again. So it was not only a great victory for ourselves but now it opened it up for all farmers in every part of the world if you are contaminated you now have an avenue, where you can take Monsanto. Not only Monsanto. You can take Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont to court  if you are contaminated because now a president has been established.
11:02:38    Laudator:Percy and Louise Schmeiser have given the world a wake-up call. The jury honours the Schmeisers for their courage in defending  biodiversity and farmers rights and challenging the environmental and moral perversity of current interpretations of patent laws. It is with very great pleasure that I present the 2007 Right-Livelihood-Award to Percy and Louise Schmeiser.
11:02:30    Percy:I think the energy comes from that. When I travel around the world and I meet so many people, so many organisations that have such a dedication, they want good food, they want safe food and they don´t want the environment, our air , our land, our soil contaminated with poisons. And then when I see how hard these people work at for what they believing, it gives me the courage and the strength to carry on.
11:03:18    Percy:My wife and I have 5 children, 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. And we often thought what kind of a future do we want to leave to the young generation. Did we want to leave a future with land, soil, water full of poisons. And I don´t think anyone here would want that sort of a future for the next generation. And we still have a chance to do it!
11:04:03    Abspann
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