Monsanto imprisons its critics (Update)
In France where Monsato is attempting to overturn the EU's position against genetically modified organisms being released into the wild, aka "cultivated adjacent to and cross pollinating with" food crops, the politically conservative and pro-corporatist government is prosecuting Monsanto's critics. The sentences being sought by the public prosecutor range from six months imprisonment to thousands of dollars in fines, and two years loss of civil rights, for each person who participated in flatening just under half an acre of Monsanto patented GM "corn" before it went into tassel. Corn normally cross-pollinates over several miles, depending on the surface air movements during the days when it is in tassel.
The attorney for Monsanto claims that the cash value lost by his client for .41 acres of its product is € 313,000, or $413,676, which comes as something of a surprise to us since corn production in Iowa runs to about 150 bushels per acre, plus or minus 25 bushels, depending on land and water and GM or non-GM seed, and pesticide or organic choices. There are 300 bu/acre producers, but the average is ... 150, at $190/bu, or about two thousand times less than Monsanto claims it lost on less than half an acre in France. When the effect of US or EU crop subsidies is factored in, the numbers look a little better, only one thousand times less than Monsanto claims it lost on less than half an acre.
Update: The public prosecutor now wants DNA samples from all of the defendants, under a law promoted by Interior Minister (and Presidential candidate) Nicolas Sarkozy in 2003.