GMO seed: Beg for Forgiveness

There is an old adage that it is better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

Apparently, Bayer CropScience (and other GMO firms, such as Monsento) strongly abide by this philosophy.

Bayer multi-corp has been hit with two more lawsuits (bringing the total to three) claiming that trace amounts of its genetically modified rice were found in rice storage bins in Arkansas and Missouri-- leading to the contamination of the US long grain rice supply (read: ENTIRE US long grain supply).

Yes -- that's the equation: do, don't ask; small amounts of GMO contaminent; entire supply of product contaminated.

The result: price of product drops dramatically (there are entire swaths of countries that absolutely refuse any contact with GMO); farmers suffer from current price drop; farmers must now pay for the priviledge of using patented rice (even though it wasn't an option they chose).

The sad reality is Bayer CropScience simply took a page out of Monsanto page book. Monsanto is the corporation Saskatchewan farmers are sueing (in a class action) regarding the potential contimation of wheat. Originally, Monsanto-produced GMO corn had infected a farmer's field -- which prompted the company to sue Percy Schmeiser for use of product without authorization. The sad reality is Percy Schmeiser never planted the modified seed. He simply had the misfortune of being in close proximity to Monsanto fields; this resulted in contamination, which ruined the fields owned and operated by Percy Schmeiser.

Final analysis: It's better to beg for forgiveness, and reap the rewards, as the punishment for such action a) does not deter such behaviour and, b) cannot outweigh the financial rewards (current, but in particular future) that will result in the dominance of a proprietary seed.

Hopefully, legal actions taken against Bayer CropScience will support the former legal decision against Monsanto -- that contimination is not the responsibility of the farmer and that we, as

For more information go to: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-08-29T184418Z_01_N29437472_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-FOOD-BAYER-RICE-DC.XML&from=business

For more information on Percy Schmeiser and Monsanto: http://www.percyschmeiser.com/