J’invite « Capitaine Poltron », « Anton » et autres « La coupe est pleine » à sortir de l’anonymat confortable derrière lequel ils se cachent pour participer à la conférence que je donnerai lundi prochain à l’Université populaire d’Arcueil.
Ce sera l’occasion d’échanger nos arguments de manière respectueuse et constructive: chiche!
Je transmets une dépêche AFP qui confirme ce que j’ai écrit dans mon livre: l’homologation des herbicides de la gamme roundup devrait être revue, car les informations transmises par Monsanto ne correspondent pas à la réalité des produits. Les tests que la multinationale a fait réaliser – sous réserve qu’ils aient été conduits correctement- l’ont été avec le glyphosate seul – le principe actif du roundup- c’est à dire sans les les multiples adjuvants et surfactants qui rentrent dans la composition de l’herbicide.
Pour une information complète, lire le dossier du MDRGF
Action du MDRGF et J Maret sur 2 formulations de Round Up : dépêche AFP
L’association écologiste MDRGF et un agriculteur bio français demandent au ministère de l’Agriculture le « retrait immédiat » de deux herbicides Roundup (Monsanto), dénonçant une différence entre les produits testés et les formules déclarées dans le cadre des autorisations de mise sur le marché.
Le MDRGF (Mouvement pour le droit et le respect des générations futures) et l’agriculteur concerné, Jacques Maret, ont fait procéder à des analyses scientifiques par deux laboratoires distincts de ces herbicides pour le jardin – Roundup Express et Roundup GT Plus, selon un communiqué mercredi.
Or, les résultats de ces analyses montrent que ces deux Roundup ne correspondent pas aux formules déposées et homologuées par le ministère, assurent-ils.
« Les analyses que nous avons fait faire témoignent de la présence du POEA dans les deux Roundup testés, contrairement aux informations transmises par le ministre de l’Agriculture », indique François Veillerette, président du MDRGF.
Le POEA (polyoxyéthilène) est une substance active (et non un simple adjuvant) potentiellement dangereuse, estime le MDRGF.
« Le mélange avec le glyphosate (élément principal du Round up) amplifie l’action du principe actif de l’herbicide et induit des mutations cellulaires », explique-t-on au MDRGF. « Nous étudions actuellement la possibilité d’entreprendre des actions en justice », assurent le MDRGF et l’agriculteur.
Je signale à mes lecteurs qu’un petit malin a usurpé mon identité pour écrire un commentaire malveillant. Il s’agit du commentaire 3 suivant mon post « Monsanto a gagné un prix à Copenhague »:
« En fait je n’ai aucune espèce d’aptitude pour donner mon avis sur un sujet agricole ! Tout ce que je cherche dans la vie se résume à DETRUIRE le mal personifié qu’est MONSANTO, c’est Yves COCHET qui me l’a dit ! Le reste l’écologie, le vivant c’est un peu des fadaises, quelques sujets utiles à ma cause tout au plus ! Défendre l’environnement me sert bien dans mon combat personnel mais si vous pensez à moi pour trouver des solutions : Passez votre chemin ! Je n’en ai d’ailleurs pas les capacités étant donné que je suis aussi une « bille » en agronomie, biologie ou sciences en général.
le 19/12/2009 à 13:19 , par
Marie-Monique R.
Je constate, une fois de plus, qu’étant en panne d’arguments sérieux pour répondre aux informations concrètes que j’apporte dans ce Blog, mes (quelques) détracteurs n’hésitent pas à recourir à des techniques sales comme la diffamation ou l’usurpation d’identité pour semer la confusion. C’est triste mais caractéristique de leur mode de fonctionnement…
J’invite les internautes à écrire à cet(te) indélicat(e) à l’adresse suivante:
MMR@free.fr
Une étude réalisée par le CRIIGEN confirme que trois OGM de Monsanto provoquent des effets sur la santé des cobayes qui les ont ingérés. L’étude a été publiée dans l’International Journal of Biological Sciences.
De nombreux journaux ont rapporté l’information qui confirme ce que j’ai longuement décrit dans mon film et livre: il est impératif que soit conduite une étude indépendante de deux ans minimum, – et pas de trois mois!- , pour vérifier la toxicité ou l’innocuité des OGM:
Voici le communiqué de presse du CRIIGEN:
EFFETS DE TROIS OGM SUR LA SANTE DES MAMMIFERES
International Journal of Biological Sciences, 2009, 5(7), 706-726
par J. Spiroux de Vendômois, F. Roullier, D. Cellier et G.E. Séralini
Pour la première fois au monde, les tests confidentiels de Monsanto qui ont permis les autorisations internationales de trois OGM commercialisés ont été contre expertisés par des chercheurs du CRIIGEN, de l’Université de Caen et Rouen. Ces OGM produisent des insecticides (MON810, MON863) ou absorbent le désherbant Roundup (NK603). Ils entrent déjà dans certains aliments des animaux et des humains.
Cette publication internationale montre des effets particuliers liés à la consommation de chaque OGM, différents selon le sexe et la dose. Ils sont associés aux foies et aux reins, les principaux organes réagissant lors d’une intoxication alimentaire chimique. D’autres effets touchent le coeur, les surrénales, la rate et les globules sanguins. Des tests aussi courts et avec si peu d’animaux étudiés par groupe (10) ne peuvent pas apporter des preuves finales de toxicité ou d’innocuité, ils sont cependant assez inquiétants pour réclamer que des études soient refaites sur une durée plus longue, sur plusieurs espèces et générations avec un nombre d’individus garantissant une puissance suffisante des tests statistiques. En attendant les résultats de telles études, l’importation et la culture de ces OGM doit être fermement interdite.
Le CRIIGEN dénonce les avis précédents de l’EFSA, de l’AFSSA et de la CGB, comités européen et français de sécurité des aliments, qui se sont prononcés sur l’absence de risques sur ces tests de 90 jours seulement, pour lesquels ils n’ont pas analysé eux-mêmes dans le détail les statistiques.
Le CRIIGEN souligne à présent le conflit d’intérêt et l’incompétence de ces comités pour contre expertiser la présente publication ; parce qu’ils se sont déjà prononcés positivement sur les mêmes tests en négligeant les effets secondaires.
Contact : Pr. Gilles-Eric Séralini, CRIIGEN, criigen@unicaen.fr. Tél : 02 31 56 56 84 ou 06 70 80 20 87
Citation:
de Vendômois JS, Roullier F, Cellier D, Séralini GE. A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health. Int J Biol Sci 2009; 5:706-726. Available from http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm
Je suis dans le regret de vous informer que la projection de mon film « Torture made in USA » qui devait avoir lieu ce soir au siège du Parti communiste français, a été repoussée à une date ultérieure que je vous communiquerai bientôt. Je devais, en effet, partir demain en Inde, pour poursuivre le tournage de mon prochain film, mais mon départ a été avancé à aujourd’hui, en raison des vols des avions. Je suis rentrée, dimanche, d’un deuxième voyage en Amérique du Nord (Etats Unis, Canada). Je vous rappelle que mon film est disponible gratuitement sur le site de Mediapart jusqu’au 19 décembre.
Monsanto vient de remporter le Prix de la Sirène en Colère attribué aux entreprises qui exercent un lobbying incessant pour faire capoter les négociations sur le climat, en préconisant des solutions fallacieuses, comme le recours massif aux cultures transgéniques, censées réduire l’émission de CO2.
Vous pouvez visionner la vidéo présentant la petite sirène, gardienne de la mer et de l’univers, ainsi que la conférence de presse de désignation du lauréat sur le site de Greenpeace Canada.
Par ailleurs, pour les anglophones, je signale cette enquête de Associated Press qui confirme ce que j’écrivais dans mon livre: aux Etats Unis les actions en justice se multiplient contre Monsanto, soupçonné d’avoir violé la loi antitrust américaine en établissant un monopole sur les semences avec, notamment, des techniques de licences abusives passées avec les petites compagnies semencières contraintes de n’utiliser que les seuls gènes brevetés par Monsanto, ce qui est une entorse à la concurrence.
Monsanto seed business role revealed
AP IMPACT: Secret documents detail Monsanto’s seed business domination amid antitrust fears
By Christopher Leonard, AP Agribusiness Writer
On 1:45 pm EST, Sunday December 13, 2009
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto Co.’s business practices reveal how the world’s biggest seed developer is squeezing competitors, controlling smaller seed companies and protecting its dominance over the multibillion-dollar market for genetically altered crops, an Associated Press investigation has found.
With Monsanto’s patented genes being inserted into roughly 95 percent of all soybeans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the U.S., the company also is using its wide reach to control the ability of new biotech firms to get wide distribution for their products, according to a review of several Monsanto licensing agreements and dozens of interviews with seed industry participants, agriculture and legal experts.
Declining competition in the seed business could lead to price hikes that ripple out to every family’s dinner table. That’s because the corn flakes you had for breakfast, soda you drank at lunch and beef stew you ate for dinner likely were produced from crops grown with Monsanto’s patented genes.
Monsanto’s methods are spelled out in a series of confidential commercial licensing agreements obtained by the AP. The contracts, as long as 30 pages, include basic terms for the selling of engineered crops resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, along with shorter supplementary agreements that address new Monsanto traits or other contract amendments.
The company has used the agreements to spread its technology — giving some 200 smaller companies the right to insert Monsanto’s genes in their separate strains of corn and soybean plants. But, the AP found, access to Monsanto’s genes comes at a cost, and with plenty of strings attached.
For example, one contract provision bans independent companies from breeding plants that contain both Monsanto’s genes and the genes of any of its competitors, unless Monsanto gives prior written permission — giving Monsanto the ability to effectively lock out competitors from inserting their patented traits into the vast share of U.S. crops that already contain Monsanto’s genes.
Monsanto’s business strategies and licensing agreements are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and at least two state attorneys general, who are trying to determine if the practices violate U.S. antitrust laws. The practices also are at the heart of civil antitrust suits filed against Monsanto by its competitors, including a 2004 suit filed by Syngenta AG that was settled with an agreement and ongoing litigation filed this summer by DuPont in response to a Monsanto lawsuit.
The suburban St. Louis-based agricultural giant said it’s done nothing wrong.
« We do not believe there is any merit to allegations about our licensing agreement or the terms within, » said Monsanto spokesman Lee Quarles. He said he couldn’t comment on many specific provisions of the agreements because they are confidential and the subject of ongoing litigation.
« Our approach to licensing (with) many companies is pro-competitive and has enabled literally hundreds of seed companies, including all of our major direct competitors, to offer thousands of new seed products to farmers, » he said.
The benefit of Monsanto’s technology for farmers has been undeniable, but some of its major competitors and smaller seed firms claim the company is using strong-arm tactics to further its control.
« We now believe that Monsanto has control over as much as 90 percent of (seed genetics). This level of control is almost unbelievable, » said Neil Harl, agricultural economist at Iowa State University who has studied the seed industry for decades. « The upshot of that is that it’s tightening Monsanto’s control, and makes it possible for them to increase their prices long term. And we’ve seen this happening the last five years, and the end is not in sight. »
At issue is how much power one company can have over seeds, the foundation of the world’s food supply. Without stiff competition, Monsanto could raise its seed prices at will, which in turn could raise the cost of everything from animal feed to wheat bread and cookies.
The price of seeds is already rising. Monsanto increased some corn seed prices last year by 25 percent, with an additional 7 percent hike planned for corn seeds in 2010. Monsanto brand soybean seeds climbed 28 percent last year and will be flat or up 6 percent in 2010, said company spokeswoman Kelli Powers.
Monsanto’s broad use of licensing agreements has made its biotech traits among the most widely and rapidly adopted technologies in farming history. These days, when farmers buy bags of seed with obscure brand names like AgVenture or M-Pride Genetics, they are paying for Monsanto’s licensed products.
One of the numerous provisions in the licensing agreements is a ban on mixing genes — or « stacking » in industry lingo — that enhance Monsanto’s power.
One contract provision likely helped Monsanto buy 24 independent seed companies throughout the Farm Belt over the last few years: that corn seed agreement says that if a smaller company changes ownership, its inventory with Monsanto’s traits « shall be destroyed immediately. »
Another provision from contracts earlier this decade– regarding rebates — also help explain Monsanto’s rapid growth as it rolled out new products.
One contract gave an independent seed company deep discounts if the company ensured that Monsanto’s products would make up 70 percent of its total corn seed inventory. In its 2004 lawsuit, Syngenta called the discounts part of Monsanto’s « scorched earth campaign » to keep Syngenta’s new traits out of the market.
Quarles said the discounts were used to entice seed companies to carry Monsanto products when the technology was new and farmers hadn’t yet used it. Now that the products are widespread, Monsanto has discontinued the discounts, he said.
The Monsanto contracts reviewed by the AP prohibit seed companies from discussing terms, and Monsanto has the right to cancel deals and wipe out the inventory of a business if the confidentiality clauses are violated.
Thomas Terral, chief executive officer of Terral Seed in Louisiana, said he recently rejected a Monsanto contract because it put too many restrictions on his business. But Terral refused to provide the unsigned contract to AP or even discuss its contents because he was afraid Monsanto would retaliate and cancel the rest of his agreements.
« I would be so tied up in what I was able to do that basically I would have no value to anybody else, » he said. « The only person I would have value to is Monsanto, and I would continue to pay them millions in fees. »
Independent seed company owners could drop their contracts with Monsanto and return to selling conventional seed, but they say it could be financially ruinous. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready gene has become the industry standard over the last decade, and small companies fear losing customers if they drop it. It also can take years of breeding and investment to mix Monsanto’s genes into a seed company’s product line, so dropping the genes can be costly.
Monsanto acknowledged that U.S. Department of Justice lawyers are seeking documents and interviewing company employees about its marketing practices. The DOJ wouldn’t comment.
A spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said the office is examining possible antitrust violations. Additionally, two sources familiar with an investigation in Texas said state Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office is considering the same issues. States have the authority to enforce federal antitrust law, and attorneys general are often involved in such cases.
Monsanto chairman and chief executive officer Hugh Grant told investment analysts during a conference call this fall that the price increases are justified by the productivity boost farmers get from the company’s seeds. Farmers and seed company owners agree that Monsanto’s technology has boosted yields and profits, saving farmers time they once spent weeding and money they once spent on pesticides.
But recent price hikes have still been tough to swallow on the farm.
« It’s just like I got hit with bad weather and got a poor yield. It just means I’ve got less in the bottom line, » said Markus Reinke, a corn and soybean farmer near Concordia, Mo. who took over his family’s farm in 1965. « They can charge because they can do it, and get away with it. And us farmers just complain, and shake our heads and go along with it. »
Any Justice Department case against Monsanto could break new ground in balancing a company’s right to control its patented products while protecting competitors’ right to free and open competition, said Kevin Arquit, former director of the Federal Trade Commission competition bureau and now a antitrust attorney with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York.
« These are very interesting issues, and not just for the companies, but for the Justice Department, » Arquit said. « They’re in an area where there is uncertainty in the law and there are consumer welfare implications and government policy implications for whatever the result is. »
Other seed companies have followed Monsanto’s lead by including restrictive clauses in their licensing agreements, but their products only penetrate smaller segments of the U.S. seed market. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready gene, on the other hand, is in such a wide array of crops that its licensing agreements can have a massive effect on the rules of the marketplace.
Monsanto was only a niche player in the seed business just 12 years ago. It rose to the top thanks to innovation by its scientists and aggressive use of patent law by its attorneys.
First came the science, when Monsanto in 1996 introduced the world’s first commercial strain of genetically engineered soybeans. The Roundup Ready plants were resistant to the herbicide, allowing farmers to spray Roundup whenever they wanted rather than wait until the soybeans had grown enough to withstand the chemical.
The company soon released other genetically altered crops, such as corn plants that produced a natural pesticide to ward off bugs. While Monsanto had blockbuster products, it didn’t yet have a big foothold in a seed industry made up of hundreds of companies that supplied farmers.
That’s where the legal innovations came in, as Monsanto became among the first to widely patent its genes and gain the right to strictly control how they were used. That control let it spread its technology through licensing agreements, while shaping the marketplace around them.
Back in the 1970s, public universities developed new traits for corn and soybean seeds that made them grow hardy and resist pests. Small seed companies got the traits cheaply and could blend them to breed superior crops without restriction. But the agreements give Monsanto control over mixing multiple biotech traits into crops.
The restrictions even apply to taxpayer-funded researchers.
Roger Boerma, a research professor at the University of Georgia, is developing specialized strains of soybeans that grow well in southeastern states, but his current research is tangled up in such restrictions from Monsanto and its competitors.
« It’s made one level of our life incredibly challenging and difficult, » Boerma said.
The rules also can restrict research. Boerma halted research on a line of new soybean plants that contain a trait from a Monsanto competitor when he learned that the trait was ineffective unless it could be mixed with Monsanto’s Roundup Ready gene.
Boerma said he hasn’t considered asking Monsanto’s permission to mix its traits with the competitor’s trait.
« I think the co-mingling of their trait technology with another company’s trait technology would likely be a serious problem for them, » he said.
Quarles pointed out that Monsanto has signed agreements with several companies allowing them to stack their traits with Monsanto’s. After Syngenta settled its lawsuit, for example, the companies struck a broad cross-licensing accord.
At the same time, Monsanto’s patent rights give it the authority to say how independent companies use its traits, Quarles said.
« Please also keep in mind that, as the (intellectual property developer), it is our right to determine who will obtain rights to our technology and for what purpose, » he said.
Monsanto’s provision requiring companies to destroy seeds containing Monsanto’s traits if a competitor buys them prohibited DuPont or other big firms from bidding against Monsanto when it snapped up two dozen smaller seed companies over the last five years, said David Boies, a lawyer representing DuPont who previously was a prosecutor on the federal antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.
Competitive bids from companies like DuPont could have made it far more expensive for Monsanto to bring the smaller companies into its fold. But that contract provision prevented bidding wars, according to DuPont.
« If the independent seed company is losing their license and has to destroy their seeds, they’re not going to have anything, in effect, to sell, » Boies said. « It requires them to destroy things — destroy things they paid for — if they go competitive. That’s exactly the kind of restriction on competitive choice that the antitrust laws outlaw. »
Quarles said some of the Monsanto contracts let companies sell their inventory for a period of time, rather than be required to destroy it. Seed companies also don’t have to pay royalty fees on the bags of seed they destroyed.
« Simply put, it was designed to facilitate early adoption of the technology, » he said.
Some independent seed company owners say they feel increasingly pinched as Monsanto cements its leadership in the industry.
« They have the capital, they have the resources, they own lots of companies, and buying more. We’re small town, they’re Wall Street, » said Bill Cook, co-owner of M-Pride Genetics seed company in Garden City, Mo., who also declined to discuss or provide the agreements. « It’s very difficult to compete in this environment against companies like Monsanto. »
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved