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Monsanto, World's Largest Genetically Modified Food Producer, To Be Charged With Biopiracy In India (VIDEO)
Amazing! It's nice to see Monsanto finally taken to task by a major government for its unethical business practices. Now if only the U.S. government had the balls to do the same, our farmers might not be under so much attack from this corporation.
Monsanto, World's Largest Genetically Modified Food Producer, To Be Charged With Biopiracy In India (VIDEO)
Monsanto said:Add a new word to your lexicon: Biopiracy.
That’s what U.S.-based agribusiness giant Monsanto has been accused of in India, where the government is planning to charge the company with violating the country’s biodiversity laws over a genetically modified version of eggplant.
In doing so, India has placed itself at the focal point of the movement to challenge genetically modified crops, which opponents say are destroying traditional crops and threatening farmers’ livelihoods.
...
India announced last month it is pursuing charges against Monsanto for "stealing" an indigenous crop -- eggplant -- and using it to create a modified version without permission, a violation of India’s decade-old Biological Diversity Act. It’s the first prosecution of a company for the act of "biopiracy" in the country, and possibly the world.
At the heart of the issue is the phenomenon of the commercialization of indigenous knowledge. Indian farmers argue that they developed the strains of eggplant grown in India over generations, and Monsanto has no right to come in and build a product out of their own indigenous species.
Monsanto took locally-grown eggplant “without any conformance with the biological diversity act, and therefore it is biopiracy,” said Leo Saldanha, director of the Environmental Support Group, an Indian NGO. Saldanha filed the initial complaint that prompted India to pursue charges.
Amazing! It's nice to see Monsanto finally taken to task by a major government for its unethical business practices. Now if only the U.S. government had the balls to do the same, our farmers might not be under so much attack from this corporation.
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