Poor Beekeepers 1 Monsanto 0

[Chucaro]

This news made me very happy

Sweet victory for Mexico beekeepers as Monsanto loses GM permit

Now I hope that the Tasmanian beekeepers and others in OZ can use this as a precedent in legal issues.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Its only one small battle in a very large war against a company with lots of lawyers, deep pockets and a history of litigation.

[ramblingboy42]

Bees are so important to humans....

but the big companies would love to develop all their crops so they weren't reliant upon bees for fertilisation....

there must be a greater power out there somewhere to put these greedy bastards in their place.

they are not just content with big profits, they want bigger profits regardless of who it hurts.

there is another HUGE company called Cargill , completely dominating global seed markets , which swallows up beef cattle feedlots (seed , pet food , burger manufacturing) , responsible mainly for corn seed (GM) distribution throughout the world. google and weep.

[Chucaro]

Its only one small battle in a very large war against a company with lots of lawyers, deep pockets and a history of litigation.

That it is the reason why it is a sweet win

[jx2mad]

Yes, a good win. I have 3 hives on my property. About 5 years ago all my hives were destroyed by hive beetle attack, despite my countermeasures. For many years there were wild swarms in this area but having lost mine there were no bees at all. I had to frantically hand pollinate my pumpkin crop until I was able to restock. This took about 6 months but all is well again. People really don't understand how vital bees are for our survival. Honey production worldwide is falling with disease taking its toll on hives. I am constantly getting mail from honey distributers offering to buy my honey (3 hives?) but I can sell all I can produce from home. Australia is fortunate that so far we do not have all the problems other countries have but it will only be time before we struggle too. Jim

[Gerokent]

Quote: "But this is a high-stakes game to play, in which indigenous communities are being forced to fight their own government and multinational corporations with multimillion-dollar legal departments, simply to have their constitutional rights honoured and protect their traditional ways of farming and living."

Isn't this how most of the populations in most capitilistic countries live these days? Fighting for their constitutional rights and liberties.
It's good to see there are still some people in the judisiory(spellcheck) that have not been brought as of yet.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I think we all agree that bees are important for the planet, but lets not be misled about multinational agribusinesses particularly the one in question.

With current practices of locking farmers into annual seed purchase for cropping, instead of the traditional practice of keeping a portion of production for next season's planting, you can see that their business model is to dominate seed supply Globally. IMHO if they could develop a way for their GM crops to fruit/seed without any biological assistance these giant agrobusinesses would be happy for the complete demise of bees because it is a great buisness plan for them. You can bet they are working on it.

If their previous history is any sort of guide, they will keep these cases in litigation, for decades if needs be, until they get their way or their oposition are bankrupt (or both).

Diana

(* no its not a typo)

[Chucaro]

I agree, Monsanto, DuPont/Pioneer Hi-Bred, Syngenta, and Dow AgroSciences are very powerful and have the help of greedy agricultural companies and corrupt politicians in some countries.

[wrinklearthur]

It certainly doesn't hurt to visit these type of issues occasionally, bee's are still necessary for us to live as well.

Fruit tree pollination is only one example of what bee's are needed for and they are definitely not a broadacre crop.

[Chucaro]

Going by the news (not from the normal media) looks like that many people have the guts full with Monsanto.

Monsanto Must Pay $93 Million After Poisoning Town

.......and the corrupt politicians do what ever bully tactic is on their hands to support Monsanto

U.S. Government To Pull Foreign Aid In El Salvador For Refusing Monsanto Seeds