Organic growers case against Monsanto dismissed

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York has officially dismissed a lawsuit brought by The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) and dozens of other plaintiff growers and organisations against Monsanto Company.

OSGATA and plaintiffs in the case alleged that they did not want to grow crops containing Monsanto's biotechnology traits but feared a patent-infringement lawsuit in the event the company's traits happened to enter their fields inadvertently through, for example, cross-pollination. However, the court rejected the lawsuit finding that OSGATA and plaintiffs had engaged in a "transparent effort to create a controversy where none exists." Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine and the International Milling Directory from Perendale Publishers. To get your copy of 'PPLAPP' click here.

FDA sued over antibiotics in animal feed

A coalition of health and consumer organisations have filed a federal lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), claiming that the FDA failed to take action to protect human health. The suit alleges that the FDA has known since 1977 that feeding animals low doses of certain antibiotics used in human medicine namely penicillin and tetracyclines could promote antibiotic-resistant bacteria capable of infecting people.

Despite this conclusion and laws requiring that the agency act on its findings, the FDA failed to take any action to protect human health. The lawsuit seeks to "compel FDA to take action on the agency's own safety findings, withdrawing approval for most non-therapeutic uses of penicillin and tetracyclines in animal feed." Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little, The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine and the International Milling Directory from Perendale Publishers

Riceland Awarded US$136.8 Million In Suit Against Bayer CropScience

A Stuttgart jury on Friday awarded Riceland Foods Inc. US$136.8 million (UK£84.244 million) in its lawsuit against Bayer CropScience over genetically modified rice. The award is believed to be the largest in Arkansas history. The circuit court jury said Bayer CropScience owed Riceland US$11.8 million (UK£7.267 million) in compensatory damages and US$125 million (UK£76.978 million) in punitive damages.

(An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect figure for the compensatory damages.) In an e-mailed statement Friday night, Bayer CropScience expressed its disappointment with the verdict and said it was considering its legal options. It also noted that Arkansas law limits punitive damages to US$1 million UK£616,000). Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.