Monsanto lawsuit filed by farmers over GMO wheat
聽American wheat farmers and a聽food safety聽advocacy group filed a lawsuit Thursday against biotech seed developer聽Monsanto聽Co, accusing the company of failing to protect the U.S. wheat market from contamination by its unauthorized wheat.
The petition, filed in the聽U.S. District Court聽for the Eastern District of聽Washington, seeks class-action status to represent other farmers it says were harmed by lower wheat prices as some foreign buyers have shied away from U.S. wheat.
It names Clarmar Farms Inc., farmer聽Tom Stahl, and the Center for聽Food Safety聽as plaintiffs.
The suit follows a similar action filed Monday by a聽Kansas聽wheat farmer, alleging that he and other growers have been hurt financially by the discovery of an unapproved biotech wheat that聽Monsanto聽said it stopped testing and shelved nine years ago.
Two other farmers lodged a similar lawsuit in federal court in the western district of聽Washington聽state.
The lawsuits come after the聽U.S. Department of Agriculture聽announced May 29 that a wheat farmer in聽Oregon聽had discovered聽Monsanto's experimental wheat growing on his farm.
"It risks one of the U.S.'s most important export markets unnecessarily,"聽George Kimbrell, senior attorney with the Center for聽Food Safety.
Buyers in聽Asia聽and聽Europe聽shunned U.S. wheat purchases after the discovery of the rogue wheat in聽Oregon.South Korea聽and聽Japan聽have suspended some U.S. wheat purchases, while the聽European Union聽said it would step up testing.
The wheat was developed by聽Monsanto聽to withstand treatments of its Roundup weed killer, but the firm never commercialized the product because of widespread industry opposition. International buyers threatened to boycott U.S. wheat if the biotech wheat was introduced to the marketplace.聽Monsanto聽said in 2004 that it would end efforts to commercialize the "Roundup Ready" wheat.
This week,聽Monsanto聽said that in ending its field testing, the company instructed test participants to destroy the GMO wheat or ship it to the聽U.S. Department of Agriculture's seed storage facility in聽Colorado. Company officials have said they have no idea how their biotech wheat could be growing in聽Oregon.
Monsanto聽lawyer聽Kyle McCain聽called the lawsuits premature.
"The facts to date show the report of glyphosate-tolerant wheat is limited to one field in聽Oregon, and no such wheat has entered the stream of commerce," McCain said in a statement.
In the suit filed Thursday in聽Spokane,聽Washington, plaintiffs say聽Monsanto's failure to contain the wheat amounts to "wrongful conduct" that has potentially contaminated "the entire wheat farming and production chain," and places many wheat farmers at risk for continued harm through cross-pollination and contamination of their crops.
The petition says the claims are brought on behalf of all U.S. soft white wheat growers and harvesters from May 29.
The field testing聽Monsanto聽had been doing in many U.S. states was supposed to keep the biotech wheat from contaminating conventional wheat supplies.
The lawsuit does not seek specific monetary damages but asks for "compensatory damages" as well as punitive damages and ask that聽Monsanto聽be required to decontaminate equipment, storage and transportation facilities.
Monsanto聽says it followed a "government-directed, rigorous, well-documented and audited" program in its wheat field trials.
But Kimbrell said regulators do not provide proper oversight of experimental biotech crops.
"The lawsuit underscores the continuing risk to consumers and farmers from unregulated genetically engineered crops," Kimbrell said. "This is not the first time this has happened. We have a broken regulatory system."a laws
