Monsanto cops a US fine for mislabelling GM

Monsanto has been ordered to pay a $2.5 million penalty in the United States for misleading labelling on its GM cotton seeds.

The case was investigated by the Environment Protection Agency, on the grounds that Monsanto should not have been selling GM Bollguard cotton seeds to farmers in parts of Texas.

Australia's anti-GM lobby group Gene Ethics has leapt on the fine (handed down in August 2010) saying it's another example of how "Monsanto misleads farmers and consumers."

"Well, it's really just a tap on the wrist: $2.5 million would be petty cash for Monsanto," says Bob Phelps of Gene Ethics.

He's been campaigning since 1988, to keep food GM-free, for "human health and safety."

"Monsanto has this habit of being fully aware of the harmfulness of its products, but has the habit of publicly asserting the opposite, from what's known inside the company."

And he argues Monsanto gets away with making huge profits in the meantime.

"Also controlling the global food and seed supply is part of its agenda."

Monsanto concedes it misled cotton and corn growers in Texas, by not specifying the cotton seed was BT cotton - but it was a technical mistake.

"Yes in those 10 counties in Texas, corn was the main crop being grown and cotton was very much in the minority...

"As we were taking our product to market, our bollgard cotton... the regulators (were concerned) about introducing bollgard cotton in a landscape where there was bollgard corn, that was going to impact negatively on the corn growers because they would have to plant refuge for resistance management purposes.

"So in those 10 counties, we were supposed to, and should have had, on our guide to growing bollgard cotton, that it was restricted in those areas.

"Unfortunately, administratively we tripped up, and those restrictions weren't communicated to the industry and hence Bollgard cotton was planted."

They've since been back and communicated to growers in those counties.

Since the breach in Texas, Monsanto has received approval for genetically manipulated bollgard cotton to be sold in those counties of Texas. Cotton Australia's website is full of praise for the reduction in chemical use since GM cotton was introduced 15 years ago.

"The cotton industry uses three types of transgenic cotton: Bollgard II ® (from the naturally occurring soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)) and Roundup Ready® (from the soil bacterium called Agrobacterium tumefaciens) and Liberty Link Cotton"