Patenting food. Monstanto vs. Mother Earth.

Thanks for the link. I've read a little about Monsanto before, they genuinely are disgusting but not surprising under capitalism.

I'd never heard of them before to tell the truth. It would be pretty awful for a lot of people if they did manage to get what they're trying to do through.

I think they have all ready impacted some. Apparently they sell engineered seeds to farmers that can only used for one season as the seeds that are produced from the plant are sterile resulting in farmers having to constantly repurchase from Monsanto.

I'm not completely sure on the issue but do they have to buy from Monsanto because the strains and varieties are patented or something like that?

I just googled them which I probably should have done earlier instead of relying on memory. What they have actually done is sell licenses of their patented seeds for only a year. There have been cases where they have bought lawsuits against farmers who have used seeds from the initial crop which is pretty messed up by any standard.

That's not capitalism. That's a company trying to monopolise system - where is the competition in that?

This isn't capitalism at work, this is bad capitalism at work

I agree. True capitalism - free market and all - doesn't look like this. It is a shame this sort of thing is allowed to carry on. I wonder if anyone on this forum will speak to the contrary.

Thanks for the link. I've read a little about Monsanto before, they genuinely are disgusting but not surprising under capitalism.