WICHITA, Kan.
A Kansas farmer has sued seed giant Monsanto over last week's discovery
of genetically engineered experimental wheat in an 80-acre field in
Oregon, claiming the company's gross negligence hurt U.S. growers by
driving down wheat prices and causing some international markets to
suspend certain imports.
The federal civil lawsuit, filed Monday
by Ernest Barnes, who farms 1,000 acres near Elkhart in southwest
Kansas, seeks unspecified damages to be determined at trial.
U.S. Agriculture Department officials said last Wednesday that the
modified wheat was the same strain as one designed by Monsanto to be
herbicide-resistant that was tested in Oregon and several other states
through 2005 but never approved. The USDA has said the Oregon wheat is
safe to eat and there is no evidence that modified wheat entered the
marketplace.
It's believed to be the first lawsuit stemming from
the discovery. Similar lawsuits are in the works, Barnes' attorney
said, and the cases will likely be consolidated for the purposes of
discovery, a process where evidence is investigated and shared among
parties.
No genetically engineered wheat has been approved for
U.S. farming. Many countries will not accept imports of genetically
modified foods, and the United States exports about half of its wheat
crop. Since the announcement, Japan one of the largest export markets
for U.S. wheat growers suspended some imports. South Korea said it would
increase its inspections of U.S. wheat imports.
Barnes referred
all calls to his attorneys. One of them, Warren Burns, said that the
scope of the damage is potentially in the hundreds of millions of
dollars. He said the lawsuit seeks to make sure their client is
compensated for his losses.
"These types of suits serve the
purpose of helping police the agricultural system we have in place and
make sure farmers are protected," Burns said in a phone interview
Tuesday from Dallas.
In a written statement Tuesday, St.
Louis-based Monsanto said the report of a few volunteer plants in one
Oregon field is the ostensible basis for the lawsuit.
"Tractor-chasing lawyers have prematurely filed suit without any
evidence of fault and in advance of the crop's harvest,'' said David
Snively, Monsanto executive vice president and general counsel.
The company said its process for closing out its original wheat
development program was rigorous, government-directed, well documented
and audited. It noted wheat seed, on average, is viable for only one or
two years in the soil.
Monsanto also contended that, given the
care undertaken to prevent contamination, no legal liability exists and
it will present a vigorous defense.
The modified wheat was
discovered when field workers at an eastern Oregon wheat farm were
clearing acres and came across a patch of wheat that didn't belong. The
workers sprayed it, but the wheat wouldn't die. It was then sent to a
university lab in early May.
Tests at Oregon State University
confirmed that the plants were a strain developed by Monsanto to resist
its Roundup Ready herbicides that were tested between 1998 and 2005. At
the time, Monsanto had applied to the USDA for permission to develop the
engineered wheat, but the company later withdrew that.
The
Agriculture Department has said that, during that seven-year period, it
authorized more than 100 field tests for the herbicide-resistant seed.
Tests were conducted in in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida,
Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North
Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.
Burns said
the case "looks and smells" like the litigation that arose from the
contamination of the U.S. rice crop from genetically modified rice.
Bayer CropScience, a German conglomerate, announced in 2011 that it
would pay up to $750 million to settle claims, including those from
farmers who say they had to plant different crops and made less money
from them.
Burns anticipated Barnes' lawsuit would remain in
U.S. District Court in Kansas because "a tremendous amount of harm has
fallen on Kansas and Kansas farms." It has been assigned to U.S.
District Judge Monti Belot in Wichita.
Burns said lawyers see a
challenge that affects farmers' ability to make a living and may deny
them both the markets and the ability to sell their wheat.
"We
view it as very important to maintaining farmers and maintaining the way
of life they lead, which is very important not only to this country but
countries around the world to which we export," he said. "It is hard to
underestimate the importance of the American wheat crop in sustaining
people around the globe."
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