Monsanto May Lose Billions in Brazil Over "Monsanto Tax"

Monsanto May Lose Billions in Brazil Over “Monsanto Tax”
A court rules Monsanto’s outrageous taxes to be illegal, and now is forcing the company to pay them back!

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/07/monsanto-tax-over-brazil.aspx?e_cid=20120707_DNL_artNew_2

By Dr. Mercola

Brazil, the second-largest producer of genetically modified (GM) crops (after the U.S.), is the latest country to take a stand against biotech giant Monsanto, which could end up handing over at least $2 billion as a result.

A war has been waging against Monsanto in Brazil for nearly a decade, virtually ever since the country legalized farming of GM crops in 2005.

Since then, Monsanto has been charging Brazilian farmers double once for their seeds, and again when they sell their crops.

 

Farmers Have Had Enough With Monsantos Royalty Taxes and Penalties

In case youre wondering how Monsanto has risen to the ranks of a superpower, a major reason is their patent on GM seeds, like the GM soya seeds in Brazil, which account for nearly 85 percent of the countrys total soybean crop. Each GM seed is patented and sold under exclusive rights.

Therefore, farmers must purchase the GM seeds every year, because saving seeds (which has long been the traditional way) is considered to be patent infringement. Anyone who does save GM seeds must pay a license fee to actually re-sow them.

But thats not all.

In Brazil, Monsanto has charged farmers a 2 percent royalty fee on all of their Roundup Ready sales since 2005! And, they test all of the soy seeds marketed as non-GM to be sure they dont contain any Monsanto seeds. If they are found to contain the patented seeds, the farmer is penalized close to 3 percent of his sales!

The issue with the latter penalty is that GM soy is very hard to contain, and often contaminates nearby fields. So farmers are forced to pay a penalty for having their fields contaminated with GM crops, through no fault of their own and likely against their wishes entirely!
More at http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/07/monsanto-tax-over-brazil.aspx?e_cid=20120707_DNL_artNew_2