11/01/2005 - Monsanto has
been fined for bribing senior Indonesian environment
ministry official to try and avoid an environmental
assessment on its GE cotton.
What do you do if you're trying to plant genetically
engineered cotton in a hurry, but the government
wants to make sure there won't be any environmental
damage from doing so? If you're the giant
Monsanto corporation, one answer might be:
bribe somebody to skip over that pesky environmental
assessment. Who knows how many times this
tried and true practice has worked before?
This time, they've been caught red-handed
in Indonesia, and fined US$1.5 million.
As the world's largest GE crop company, Monsanto
is aggressively promoting its products across
the globe by trying to dismiss any environmental
concerns, steamroller consumer opposition
and circumvent government regulations.
If their GE crops are as environmentally
safe, wholesome and well- tested as Monsanto
claims then you'd think it wouldn't need to
grease the palms of politicians to get approval
for its crops. But it has been caught paying
US$50,000 to the senior Indonesian environment
ministry official to try and avoid an environmental
assessment on its GE cotton. Obviously Monsanto
wouldn't want any of its claims about its
crops independently tested would it?
Monsanto records show US$700,000 of "questionable
or illegal" payments from 1997-2001 to
current and former Indonesian government officials
and their family members. Obviously nothing
works better than piles of cash to help smooth
the path of government approval for controversial
GE crop, when faced with opposition from activists
and farmers in Indonesia.
Some activists might be unsurprised at such
underhand tactics. But to be caught so blatantly
bribing government officials in order to secure
'legal' approval of its GE crops is surely
a major embarrassment even to a company with
such a dodgy history as Monsanto.
Monsanto had little choice but to admit its
guilt in the case and pay fines of US$1.5
million to US government regulators and agree
to three years' close monitoring of its business
practices by US authorities.
Crime pays?
Why has Monsanto been so desperate to get
GE crops approved in Indonesia? The answer
can be found in Argentina, Brazil and the
US where Monsanto has near-monopolies in the
GE soya, maize and cotton markets. Because
the GE seeds are patented they must be brought
from the company every year. That means fat
profits for Monsanto but bad news for poor
farmers in countries like Indonesia.
Bribes, corruption and relatively insignificant
fines are small change for Monsanto compared
to the huge prize of monopoly position in
countries with large agricultural sectors.
And once GE crops are planted in a country,
any contamination of non-GE crops means Monsanto
can also claim royalties from these farmers
as it has done in Canada.
