Monsanto refutes claims in Neil Young’s documentary

Monsanto, a company that manufactures genetically engineered seeds for agriculture that has sparked the ire of Neil Young, has issued a statement to Rolling Stone responding to the singer-songwriter’s mini-documentary Seeding Fear. Young co-executive-produced the film, which examines the repercussions of a lawsuit between the corporation and farmer Michael White, whom it sued for patent infringement. The suit was settled out of court.

“Mr. White is not transparent in describing his actions or the situation,” a rep for the company tells Rolling Stone. “He actually admitted to knowingly planting, producing, saving, cleaning and selling Roundup Ready soybeans illegally. All of this information is available in court documents.

The rep also provided a link to a blog, hosted on the Monsanto website, titled “Correcting The Monsanto Years,” published earlier this month in response to the album Young put out this year, which attacks the company.

“Although they have tended to get a lot of attention, lawsuits between us and farmers who plant seeds without paying for them are actually very rare,” the company’s statement for Rolling Stone concludes. “Every year, hundreds of thousands of farmers plant our seeds. Since 1997, when we started trying to protect the patents on our seeds, we have gone to trial with a fraction of one percent of those customers. In addition, all of the proceeds we receive from any settlement – including Mr. White’s settlement – are donated to youth leadership initiatives and to support the local communities in which farmers live and work.”

Young declined to comment to Rolling Stone on Monsanto’s statement.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Monsanto Fires Back at Neil Young Over New Documentary

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