Monsanto sued by wheat farmer over gene-altered seed release
Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed company, was sued by a Kansas farmer who accused it of negligently releasing genetically altered wheat seed in the U.S. and damaging the export market for his crop.Recently:
The modified strain, which isn’t approved for human consumption or sale, was discovered on an 80-acre Oregon farm in April, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
The lawsuit filed yesterday by Ernest Barnes of Morton County, Kansas, in federal court in Wichita could be the first of many against St. Louis-based Monsanto alleging contamination, according to a statement from his lawyers.
“Monsanto has failed our nation’s wheat farmers,” his attorney Stephen Sussman, of Houston-based Sussman Godfrey LLP, said in yesterday’s statement. “Monsanto knew of the risks its genetically altered wheat posed and failed to protect farmers and their crops from those risks.”
Barnes, who accused the company of negligence, gross negligence and creating a nuisance, is seeking at least $100,000, according to the complaint....MORE
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