CONNECT
Monsanto Faced with Paying 7.5 Billion Back to Farmers
Natural Society / News Analysis
Published: Wednesday 20 June 2012
Back in April, a Brazilian court ruled that Monsanto absolutely was responsible for paying back the exorbitant amounts of cash back to the farmers, ordering the company to issue back all of the taxes collected since 2004 — a minimum of 2 billion dollars.
Monsanto may soon be forced to pay as much as 7.5 billion dollars back to the farmers who say that the mega corporation took their rightfully earned income and taxed their small businesses to financial shambles. It all started with a monumental lawsuit launched by over 5 million farmers against Monsanto looking to recover financial losses from ridiculous seed taxes that bankrupted many families.
Back in April, a Brazilian court ruled that Monsanto absolutely was responsible for paying back the exorbitant amounts of cash back to the farmers, ordering the company to issue back all of the taxes collected since 2004 — a minimum of 2 billion dollars. Afterwards, Monsanto appealed the decision and the case is now suspended until a further hearing is initiated by the Justice Tribune of the local court stationed in Rio Grande do Sul.
Recently, however, the Brazilian Supreme Court declared that any decision reached in a local court case should apply nationally. The result? Monsanto now faces even larger charges, due to the larger legal application on a national level. Now, the charges total or exceed 7.5 billion dollars.
“The values involved could total 15 billion reais ($7.5bn),” said the Superior Tribunal of Justice on its website.
Lawsuits and criminal charges continue to hit Monsanto, scratching away at the financial foundation of the agricultural behemoth. Monsanto has been found guilty of chemical poisoning in France after their weed killer product led to neurological problems, and the company has even dished out 93 million to victims of toxic dioxin. As Monsanto continues to be slammed with lawsuits, many of which are from multitudes of affected farmers and individuals, awareness spreads among the general public regarding the corporation’s true acts.
It was this same corporation that was caught running what has been labeled slave rings, in which workers were forced to work for 14 hours per day or more cultivating the fields and were not permitted to leave. Monsanto’s crimes are slowly coming to light, and the public is demanding action.
Get Email Alerts from NationofChange
ABOUT Anthony Gucciardi
Anthony is an accomplished investigative journalist whose articles have appeared on top news sites and have been read by millions worldwide. A health activist and researcher, Anthony’s goal is informing the public as to how they can use natural methods to revolutionize their health, as well as exploring the behind the scenes activity of the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA.
15 comments on "Monsanto Faced with Paying 7.5 Billion Back to Farmers "
June 24, 2012 2:36pm
NO ONE OR NOTHING IS TOO BIG TO FAIL. NOTHING OR NO ONE!!
June 21, 2012 1:57pm
I agree that the article is confusing. However, there is a reference in the article to another article where they explain what they mean by Monsanto's tax. Basically, Brazilian law gives the farmers the right to use the seeds from last year's harvest. Monsanto then collects royalties for the reuse of their patented GMO seeds. These royalties are referred to as a "TAX" by one of the farmer's lawyers, not royalty payments, since in Brazil, the GMO soy patent has expired, according to their country's law. This still leaves in question the international patent law. The sad thing is that the farmers aren't objecting to using a poor product, they are just objecting to having to pay for the right to use the seeds over and over again. Of course, isn't that what Monsanto ideally would like to do with the whole world's food supply. Sit back and collect a forever tax / royalty on it?
www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/Monsanto-may-lose-billions-in-G...
June 21, 2012 9:40am
Okay, Monsanto bought Blackwater and the Bill Gates bought a bunch of Monsanto, and don't forget the farmer suicide epidemic in India due to borrowing money to buy Monsanto seeds that under perform native varieties and can't be replanted.
June 20, 2012 8:13pm
Will we ever know how much misery Monsanto has caused? They are evil and should be held responsible for every birth defect caused by their chemicals. Why is Monsanto permitted to spread their evil poison for huge profits on the backs of innocent people?
June 20, 2012 8:10pm
Pressure... PRESSURE.... PRESSURE
June 20, 2012 5:19pm
Ah, first India, now Brazil. I hope that we in the US are able to join them one day! We will keep up the pressure to make the monster Monsanto stop their criminal machinations of the world's food supply!
I agree, ladypenelope! I, too, would like to see the CEO's of Monsanto brought up on charges of mass murder and crimes against humanity.
June 20, 2012 1:26pm
Imprison Monsanto top executives and the board of directors. Let them eat nothing but genetically-modified RoundUp-ready crops while in prison.
June 20, 2012 8:11pm
WONDERFUL IDEA~
June 20, 2012 12:51pm
Monsanto is probably not too worried about problems in Europe and Central/South America because they're still ridin' the gravy train and prunin' the (gmo)money trees here in the good ole USA and writing the laws to keep it that way. 'Too big to fail' is what they're banking on.
June 20, 2012 12:11pm
It takes courage to write and convey what is being done to this world.
Perhaps other should take note of this fact.
Money normally wins until the head of the lion is awakened.
George Best
WLA
June 20, 2012 11:59am
Ladypenelope, well said. It’s long over due for these greedy snakes to be brought to their knees. There is no amount of money that could make right what these people have done to the world but, we could bankrupt and jail this scum forever.
db
June 20, 2012 11:45am
I cannot believe the editing is as bad as this at Nation of Change. As media has become more and more "rapid" and internet-ized, the quality of copy editing has spiraled ever downward. But this one truly deserves a prize for the most convoluted, egregiously BAD, that I have ever yet seen!
"BACK in April, a Brazilian court ruled that Monsanto absolutely was responsible for paying BACK the exorbitant amounts of cash BACK to the farmers, ordering the company to issue BACK all of the taxes collected since 2004 — a minimum of 2 billion dollars."
WHAT are you trying to tell your reader? It makes no sense. An "accomplished investigative journalist" can't produce a meaningful sentence? And don't you use editors?
What was Monsanto doing collecting taxes from farmers in Brazil? That's how it reads.
Why is this even an article? There is -- apparently -- no new information here, and it is wholly unclear what 'news' the journal is attempting to convey. I am no fan of Monsanto, but the absence of clear and substantial information makes the article read as nothing more than smear 'journalism'.
I am just amazed that anything so poorly written was actually published. Thus, I have to question anything else I read on Nation of Change...I mean, not to malign but, if Nation of Change doesn't bother with simple editing, do they even do fact-checking?
June 20, 2012 8:08pm
Perfection is boring, you need to get a real life!
Courage is what it takes to expose the truth.
June 20, 2012 2:08pm
robertryanriddl your a "rippofflician" hack you know what taxes are. Stop taking us for a bunch of fools
June 20, 2012 11:04am
Finally, voices are being heard louder than the hush money of Monsato, an International Corporation. Perhaps Monsanto should have to pay their fair share of taxes world-wide and environmental safe-housekeeping costs of production and perhaps Monsanto would have just the right amount of money to share with politicians, ZERO. The amount Monsanto should ever be able to give as a campaign contribution, or to a "non-profit charity" $zero!!!! Legal fees should have to come out of present and any former Monsanto CEOs pockets, personally!!! The CEOs have taken money by lying and cheating farmers, let the CEOs pay for the crime...perhaps these criminal lying and cheating of health and safety standards would not be taken by mega-corps! Corps are people? Let the CEOs (the faces of the mega-corp) pay for their poor deeds, god knows the executives and those sitting on the corporate boards certainly took healthy profits when they could grab them!!
Let's keep the public pressure on Monsanto. Let's get real scientific studies on the dangers of certain Monsanto products (there may be some worthwhile); not just studies performed by individuals paid by Monsanto, real safety studies!!! Corporations, beware...people are watching! Now that we don't have jobs, we have even more time to watch you!!