Monsanto does NOT sell Round-Up Ready seed. They lease it. You get to rent the seed for one year. It is a very long, very complex legal document, which gives Monsanto all the rights, & takes away any rights or protections farmers had in normal business dealings. You are liable for _anything_ that goes wrong, from marketing issues to pollen drift & so on, Monsanto 'gives' you all that - but retains ownership of the seed and dictates what you can do with it & it's offspring. They can inspect your property for at least 3 years (no warrent needed) and all the fines & penalties are already agreed to by you. Should you be accused, you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. It's a really sweet contract.... Am I mad at Monsanto? No. 75% of the beans out there are RR. Farmers can't fall over themselves fast enough to sign their rights away. Well, duh. If you want to understand the concept, remember the licencing agreement you signed by clicking on a box for using Microsoft products? _EXACT_ same deal. You do remember that document, don't you? With Windows XP, it doesn't even work, unless MS gives you a pass code. And they don't _have_ to give you the code. You only bought a $150-300 shiny plastic disc. You agreed to get nothing else. Same deal with the Monsanto agreement. The govt went pretty far to get consumer protection for regular sales; so business came up with the lease idea, to get around all those protections. I suppose in 50 years we'll have a few consumer protection laws that deal with leases. Wait until livestock become GMO. We ain't seen nothing yet..... --->Paul
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