Argentina to fight Monsanto in court, suspend soybean talks
Posted on Fri, Jul. 01, 2005
TAOS TURNER Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina, a leading soybean exporter, is suspending talkswith U.S. biotechnology company Monsanto Co. over a payment system thatwould allow the company to collect royalties on the pervasive use of itspopular soybean seeds, Agriculture Secretary Miguel Campos said Friday.
Campos met with journalists at a press conference to discuss lawsuitsrecently filed by Monsanto in Denmark over the shipment of Argentine soybeanproducts to the country.
"Monsanto has shown that it continues to be a national embarrassment,"Campos said, adding that the lawsuits have already harmed Argentina'sfarmers and exporters.
"We will fight this, and we'll use the best lawyers we can get to defendourselves," Campos said.
Tests carried out on the products showed that they were made with Monsanto'sgenetically modified Roundup Ready seeds, which are used to plant 95 percentof Argentina's soybeans.
Monsanto has a patent on Roundup Ready in Denmark and in most other EuropeanUnion countries, but it has never been able to patent the seeds inArgentina. This has made it hard for the company to get farmers here to payfor the right to use the seeds.
Monsanto had said it filed the lawsuits "to clarify its intellectualproperty rights since some parties (in Argentina) have expressed doubt aboutthose rights."
Those rights, and what they imply legally in Argentina, have been the centerof heated and often bitter public talks between Monsanto, Argentineofficials, farmers and soybean exporters.
At issue is how, and how much, Monsanto should be able collect for the useof its seeds. Monsanto says Argentines properly pay for certified seed only17 percent of the time, down from 50 percent in 1996, when Roundup Ready wasintroduced in the local market.
Campos said Friday that around 30 percent of the seeds used are legallycertified.
Monsanto said earlier this week that the suits are merely meant to supportits claim that it has a legal right to collect royalties on its seeds.Moreover, the company said it wants to keep talking with officials andfarmers to reach a consensus solution to the problem.
Monsanto shares fell 49 cents to close at $62.38 Friday on the New YorkStock Exchange.
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