> The spin is that Monsanto is unfairly suing innocent farmers.  It is
> difficult for me to believe that so many judges or juries could be misled.
>.  Very similar to the trumped-up case against seed treatments.

Were the judges/juries misled when they ruled Bayer had to pay 3 million
dollars to beekeepers for damages caused by seed treatments?

I have been on the phone informing a few farmers I will not be bringing bees
to their location due to the amount of corn being planted close to my
apiaries. We have a new breed of "sod busters" today.

Tillable farm land has almost doubled in price over the last five years in
the Midwest as the rush to get rich on corn production to fuel our SUV's
(under the wording feed the world) continues.

Higher amounts of chemicals are dumped on fields each year (which eventually
will reach water supplies and create an increase in the "dead zone" in the
Mississippi delta .

http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/

PR is the name of the game with many chemical companies & groups.

Example:
Beekeepers would be doing a huge amount of PR about the benefits of
pollination and bee products to off set news reports of stinging incidents
if AHB bees were causing problems.

I helped work on the Missouri rules concerning AHB's. Rapid PR response from
State and local clubs
were part of the plan to overcome media negative coverage. Missouri
beekeepers do not have the funding to spend on PR but by contacting news
media and offering tours we could show there is more to beekeeping than
"killer bee" stories.

If the bee die-off has a positive side its bringing the public on to the
"save the bees" band wagon.

Large multinational corporations have no problem spending millions on PR and
always want to settle out of court and keep settlements secret. Think the
auto industry suits. I had a new pickup catch on fire with less than 3000
miles on it which came from a starter problem which years later came under
recall. The dealership was shocked to learn of the problem. Of course on the
net I found plenty of cases being reported.

bob

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