www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Organic cotton growers could face increased risk of crop contamination if a
merger between the world's largest seed company and the nation's largest
cottonseed seller is allowed to proceed, an influential agriculture watchdog
group warned February 2007 by Kristen Philipkoski.

Biotech giant Monsanto agreed to purchase Delta and Pine Land Company
(DPL) last August for $1.5 billion in cash. Now, as the Department of
Justice considers the merger, the Center for Food Safety has released a
57-page report protesting the deal.

"Monsanto is the largest seed company in the world.... In the '90s (the
company) began acquiring seed firms in the U.S. and abroad and it has a very
dominant position in seeds in soybeans and corn," said Bill Freese, the
Center for Food Safety's science policy analyst and author of the report.
"That kind of concentration is always a concern."

Thurdsay's report is the latest salvo in a decade-long battle to prevent the
tie-up, which would put nearly two-thirds of the U.S. cottonseed supply in
the hands of one company. Since the late 1990s, critics have had little
effect in blocking Monsanto's steady expansion, and the DPL deal stands as a
rare exception. Monsanto voluntarily backed out of a 1998 deal, fearing
regulatory backlash.

The renewal of the deal signals Monsanto's confidence that regulators will
sign off -- something the CSF hopes to head off with its report.

Among other things, the group argues that the merger could dampen the recent
trend toward organic cotton.

Companies including Wal-Mart (the largest purchaser of organic cotton in the
country) and Nike have ramped up their marketing and sales of organic cotton
products in recent years.

But organic cotton could become more difficult to come by post-merger. With
more genetically engineered varieties in fields, the risk of contamination
to organic and conventional crops will likely increase.

Last year, Liberty Link rice, made by Bayer, contaminated rice in several
states including Missouri and Louisiana, resulting in shipments rejected by
Europe, which is largely against genetically modified crops.

The report also highlights the risk of crop damage from drifting herbicides.
Monsanto's Roundup-ready seeds are genetically altered to be resistant to
the company's Roundup herbicide. So when a farmer sprays a field, everything
but the crop is killed. The fields are often sprayed by airplane, so organic
crops could be damaged if the herbicide drifts into their fields.

The merger could also exacerbate rapidly increasing seed prices, the report
found. They increased 240 percent from 1995 to 2005, in part because of
extra technology fees charged by biotech companies.

Another concern is that Delta and Pine along with the USDA own patents to a
highly controversial Terminator cottonseed, which is genetically altered to
die after one season's use, so farmers can't save seed from year to year.

In response to industry concern, company officials have pledged not to
introduce Terminator seeds, but say they reserve the right to reconsider.

The Terminator was a concern among critics when the companies first proposed
a merger nearly 10 years ago.

Not everyone believes the merger poses major risks to agriculture or
consumers. Owen Taylor, editor and publisher at AgFax Media, a financial
analysis firm that covers the commodities business, called the Center for
Food Safety's report "the same old rhetoric."

"The simple fact is that the vast majority of U.S. cotton farmers favor
biotech approaches, and as the market has shaken out, a large part of that
is built around DPL varieties and Monsanto's technology," Taylor said.
"Farmers can compare performance every year, both in their own fields and in
non-biased university trials. They buy what works best."

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