Seminar examines biotech concerns.

Byline: Joe Harwood The Register-Guard

Percy Schmeiser ran afoul of agrochemical giant Monsanto Co. nearly six years ago over genetically modified canola plants found growing in a ditch on his Saskatchewan farm.

Monsanto sued, claiming that Schmeiser had illegally obtained and profited from the company's patented, bioengineered canola seeds, which are resistant to the popular Roundup herbicide.

Schmeiser, a third-generation farmer, insisted that he never bought Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" canola seed, contending that his canola crop was cross-fertilized by pollen from a neighboring farm's genetically modified Monsanto seed.

The company, with $4.6 billion in 2002 sales, argued that because the genetically altered plants were found on Schmeiser's land, the farmer had violated the company's patent. In 2001, a judge ruled for Monsanto, according to reports in the Canadian media. The judge said the mere presence of the modified transgenes on Schmeiser's farm infringed on the company patent rights.

Since then, Schmeiser has become the poster boy for the worldwide movement against bioengineering.

Schmeiser will give the keynote address at today's "Malthus, Mendel and Monsanto: Intellectual Property and the Law and Politics of Global Food Supply" symposium at the University of Oregon.

Schmeiser's speech will be at 7 p.m. at the Agate Hall Auditorium, 1787 Agate St. in Eugene. The speech, "David vs. Goliath: Patent Law and the Might of Monsanto," is open to the public. Admission is $5.

The symposium, sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics at the UO School of Law, will feature experts in patent law, plant genetics and agriculture. Other than Schmeiser's speech, the symposium is closed to the public.

Schmeiser has been battling Monsanto since the initial ruling. An appeals court upheld the 2001 ruling, and Schmeiser's case is before the Canadian Supreme Court. Schmeiser is hoping a favorable ruling in his case will prevent Monsanto and other companies from patenting genetically modified seed in Canada.

Environmental groups, health experts and consumer activists worry about the spread of genetically modified crops and the consequences of cross-pollination with nonaltered plants.

In Oregon, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and the state Department of Agriculture have cautioned against the development of bioengineered creeping bentgrass. The modified grass, which would be marketed to golf courses, is resistant to Roundup.

The Scotts Co. is growing the grass at test plots in Gervais and Madras.