International Paper Treads Monsanto’s Path to ‘Frankenforests’

International Paper Treads Monsanto’s Path to ‘Frankenforests’
www.bloomberg.com...

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- International Paper Co., the world’s largest pulp and paper maker, plans to remake commercial forests in the same way Monsanto Co. revolutionized farms with genetically modified crops.

International Paper’s ArborGen joint venture with MeadWestvaco Corp. and New Zealand’s Rubicon Ltd. is seeking permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sell the first genetically engineered forest trees outside China. The Australian eucalyptus trees are designed to survive freezes in the U.S. South.

Plantations of engineered trees would give International Paper a competitive advantage by providing a reliable supply of lower cost wood at a time when timberlands are dwindling because of development, said David Liebetreu, the Memphis, Tennessee- based company’s vice president of global sourcing. Opponents are concerned that alien genes may contaminate natural forests, echoing objections to modified crops that Monsanto still faces.

“There is a potential to explode once they get these trees approved,” said David Knott, who manages $1.3 billion as chief executive officer of Dorset Management in Syosett, New York. He said he increased his stake in Rubicon to 70.5 million shares this year to bet on ArborGen because it has a customer base of large landowners and little competition. “This could take off faster than Monsanto.”

Great...Monsanto...AGAIN... :shk:

What is it with this Corporation?!?

They have their Dirty Little Fingers in just about everything...

Modified Food...Modified Forests now... :shk:

IMO...messing with Mother Nature is NOT a good idea...

I fear there's a good chance one of these "Franken-Thingys" is going to infect our Plant Life and reek MAJOR havoc...

Their "foray" into GM Corn over-seas has not turned out well, and failed, wiping out a few harvests...

(Think Uneatable/Sterile Plant Life/Food Sources...)

As I read down further in the Article...

Increasing Risk

Engineered eucalyptus trees could be an ecological disaster, bringing increased fire risk and extraordinary water consumption to a new environment, said Neil J. Carman, an Austin, Texas-based member of the Sierra Club’s genetic engineering committee. Easier-to-pulp trees will be weak, and hurricanes will spread their pollen and contaminate native forests, he said.

“These are Frankenforests,” Carman said. “You are tampering with Mother Nature in a big way by putting genetically engineered trees out there.”

[edit on 8/28/2009 by Hx3_1963]

I would be real careful about eating that GMO Corn.

A small California biotech company, Epicyte, in 2001 announced the development of genetically engineered corn which contained a spermicide which made the semen of men who ate it sterile. blog.fathersforlife.org...

A more severe case of genetic contamination is taking place in Mexico, where the presence of GM corn has been documented since 2001. It continues to show up in rural farming communities, both peasant and indigenous, sown by small farmers who are not aware of the transgenic threat; and it is proliferating rapidly, across wild and mixed varieties, in spite of the Mexican government’s ban on transgenic crops, in effect since 1998.

This contamination deeply concerns environmentalists, scientists and farmers, since Mexico is the cradle of corn and axis of its diversity, rendering the long term consequences on the environment and human health uncertain. In Mexico, people are distressed by the possibility that biopharmaceutical corn could be introduced in the country. Silvia Ribeiro, of the ETC organization, expresses great annoyance about the California-based company Epicyte, which ostentatiously declared having developed a spermicidal corn to be used as a contraceptive.

Ribeiro stated in La Jornada: “The potential of spermicidal corn as a biological weapon is outrageous, since it easily interbreeds with other varieties, is capable of going undetected and could lodge itself at the very core of indigenous and farming cultures. We have witnessed the execution of repeated sterilization campaigns performed against indigenous communities. This method is certainly much more difficult to trace.” noblelie.com...

Want to know who controls Monsanto? Seems 85% is owned by mutual funds. But with mutual funds, the cash may come from the clients but the stockholder vote is controlled by the Mutual Fund Corporation owner. In the case of Monsanto that is the Johnson family who owns over 7% of the stock through the different Fidelity Groups. In other words the financial types (bankers) control Monsanto, does that surprise you?

Here's a list of Company ownership/stockholders to look through...

Monsanto Co. (MON)
finance.yahoo.com...

Major Holders

BREAKDOWN

% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners: 0%
% of Shares Held by Institutional & Mutual Fund Owners: 81%
% of Float Held by Institutional & Mutual Fund Owners: 81%
Number of Institutions Holding Shares: 1000

MAJOR DIRECT HOLDERS (FORMS 3 & 4)

Holder Shares Reported
GRANT HUGH 520,604 17-Feb-09
PARFET WILLIAM U 351,721 24-Jul-09
CREWS TERRELL K 158,070 16-Jan-09
FRALEY ROBERT T 106,476 4-May-09
MORLEY CHERYL P 88,798 20-Oct-08


TOP INSTITUTIONAL HOLDERS

Holder Shares % Out Value* Reported
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd 23,035,277 4.22 $1,712,442,492 30-Jun-09
VANGUARD GROUP, INC. (THE) 19,196,174 3.52 $1,427,043,575 30-Jun-09
Capital World Investors 18,359,400 3.36 $1,364,837,796 30-Jun-09
STATE STREET CORPORATION 18,283,306 3.35 $1,359,180,968 30-Jun-09
PRIMECAP MANAGEMENT COMPANY 16,622,556 3.04 $1,235,720,813 30-Jun-09
MARSICO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC 15,189,870 2.78 $1,129,214,935 30-Jun-09
WADDELL & REED FINANCIAL INC. 12,731,193 2.33 $946,436,887 30-Jun-09
FMR LLC 11,740,237 2.15 $872,769,218 30-Jun-09
JANUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC 9,928,247 1.82 $738,065,881 30-Jun-09
MORGAN STANLEY 9,786,800 1.79 $727,550,712 30-Jun-09

TOP MUTUAL FUND HOLDERS

Holder Shares % Out Value* Reported
GROWTH FUND OF AMERICA INC 7,289,400 1.34 $541,893,996 30-Jun-09
VANGUARD/PRIMECAP FUND 6,551,460 1.20 $544,426,326 31-Mar-09
VANGUARD 500 INDEX FUND 5,210,419 .95 $432,985,818 31-Mar-09
SPDR TRUST SERIES 1 5,021,081 .92 $496,986,597 30-Sep-08
VANGUARD TOTAL STOCK MARKET INDEX FUND 4,929,578 .90 $409,647,931 31-Mar-09
VANGUARD INSTITUTIONAL INDEX FUND-INSTITUTIONAL INDEX FD 4,122,424 .76 $342,573,434 31-Mar-09
COLLEGE RETIREMENT EQUITIES FUND-STOCK ACCOUNT 3,965,974 .73 $329,572,439 31-Mar-09
VANGUARD HORIZON FUND-CAPITAL OPPORTUNITY PORTFOLIO 3,506,286 .64 $291,372,366 31-Mar-09
IVY ASSET STRATEGY FUND 3,402,188 .62 $282,721,822 31-Mar-09
AMERICAN FDS INSURANCE SER-GROWTH FD 3,295,000 .60 $244,950,300 30-Jun-09

Monsanto Company
quicktake.morningstar.com...

2009-07-24 Atlee Frank V III Director 187 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-07-24 Bachmann John W Director 75 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-07-24 Chicoine David L Director 2 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-07-24 Fields Janice L Director 7 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-07-24 Harper Arthur H Director 12 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-07-24 King Gwendolyn S Director 95 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-07-24 Mcmillan Charles S Director 121 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-07-24 Parfet William U Director 118 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-07-24 Poste George Director 68 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-07-24 Stevens Robert J Director 105 Acquisition at $84.16 per share.
2009-06-30 Foster Scarlett L VP Investor Relations 6,000 Sale at $74.66 per share.
2009-06-29 Foster Scarlett L VP Investor Relations 7,490 Exercise
2009-06-29 Foster Scarlett L VP Investor Relations 7,490 Sale at $76.52 per share.
2009-06-29 Leidy Mark J EVP-Manufacturing 14,980 Exercise
2009-06-29 Leidy Mark J EVP-Manufacturing 14,980 Sale at $76.19 per share.
2009-05-22 Leidy Mark J EVP-Manufacturing 55 Gift
2009-05-19 Foster Scarlett L VP Investor Relations 40 Gift
2009-05-04 Fraley Robert T EVP, Chief Technology Officer 6,000 Sale at $89.00 per share.
2009-04-30 Chicoine David L Director 479 Acquisition at $84.89 per share.
2009-04-24 Atlee Frank V III Director 193 Acquisition at $81.12 per share.
2009-04-24 Bachmann John W Director 78 Acquisition at $81.12 per share.
2009-04-24 Fields Janice L Director 8 Acquisition at $81.12 per share.
2009-04-24 Harper Arthur H Director 12 Acquisition at $81.12 per share.
2009-04-24 King Gwendolyn S Director 97 Acquisition at $81.12 per share.
2009-04-24 Mcmillan Charles S Director 125 Acquisition at $81.12 per share.
2009-04-24 Parfet William U Director 121 Acquisition at $81.12 per share.
2009-04-24 Poste George Director 69 Acquisition at $81.12 per share.
2009-04-24 Stevens Robert J Director 109 Acquisition at $81.12 per share.
2009-04-15 Fraley Robert T EVP, Chief Technology Officer 301 Gift
2009-04-14 Chicoine David L Director 2,391 Acquisition
2009-02-17 Grant Hugh Chairman, President & CEO 150,000 Exercise
2009-02-17 Grant Hugh Chairman, President & CEO 150,000 Sale at $75.88 - $77.04 per share.
2009-01-30 Atlee Frank V III Director 186 Acquisition at $76.06 per share.
2009-01-30 Bachmann John W Director 75 Acquisition at $76.06 per share.
2009-01-30 Fields Janice L Director 7 Acquisition at $76.06 per share.
2009-01-30 Harper Arthur H Director 11 Acquisition at $76.06 per share.
2009-01-30 King Gwendolyn S Director 94 Acquisition at $76.06 per share.
2009-01-30 Mcmillan Charles S Director 120 Acquisition at $76.06 per share.
2009-01-30 Parfet William U Director 117 Acquisition at $76.06 per share.
2009-01-30 Poste George Director 67 Acquisition at $76.06 per share.
2009-01-30 Stevens Robert J Director 105 Acquisition at $76.06 per share.
2009-01-27 Fraley Robert T EVP, Chief Technology Officer 936 Gift
2009-01-16 Mizell Steven Exec. VP Human Resources 26,370 Exercise
2009-01-16 Mizell Steven Exec. VP Human Resources 26,370 Sale at $79.52 per share.
2009-01-16 Preete Kerry J VP, In'tl Commercial 6,400 Sale at $79.88 per share.
2009-01-15 Harper Arthur H Director 2,000 Buy at $76.27 - $76.29 per share.
2009-01-01 Mizell Steven Exec. VP Human Resources 115 Exercise

[edit on 8/28/2009 by Hx3_1963]

I see these monoculture forests everywhere here in Oregon - it sucks, they're so ugly.

reply to post by Hx3_1963

Here's a list of Company ownership/stockholders to look through...

When I did my digging a year or so ago I found several mutual fund companies were privately owned by the same family. Nothing stood out until you went a layer or two deeper.

Boy they like to hide stuff.