St. Louis Business Journal: Food activists to protest at Monsanto shareholder meeting Jan. 31
Posted: January 30th, 2013 | Filed under: Events, Press | Tags: Activism, Activist, Annual Shareholder Meeting, CEO, Creve Coeur, Demonstration, E.B. Solomont, gmo, GMO Labeling, Harrington Investments, hugh grant, Missouri, MO, Monsanto, monsanto shareholder meeting, Napa, Occupy Monsanto, Protest, proxy, SEC, Shareholder Resolution, St. Louis, St. Louis Business Journal, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Vote |
Food activists to protest at Monsanto shareholder meeting Jan. 31
Activists plan to protest outside Monsanto Co.’s shareholder meeting Thursday.
By E.B. Solomont, Reporter, St. Louis Business Journal
Food activists plan to protest outside Monsanto Co.’s shareholder meeting Thursday, calling on the $13.5 billion seed company to be more transparent.
The activists also hope to draw attention to a shareholder proposal to study “material financial risks or operational potential impacts” on Monsanto associated with seed contamination from genetically modified organisms, among other things.
“Monsanto pledges transparency, but provides very little,” says Adam Eidinger, an activist and Monsanto shareholder, who plans to speak at the meeting, which will take place at Monsanto’s Creve Coeur headquarters.
Reached by phone, Eidinger said he would speak on behalf of Harrington Investments of Napa, Calif., which submitted the shareholder proposal.
Eidinger said he personally holds 75 shares of Monsanto stock. “This is about the food people eat,” he said. “I am a shareholder; I’m also an activist who wants to see the company reform in a major way.”
The board of Monsanto, led by Chairman and CEO Hugh Grant, is against the proposal. “Disclosure of material financial risks or operational impacts on the company is required by SEC reporting requirements, and we take seriously our responsibility to identify, analyze and transparently report such risks or potential impacts,” company officials said in a Dec. 10 proxy document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the filing, officials cited various programs — including a technology use guide, ongoing dialogue with seed users and academics, and ongoing discussions to determine best practices, among other things. “An additional report to restate such risks or impacts as suggested in the proposal would be redundant and provide no meaningful additional information to shareowners,” the proxy stated.
Source: St. Louis Business Journal
