To Go: Plastic-Foam Containers, if the Mayor Gets His Way

 Mayor Bloomberg, in his 12th and final State of the City address, will propose a citywide ban on plastic-foam food packaging, including takeout boxes, cups and trays.  If passed, public schools would be instructed to remove plastic-foam trays from their cafeterias. Many restaurants and bodegas would be forced to restock. “We can live without it, we may live longer without it, and the doggie bag will survive just fine,” the mayor plans to say. The ban would require approval by the City Council to become a law. The Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, suggested in an interview that she was open to a ban on plastic foam as part of a larger effort to increase recycling.  As a non-biodegradable material, Styrofoam appears to last forever, as it is resistant to photolysis, or the breaking down of materials by protons originating from a light source. This, combined with the fact that Styrofoam is lightweight and therefore floats, means that over time a great deal of polystyrene has accumulated along coasts and waterways around the world. It is now considered the main component of marine debris.Mr. Bloomberg’s proposal is one element of a larger environmental protection effort he plans to pursue during his final year in office. In his speech, he will also pledge to install 1,000 recycling containers on sidewalks, doubling the current number.  He will also propose taking the first steps toward city collection of food waste for composting, starting with a pilot program on Staten Island.

Farmer’s Supreme Court Challenge Puts Monsanto Patents at Risk

The powerful Monsanto is yet again up against another farmer, fighting for his rights to grow soybeans. Monsanto has been in court many times with other farmers, and usually win because the farmer cannot keep up financially. This time around is different; this soybean farming may have found some type of loophole within Monsanto’s dominating plan. The company’s winning streak could soon come to an end. This case is a patent dispute based off of the U.S. Patent Office’s decision to view individual product features, business techniques, website functions, and DNA patentable.  When Monsanto sells seeds, the consumer is required to sign a strict terms-of-use agreement that dictates exactly how the farmer may use the seeds. Although the seeds are “true-to-seed,” that farmer is forbidden to reuse the seed during next years harvest. The fact is that the “hybrid” seeds are actually bred to create a less-desirable version of the plant – thus forcing the farmer to have to buy new seeds every year.  Monsanto has sued many farmers because pollination of their seed has been found on property that has not signed the contract. Even though the seeds are there only because of windblown contamination. Again, Monsanto has never lost a case. Vernan Bowman, a soybean farmer in Indiana found a tiny crack within Monsanto’s legal fortress. The complications of the case come from Monsanto’s idea that no one in any place can grow their product; even though the product is very transportable by wind. Bowman may have found an implication that causes Monsanto’s contract to contradict itself through the allowance of selling seeds to commodity farmers, but not being able to plant the seeds after they are bought. Bowman was so sure that he did not break Monsanto’s contract that he told Monsanto representatives what he’d done.This may be the first case that the almighty Monsanto could lose.