On Tuesday, January 24 at 1:30 PM , Monsanto officers and shareholders will vote on a shareholder proposal to create a study of “material financial risks or operational impacts” associated with its chemical products and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The proposal represents one of the strongest signals to date that the biotech food conglomerate is facing growing consumer, legal, and regulatory uncertainties. As of today, however, Monsanto has told John Harrington that they will not recognize his proxy who would speak on behalf of the resolution for only three minutes under normal circumstances.

The meeting itself is only open to shareholders but concerned citizens will be demonstrating outside the northeast entrance to Monsanto’s Lindberg campus beginning at 12:00 noon. Monsanto Headquarters is located at 800 North Lindberg Boulevard in St. Louis, MO.

Adam Eidinger, an organic food activist who recently led a walk from NY to Washington DC on behalf of honest food-labeling, will present the shareholder resolution on behalf of Napa, California based Harrington Investments (HII) with help from the Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA).

Eidinger will be available for interview before and after the shareholder meeting, to which he will drive a “Label GMO” art car to attend. Representatives from HII and PANNA will be available also for interview before and after the shareholder meeting. Eidinger’s written testimony is available by request.

In its statement recommending shareholders to vote against the HII resolution, Monsanto management stated that, “Farmers should have the freedom to choose which production method is best suited for their needs, whether organic, non-GM conventional or biotechnology traits. All of these systems can and do work effectively side by side…”

John Harrington, CEO of Harrington Investments questions the veracity of Monsanto’s statement: “While I am heartened by Monsanto’s sudden concern for the freedom of farmers, the unfortunate reality facing American farmers right now is that genetic drift from GMO crops is contaminating their conventional and organic crops.

This can be disastrous because many GMO crops cannot be sold to important markets, such as Europe, China and Japan. The potential legal implications for Monsanto are staggering.”

Eidinger, who organized last October’s 100-person, 313-mile “Right2Know March” from New York City to the White House for federally mandated GMO food-labeling says: “With the rise of Round-Up resistant ‘superweeds’ the company is simply telling farmers to spray even more toxic herbicides including 2,4 D, the main ingredient in Agent Orange.

Many people are struggling to avoid GMOs and chemicals used on them in the food they eat due to serious health and environmental concerns yet Americans have no right to know what we are eating largely due to the close ties Monsanto has to President Obama’s USDA and FDA which has ignored more than 500,000 Americans who have signed on to the JustLabelIt.org petition to the FDA.”

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Hagens Berman announced an investigation of Netflix regarding claims made in a recently filed securities class-action lawsuit, including alleged insider selling by corporate executives, and informed investors of a March 13, 2012, deadline to move for lead plaintiff.

Investors who purchased shares of Netflix common stock between December 20, 2010, and October 24, 2011 (the “class period”), and have lost more than $500,000 are encouraged to contact Partner Reed R. Kathrein.  Kathrein is leading Hagens Berman’s investigation.

The securities class-action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on January 13, 2012. The complaint alleges that Netflix violated federal securities laws by making false and misleading statements to investors during the class period.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims that Netflix knew its short-term contracts with content providers were likely to expire or be so costly to renew that the company would be forced to raise its prices, but failed to timely disclose these details to investors. On July 12, 2011, Netflix announced that it was raising prices for some subscribers, and on July 13, 2011, the company announced a new multi-year agreement with NBC Universal.

Following the news, Netflix stock closed at $298.73 per share. The company then announced on Sept 15, 2011, that it was updating its third quarter 2011 guidance, disclosing that it had lost a million subscribers following the price increases. On this news, Netflix stock price declined by nearly 19 percent, closing at less than $170 per share.

On October 24, 2011, the company disclosed to shareholders a net loss of more than 800,000 subscribers. Netflix stock fell again, closing at $80.86 on Oct. 27, 2011. According to the class-action complaint, Netflix executives sold over $90 million worth of the company’s stock during the class period. The lawsuit alleges that CEO Reed Hastings sold 190,000 shares for $43.2 million. The deadline to move the court for lead plaintiff status is March 13, 2012.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/hackingnetflix/

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