Schmeisers to receive 'alternative Nobel' at Swedish parliament

Percy Schmeiser, the Saskatchewan farmer who waged a long legal battle against biotech giant Monsanto, will receive his "alternative Nobel" prize Friday during an eveningceremony at the Swedish parliament.

Schmeiser and his wife Louise will be awarded The Right Livelihood Award, founded in 1980 to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today."

The Schmeisers are being recognized "for their courage in defending biodiversity and farmers' rights, and challenging the environmental and moral perversity of current interpretations of patent laws."

Schmeiser spent years waging a legal battle against biotech giant Monsanto, which sued him for illegally planting its genetically engineered canola seed. Schmeiser argued the canola seed blew onto his property and "polluted" his fields.

In 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Monsanto's patent on the gene in its canola seed, but ruled Schmeiser didn't have to pay $200,000 in costs and damages.

During a news conference Thursday in Stockholm, Schmeiser, 76, said he doesn't think the ramifications of allowing patents on plants and life forms have been fully explored.

"But governments from around the world have bowed to the pressure of big multinational corporations who have requested patents on life forms," he said.

Other 2007 Right Livelihood Award winners include Christopher Weeramantry, a former International Court of Justice judge from Sri Lanka; Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, who promotes religious peace in Kenya; and Dipal Barua, the director of the Grameen Shakti company that installs solar home systems in rural Bangladesh.