Apoyo a Carta al Congreso de la Unión
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La siguiente carta abierta, enviada el 22/03/2001 al Congreso de la Unión de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, recibió al momento el apoyo de 23 premios "Nobel Alternativos" y más de 330 firmas de organizaciones y personas en 48 países en los cinco continentes, a nombre de 144 organizaciones ecologistas, sociales y sindicales, así como miembros de 34 universidades.
Carta abierta al Congreso de la Unión, México
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Estimados amigos y amigas,
En el día de ayer, una carta abierta de 14 "premios Nobel alternativos" (Premio (Right Livelihood y Premio Golman) fue entregada al Congreso de la Unión, México, pidiendo el reconocimiento constitucional de los derechos y cultura indígenas, que está actualmente debatiendo el tema.
También fue reseñada en un extenso artículo del diario La Jornada, el 22/3/20001.
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2001/mar01/010322/014n1pol.html
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Bracing for 'El Nuña'
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Tales from a Tribunal: 'The nuña bean is part of the Andean heritage. It is our treasure. For a company to patent a nuña cross, claiming the 'bean-nut popping bean' as an 'invention' with absolute world novelty is immoral and violates the rights of all indigenous groups,' said Elias Carreno, Coordinator of the 'Stop Biopiracy in the Andes' Campaign of the Associaci n Kechua-Aymara for Sustainable Livelihoods, ANDES (translated from Spanish).
Indigenous elders from six Andean communities that grow nuna beans met in late February for a traditional Quechua 'tribunal' to deliberate on US Patent No. 6,040,503 on the 'bean-nut popping bean' awarded to a US food processor, Appropriate Engineering and Manufacturing. The popping bean trait is found only in the Andean nuna bean, which the inventors claim in their patent. After hearing testimony from expert witnesses, the tribunal rendered their decision. Their verdict was unflinching in its criticism of intellectual property monopolies that are predatory on the knowledge, rights and resources of indigenous people.
New Terminator Patent Goes to Syngenta
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World's Largest Agrochemical and Seed Enterprise Holds Growing Arsenal of Terminator and Traitor Technologies
Syngenta, the world's largest agribusiness firm, was formed on 13 November 2000 with the merger of AstraZeneca and Novartis. The next day the company won its newest Terminator patent, US Patent 6,147,282, 'Method of controlling the fertility of a plant.' (The patent was issued to Novartis - but the company's intellectual property goes to Syngenta.) With pro forma 1999 sales of US $7 billion, Syngenta is the world's largest agrochemical enterprise, and the third largest seed corporation.
Apelan contra patente de frijoles mexicanos
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El Centro internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) apeló recientemente la patente del frijol "Enola" en cumplimiento del acuerdo de fideicomiso entre la FAO y el Convenio de Biodiversidad de Naciones Unidas.