Monsanto Behind Anti-Farmer Law
Submitted by ETC Staff on
A bill has been introduced in the Ohio state legislature (United States) that would require registration and state-level regulation of anyone who cleans or conditions self-pollinated seed. According to the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), the proposed legislation is part of Monsanto's aggressive corporate strategy to police rural communities and intimidate seed-saving farmers.
Un "Terminator" juridique menace les cultivateurs franco-africains
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Quinze pays francophones de l'Afrique, dont certains comptent parmi les pays les plus pauvres de la planète, subissent des pressions pour céder le droit de plus de vingt millions de petits cultivateurs à conserver et à échanger les semences. La décision d'abandonner la tradition africaine vieille de 12 000 ans de conservation des semences sera entérinée à une rencontre qui se déroulera du 22 au 25 février prochain en République centrafricaine. Les quinze gouvernements auraient reçu la directive d'adopter une loi draconienne sur la propriété intellectuelle touchant les espèces végétales afin de se conformer à une disposition de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) qui oblige les signataires à "protéger" les obtentions végétales. La loi (dite de type "Terminator", car elle interdit aux agriculteurs de semer des graines "protégées") est également connue, par euphémisme, sous le nom de "Droits de protection des obtentions végétales". Si elle est adoptée, cette loi emporteraient certains des pays les plus pauvres de l'Afrique dans un cartel de propriété intellectuelle dominé par une poignée d'États de l'OCDE menés par les États-Unis, le Japon et le Royaume-Uni.
Seed Sterilization is Biotech Holy Grail
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The Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), a Canadian-based rural advocacy organization, announced today that it has uncovered over three dozen new patents describing a wide range of techniques that can be used for the genetic sterilization of plants and seeds. The patents reveal that engineered seed sterility is not an isolated research agenda - it's the Holy Grail of the ag biotech industry," says Pat Mooney of RAFI. The disclosure follows on the heels of a controversial patent unveiled last year, christened the "Terminator" by RAFI, that continues to generate worldwide protest and debate because it renders farm-saved seed sterile - forcing farmers to return to the commercial seed market every year. The Terminator patent is jointly owned by the US Department of Agriculture and a Monsanto subsidiary, Delta & Pine Land Co.
Monsanto Terminates Terminator?
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Rural advocacy organizations learned that Monsanto, arguably the world's least popular biotech multinational, held a high-level meeting yesterday to consider whether or not to abandon its quest for an exclusive license on the Terminator technology , US patent no. 5,723,765 , which its subsidiary, Delta & Pine Land Co., co-owns with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).* The patent covers a system for genetically engineering suicide seeds" that cannot be replanted, thus forcing farmers to return to the commercial seed market every year. Philip Angell, Director of Monsanto's Corporate Communications, confirmed that Monsanto held a meeting to discuss Terminator yesterday and that Monsanto's President, Bob Shapiro, attended. Angell declined to offer details, but he told RAFI that "it's an issue we have to wrestle with."
Traitor Technology: How Suicide Seeds Work / Where They are Being Patented
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This is an appendix to RAFI's Communique on Traitor Technology, published in January 1999.