Open letter to Members of the European Parliament and European Commission – Sign the letter!
The organisations behind No Patents On Seeds are especially concerned about increasing number of patents on plants, seeds and farm animals and their impact on farmers, breeders, innovation and biodiversity. These patents create new dependencies for farmers, breeders, food producers and consumers. These patents have to be regarded as misappropriation of basic resources in farm and food production and as general abuse of patent law. We call for an urgent re-think of European patent law in biotechnology and plant breeding and to support clear regulations that exclude from patentability processes for breeding, genetic material, plants and animals and food derived thereof.
[I am speaking on behalf of Via Campesina and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) present at this fourth session of the Governing Body of the Seed Treaty (GB)
Introduction
We are pleased to take this opportunity, Chair, to say a few words of reflection on the progress of this fourth session of the GB. We thank you for your considerate approach that has made us feel welcome.
At the second meeting of the Governing Body, civil society organizations suggested that it might be more realistic to suspend the treaty than to continue to work without adequate resources. At the third meeting we remained optimistic and pressed for a programme that assumed that governments who ratified the treaty would take the responsibility to make it work. Now, we expected at this 4th session of the GB that Contracting Parties would resolve to find the means and political commitment to make the Treaty work in the interests of the majority users and developers of PGRFA – the world’s small-scale farmers. (read more)
The Treaty has already fulfilled the core of its first mission, which consists of making farmers’ seeds, available to industrial firms in the North. Over 90% of its seeds originate in countries of the South. In exchange the Treaty has given itself a second mission : the sharing of economic benefits generated by industry derived from these seeds and the recognition of farmers’ rights to re-sow, exchange and sell their seeds and to protect their knowledge. (read more)
From 14-18 March 2011, La Via Campesina delegates from Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, France, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Madagascar, and South Korea are participating in the Fourth Regular Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, also known as the Seed Treaty. We are here to present the voice of peasant seed producers around the world.
The Treaty has accomplished most of its mission to facilitate the industry’s access to seeds. But to date it has not implemented Farmers’ Rights and only proposes an illusory financing through ‘benefit sharing’, a fund made up from the proceeds of patents issuing from genetic resources facilitated by the Treaty. However we refuse this ‘benefit sharing’, as we do not recognize the industry’s continued theft and privatization of our seeds. (read press release)
Large biotech agribusinesses like Monsanto control much of the global seed market with genetically modified (GM) crops. This centralization of GM seeds threatens food safety, food security, biodiversity, and democratic ideals. Opinion from the Christian Science Monitor.
In this brief talk from TED U 2009, Jonathan Drori encourages us to save biodiversity — one seed at a time. Reminding us that plants support human life, he shares the vision of the Millennium Seed Bank, which has stored over 3 billion seeds to date from dwindling yet essential plant species.
The varieties of wheat, corn and rice we grow today may not thrive in a future threatened by climate change. Cary Fowler takes us inside a vast global seed bank, buried within a frozen mountain in Norway, that stores a diverse group of food-crop for whatever tomorrow may bring.
Careless handling of seeds may be the key reason for the unintended spread of genetically modified crops, a study has found. The discovery challenges the widespread belief that the main source of GM contamination is the transfer of pollen by bees from GM crops to non-GM counterparts in neighbouring fields. Human error during seed production and handling is the more likely culprit, say the researchers.
In a long awaited decision, the European Patent Office (EPO) issued its decision on the so- called ‘Broccoli Patent’ today. In its opinion, the EPO explained that methods for conventional breeding of plants and animals cannot be considered as a technical process and cannot be covered by patents. The decision is binding for all similar cases. But observers are warning that plants and animals derived from conventional breeding will still be patented, since the decision of the European Patent Office only excludes processes for breeding but does not concern itself with patents on plants and animals. Read more
