BIOPIRATES LOSE PATENT ON SEEDS OF INDIA'S SACRED TREE

[Guest guest]

BIOPIRATES LOSE PATENT ON SEEDS OF INDIA'S SACRED

TREE, THE NEEM

Under the New World Order of the World Trade

Organization (WTO), corporations now have the right to

"discover" seeds and genetic materials used by

indigenous peoples for centuries, and patent these

materials, thereby obtaining monopoly rights to its

products and profits. One such example is that of

India's Neem Tree, traditionally considered a sacred

tree, whose seeds have a fungicidal quality that has

been common knowledge to the indigenous people of

India for centuries. Despite this widespread

traditional use, an American company, Thermo Trilogy,

was able to obtain a patent on that process. In other

words, using Neem Tree seeds as a fungicide suddenly

became illegal, unless you paid Thermo Trilogy its

royalties first. But last week, for the first time in

history, a patent has been revoked as a matter of

protecting traditional knowledge and practices. This

landmark decision, made by the European Patent Office,

is being celebrated in India and will likely inspire

the reassessment of dozens of other similar patents.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/patent/neemtree030905.cfm

 

 

GB Khalsa