US Makes Planting Farm Raised Seeds ILLEGAL in Iraq

[Guest guest]

What happened to " Democracy " , what happended to " Freedom " - just more

proof that the powers that be are not interested in our welfare, but

their bottom line. Soon it is either buy your food from Monstanto

through genetically engineered seeds that will not bear fruit more

than one generation, so you always have to buy more seed from

Monstanto- or starve... Or plant you own seeds anyways and through

the nature of nature have them contaminated by GE genes- and owe

Monstanto every penny you have for using their gene without their

consent... And then starve.

 

Other comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

U.S. makes Planting Farm Raised Seeds ILLEGAL in Iraq - Boon

to Monsanto

 

*Iraqi farmers forced to buy seeds from Monsanto, must discard their

own seeds* // *Iraqi Farmers Aren't Celebrating World Food Day*

 

As part of sweeping " economic restructuring " implemented by the Bush

Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to

save their seeds. Instead, they will be /forced/ to buy seeds from

US corporations -- including seeds the Iraqis themselves developed

over hundreds of years. That is because in recent years,

transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed

varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short

time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo: Pay

Monsanto, or starve.

 

 

When the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) celebrated

biodiversity on World Food Day on October 16, Iraqi farmers were

mourning its loss.

 

A new report [1] by GRAIN and Focus on the Global South has found

that new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the

US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively

hands over the seed market to transnational corporations. This is a

disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the

country's food security. While political sovereignty remains an

illusion, food sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near

impossible by these new regulations.

 

" The US has been imposing patents on life around the world through

trade deals. In this case, they invaded the country first, then

imposed their patents. This is both immoral and unacceptable " , said

Shalini Bhutani, one of the report's authors.

 

 

*Becoming Monsanto customers at the barrel of a US gun. * The new

law in question [2] heralds the entry into Iraqi law of patents

on life forms - this first one affecting plants and seeds. This law

fits in neatly into the US vision of Iraqi agriculture in the

future - that of an industrial agricultural system dependent on

large corporations providing inputs and seeds.

 

In 2002, FAO estimated that 97 percent of Iraqi farmers used saved

seed from their own stocks from last year's harvest or purchased

from local markets. When the new law - on plant variety protection

(PVP) - is put into effect, seed saving will be illegal and the

market will only offer proprietary PVP-protected " planting

material " invented " by transnational agribusiness corporations. The

new law totally ignores all the contributions Iraqi farmers have

made to development of important crops like wheat, barley, date and

pulses. Its consequences are the loss of farmers' freedoms and a

grave threat to food sovereignty in Iraq. In this way, the US has

declared a new war against the Iraqi farmer.

 

" If the FAO is celebrating 'Biodiversity for Food Security' this

year, it needs to demonstrate some real commitment " , says Henk

Hobbelink of GRAIN, pointing out that the FAO has recently been

cozying up with industry and offering support for genetic

engineering [3]. " Most importantly, the FAO must recognize that

biodiversity-rich farming and industry-led agriculture are worlds

apart, and that industrial agriculture is one of the leading causes

of the catastrophic decline in agricultural biodiversity that we

have witnessed in recent decades. The FAO cannot hope to embrace

biodiversity while holding industry's hand " , he added.

 

NOTES

 

1 Visit http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6. GRAIN and Focus'

report is entitled " Iraq's new patent law: a declaration of war

against farmers " . Against the grain is a series of short opinion

pieces on recent trends and developments in the issues that GRAIN

works on. This one has been produced collaboratively with Focus on

the Global South.If this link is still down from hacking by ??? (use

Your imagination) try Google's cache:

*http://64.233.161.104/search?

q=cache:gxKbvJxhTq0J:www.grain.org/articles/%3Fid%3D6+ & hl=en

<http://64.233.161.104/search?

q=cache:gxKbvJxhTq0J:www.grain.org/articles/%3Fid%3D6+ & hl=en>*

 

2 Patent, Industrial Design, Undisclosed Information, Integrated

Circuits and Plant Variety Law of 2004, CPA Order No. 81, 26 April

2004,

http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/20040426_CPAORD_81_Patents_L

aw.pdf

<http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/20040426_CPAORD_81_Patents_

Law.pdf>

 

3 GRAIN, " FAO declares war on farmers, not hunger " , New from Grain,

16 June

 

---

---

 

*Big business seeds Iraq's fields*

 

 

New legislation says transnational corporations are the only place

farmers can buy their seeds

 

 

By SUZANNE ELSTON

 

http://www.wcr.ab.ca/columns/suzanneelston/2004/suzanneelston110804.s

html

 

It is a ritual as old as civilization itself. In fact, seed saving

made it possible for mankind to move from being hunter-gatherers to

farmers more than 10,000 years ago. Rather than being dependent on

hunting for survival, our ancient relatives created a renewable

supply of food by harvesting seeds at the end of each growing

season, and sowing them the following spring.

 

It was a pivotal point in our development as a species. It not only

put an end to our nomadic existence, but it also allowed for the

establishment of early communities that formed the foundation of

modern civilization. No small feat for a tiny little seed.

 

 

Save the seeds

 

To emphasize the importance of seed saving, consider my favorite and

most inspirational environmental quote from Dr. Rosalie Bertell:

 

" The purpose of the environmental movement is to save the seed.

Whether it's a fish, or a bird, or a baby, they all come from the

seed, all into future time, " said Bertell. " And if we damage that

seed, then there's no place else to get it. "

 

Apparently not. Especially if you're a poor Iraqi farmer. A joint

report by two international non-governmental organizations (NGOs),

GRAIN and Focus on the Global South, reveals that new legislation in

Iraq makes transnational corporations the only place where farmers

can get their seed. The legislation, which the groups claim has been

carefully orchestrated by the U.S., renders the ancient art of seed

saving */illegal/*.

 

" The U.S. has been imposing patents on life around the world through

trade deals. In this case, they invaded the country first, and then

imposed their patents. This is both immoral and unacceptable " , said

Shalini Bhutani, one of the report's authors.

 

The Iraqi legislation marks the latest victory by transnational

corporations. To date, these companies have successfully managed to

confirm their rights to establish seed patents over the rights of

farmers everywhere to save their seeds and grow their crops in the

most sustainable, affordable and environmentally responsible manner

possible.

 

 

Canadian battle

 

Earlier this year, Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser lost his seven-

year battle against biotech giant Monsanto. The case, which went to

the Supreme Court, revolved around Monsanto's genetically-modified

canola seed, Round-up Ready, that had blown onto Schmeiser's

property from neighboring farms.

 

Despite his best efforts, Schmeiser was unable to kill off the

pesticide resistant plants. When he saved his seed from one year's

crop to plant the next, it included some of Monsanto's patented

seed. Monsanto's argued that saving the seed violated the company's

requirement that farmers who use Round-Up Ready must buy new seed

every year.

 

 

" If we damage that seed, then there's no place else to get it. "

 

 

- Dr. Rosalie Bertell

 

" We did not expect this to go all the way to the Supreme Court of

Canada, " said Schmeiser. " We were fighting for the fundamental right

of the farmer to save his seed and use it year after year. "

 

A noble battle, but one that is being lost on all fronts to the

right of multi-billion dollar transnational corporations to make a

profit. To return to the Iraqi situation, that right is literally

putting the lives of millions at risk.

 

" This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity

and the country's food security, " states a GRAIN news

release. " While political sovereignty remains an illusion, food

sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near impossible by

these new regulations. "

 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

estimates that in 2002, 97 per cent of Iraqi farmers used saved seed

from their own stocks from the previous year's harvest, or purchased

seed from local markets. When the Iraqi law goes into effect, seed

saving will be illegal. Instead, farmers will be forced to purchase

proprietary " PVP-protected " planting material from transnational

agribusiness corporations.

 

 

U.S.'s new war

 

According to GRAIN, the consequences of this legislation are the

loss of farmers' freedoms and a grave threat to food sovereignty in

Iraq. In this way, the U.S. has declared a new war against the Iraqi

farmer.

 

At the risk of diminishing the wretched plight of the Iraqi people,

this legislation moves us even closer to the frightening world

imagined by screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky in the classic movie,

Network.

 

" There is no America and no democracy, " Chayefsky wrote. " There is

only IBM and ITT and AT & T and Du Pont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon.

Those are the nations of the world now. "

 

God help us.

 

 

Recommended websites:

 

GRAIN promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural

biodiversity based on people's control over genetic resources and

local knowledge. To read the report, Iraq's New Patent Law: A

Declaration of War Against Farmers, or for more information about

GRAIN's work, visit

www.grain.org <http://www.grain.org>. (Or see Google cache link in

article above.)

 

For more information about seed saving, check out The Seed Savers'

Network at www.seedsavers.net <http://www.seedsavers.net> and The

International Seed Saving Institute www.seedsave.org

<http://www.seedsave.org>.

 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is

located at www.fao.org <http://www.fao.org>.