USDA Betrays Public Trust with Two New Terminator Patents

[Guest guest]

And here's something else that just hit my mailbox along with yours, Penny.

It's very serious, very. And scandalous that the USDA is involved in the

patents. Where IS the national media when you need it? I can't imagine that

the American public would be in favor of any of this if they but knew about

it.

 

Patricia S.

 

>Fri, 24 Mar 2000 10:24:41 -0600 (CST)

>Rural Advancement Foundation Intl <rafi

>USDA Betrays Public Trust with Two New Terminator Patents

>

>

>RAFI

>Rural Advancement Foundation International

>www.rafi.org | rafi

>

>News Release - 24 March 2000

>

>USDA Betrays Public Trust with

>Two New Terminator Patents

>

>Will USDA's Biotech Advisory Board Demand Accountability?

>

>

>The Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), an international

civil society organization based in Canada, announced today that the US

Department of Agriculture (USDA) holds two new patents on the controversial

Terminator technology, the genetic engineering of plants to render their

seeds sterile. If commercialized, Terminator would make it impossible for

farmers to save seeds from their harvest, forcing them to return to the

commercial seed market every year.

>

> " The US government is advancing research and squandering taxpayer dollars

on a technology that has been universally condemned because it is bad for

farmers, food security, and biodiversity, " says Pat Mooney, Executive of RAFI. " It's an egregious misallocation of public resources for

the sole purpose of maximizing seed industry profits, " adds Mooney.

>

> " It's disgraceful, " says Hope Shand, RAFI's Research Director. " We were

shocked to discover USDA's new patents because when we met with US Deputy

Secretary of Agriculture Richard Rominger on two separate occasions last

year, his staff assured us in no uncertain terms that there were no more

patents in the works. Why didn't we get the straight story? " asks Shand.

>

> " Despite mounting opposition from national governments, United Nations'

agencies, farmers, scientists, and civil society organizations around the

world, USDA continues to ignore the public outcry at home and abroad, " adds

Silvia Ribeiro, RAFI Programme Officer. Last month for example, the General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

declared FAO's opposition to Terminator. Earlier this month, the state of

Maryland (US) introduced a bill to ban Terminator seeds. (See RAFI

Communique, " Suicide Seeds on the Fast Track, " Feb./March,

2000,http://www.rafi.org).

>

>According to RAFI, the new patents on genetic seed sterilization were

issued in 1999 (US Patent No. 5,925,808 issued on July 20, 1999 and US

Patent No. 5,977,441 issued on November 2, 1999). The patents are jointly

owned by USDA and Delta & Pine Land (the world's largest cotton seed

company), the owners of the original 1998 patent. The USDA's new patents

share the same titles, inventors, and abstracts as the earlier patent, but

they describe new innovations and demonstrate that USDA scientists are

continuing to refine the technology and advance the research.

>

>On October 28, 1999 representatives from a broad base of civil society

organizations (CSOs) met with US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to

demand that his agency abandon research and development of genetic seed

sterilization. Participants included the American Corn Growers Association,

Consumers Union, National Family Farm Coalition, Ralph Nader of Public

Citizen, International Center for Technology Assessment, Mothers and Others

for a Livable Planet, Consumer Federation, Sustainable Agriculture

Coalition, RAFI, and RAFI-USA. Less than five days later, USDA won a new

patent on Terminator.

>

>Duped and Betrayed: " We feel duped and betrayed, " says Gary Goldberg, CEO

of the American Corn Growers Association. " We demand to know why the USDA

continues to invest taxpayer dollars on anti-farmer research that, if

commercialized, will hold farmers hostage to giant agribusiness

corporations, " said Goldberg.

>

>Destroying National Seed Sovereignty: USDA's growing portfolio of

Terminator patents sends an ominous message to the rest of the world, says

Rafael Alegria, General Coordinator of Via Campesina, the largest

confederation of peasants' and small farmers' organizations in Africa,

Asia, Latin America, Europe, and North America. " It amounts to a

declaration of war against the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm-saved

seeds - mainly poor people - and it's an assault on global food security, "

explains Alegria.

>

>Neth Dano, Executive Director of SEARICE, the Southeast Asian Regional

Institute for Community Education, agrees, " This technology goes far beyond

intellectual property. A patent expires after 20 years, but if Terminator

seeds are commercialized it will give a handful of multinational Gene

Giants a monopoly with no expiration date. This technology aims to

eliminate the right of farmers to save seeds and do local plant breeding,

and it will destroy the concept of national seed sovereignty. "

>

>Litmus Test for USDA's Biotech Advisory Board: USDA's newly-appointed

Biotech Advisory Board will hold its first meeting on March 29-30. " It's a

litmus test for the USDA advisory board, " explains RAFI's Shand. Will they

or won't they demand accountability from USDA? There's no doubt that the

biotech advisory board has a full plate and it's loaded with controversial

GMO (genetically modified organisms) issues, but Terminator must be the

number one priority, " stresses Shand.

>

>Launching Pad for Bioserfdom: Without effective action by civil society

and governments to ban Terminator seeds, RAFI concludes that suicide seeds

will be commercialized, with potentially disastrous consequences for

farmers, food security and the environment.

>

> " Terminator has grabbed the spotlight, but we are equally concerned about

the closely related genetic trait control technologies (Traitor Tech) which

enables a plant's genetic traits to be turned on or off with the

application of an external chemical - the company's proprietary chemical, "

adds Ribeiro. " Although the USDA and Delta & Pine Land are the high-profile

crusaders, the goal of genetic trait control is industry-wide, " concludes

Ribeiro.

>

>Coming Soon: In May, 2000 RAFI will release a status report on Terminator

and Traitor patents, which will examine the current goals of private and

public sector institutions that are promoting bioserfdom with genetic trait

control technology.

>

>

>For more information:

>

>Hope Shand, RAFI

>Tel: 919 960-5223

>Email: hope

>

>Silvia Ribeiro, RAFI

>Email: silvia

>

>

>Julie Delahanty, RAFI

>Tel: 819 827-9949

>Email:julie

>

>

>Rafael Alegria

>General Coordinator,

>Via Campesina

>Tegucigalpa, Honduras, C.A.

>email: viacam

>

>Neth Dano

>Executive Director,

>SEARICE

>The Philippines

>Tel: 63-2-922-6710

>Email: searice

>

>Gary Goldberg

>CEO,

>American Corn Growers Association,

>Tel: 918 488-1829

>http://www.acga.org

>

>

>Action Needed:

>

>1. USDA should cease negotiations with Delta & Pine Land on the licensing

of it's jointly held patents, and abandon all research and patents on

genetic seed sterilization.

>

>2. USDA should adopt a strict policy prohibiting the use of taxpayer

dollars to support genetic seed sterilization.

>

>3. USDA should terminate all research on Terminator seed technology as

well as the closely related genetic trait control technologies. Remote

control of a plant's genetic traits, triggered by proprietary chemicals, is

grim news for farmers and the environment because, if commercialized,

farmers will become more dependent on chemical inputs manufactured by the

agrochemical/seed industry.

>

>4. USDA should use public research dollars to re-invigorate public plant

breeding for family farmers and sustainable agriculture. Instead of

engineering seeds for sterility, USDA should boost breeding programs that

will lessen farmers' dependency on chemicals, fertilizers, and other

expensive inputs.

>

>Send a Message of Protest to US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman:

>

>A sample letter to US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman can be found

on RAFI's web site:

>

>http://www.rafi.org

>

>Secretary Dan Glickman

>USDA

>200-A Whitten Bldg.

>1400 Independence Ave., SW

>Washington, DC 20250

>USA

>Email: agsec

>Tel: 202 720-3631

>Fax: 202 720-2166

>

>RAFI (the Rural Advancement Foundation International) is an international

civil society organization based in Canada. RAFI is dedicated to the

conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and to the socially

responsible development of technologies useful to rural societies. RAFI is

concerned about the loss of agricultural biodiversity, and the impact of

intellectual property on farmers and food security.

>

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