New Terminator Patents Threaten Food Security

[Guest guest]

> Talk Radio Network

> Mar. 9, 2002

>

> The arrogance of Monsanto and DuPont and their ilk is

> exceeded only by their stupidity.

>

> New Terminator Patents Threaten Food Security

>

> For more information, see

> http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/new_termpatent_jan2002.pdf

>

> .

> Sources: ETC Group news release, January 31, 2002; ETC Group

> brochure, Terminate Terminator in 2002, February 19, 2002.

>

> ==========================================

> P A N U P S

> Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

> ===========================================

>

> New Terminator Patents Threaten Food Security

>

> March 8, 2002

>

> In a recent news release, the ETC Group* announced that the

> biotechnology industry continues to aggressively pursue the

> development of genetically modified seeds engineered for

> sterility. The ETC Group uncovered two new patents on

> Terminator technology--one held by Dupont (which owns the

> world's largest seed company) and the other by Syngenta (the

>

> world's largest agrochemical corporation). New Terminator

> patents underscore the ongoing investment of the

> agrochemical industry in the goal of genetic seed

> sterilization and the urgent need for governments to ban

> these technologies before they are commercialized.

>

> Terminator has been widely condemned as an immoral

> technology that threatens global food security, especially

> for the 1.4 billion people whose food supplies and

> livelihoods depend on seed saving. If commercialized, the

> technology will prevent farmers from saving seed from their

> harvest for planting the following season. In 1999, due to

> widespread public opposition to Terminator seeds, both

> Monsanto and AstraZeneca (now Syngenta) publicly vowed not

> to commercialize genetic seed sterilization technology.

>

> Syngenta holds the largest number of Terminator patents to

> date (at least seven). In 1999, Zeneca's research and

> development director wrote that Terminator was " one piece of

>

> technology we did not want to take forward, and the project

> was stopped in 1992. " However, the ETC group points out that

>

> the company continued to file for and win Terminator patents

>

> since 1992. The newest Syngenta patent was issued on May 8,

> 2001. The application date was March 22, 1997, long after

> Zeneca claims to have stopped the project.

>

> The new Syngenta patent does not describe its technology as

> a method to prevent farmers from saving seed, but as an

> approach to prevent unwanted gene flow from transgenic

> varieties. In theory, any seed that falls into unintended

> soil would die without the application of a chemical

> inducer. According to the patent, " [Terminator technology]

> would limit the risk of transgene escape to non-crop species

>

> thus avoiding the spreading of plants with [genetically

> engineered] invasiveness or weediness. " (US patent 6,228,643

>

> )

>

> The ETC group believes that it is irresponsible and

> unacceptable to suggest that society must accept genetic

> seed sterilization as a method for solving industry 's

> genetic pollution problem. Food security for poor people

> must not be sacrificed to gain commercial acceptance for an

> unsafe and unproven technology.

>

> The biotech industry is reeling from the most recent

> debacles involving genetic pollution from transgenic seed

> and pollen. The Mexican Ministry of Environment confirmed in

>

> January 2002 that indigenous farmers' maize varieties in

> Oaxaca and Puebla have been contaminated with DNA from

> genetically engineered (GE) maize. It is illegal to grow GE

> maize in Mexico precisely because of the potential threat to

>

> the world's primary center of maize diversity. In Canada,

> genetic pollution from GE canola pollen is a menace for

> organic farmers who cannot certify their canola crops as

> GE-free. On January 10, 2002, organic farmers in

> Saskatchewan filed a class action suit against Aventis and

> Monsanto.

>

> " It is particularly alarming that the Gene Giants

> (agrochemical/biotechnology companies) and some governments

> are promoting Terminator under the guise of biosafety, "

> explains Julie Delahanty of ETC group. " The industry 's

> primary goal is to gain market acceptance for seed sterility

>

> as a biosafety tool, which will then give them carte blanche

>

> to use it as a monopoly tool for maximizing seed industry

> profits, " said Delahanty.

>

> Terminator patents have been granted to multinational

> agrochemical and seed corporations all over the world. Most

> notably, Terminator patents exist in Australia, South

> Africa, South Korea, the U.S., Canada, and most of Western

> Europe. Patents have been also been filed in Brazil, Norway,

>

> Japan, Israel, New Zealand and the Slovak Republic.

>

> Critics of Terminator are worried that unless governments

> move quickly to ban the technology, the agrochemical

> industry will soon have patented sterile seeds on the

> market. In the months leading up to Rio+10,

> intergovernmental organizations have a critical role to play

>

> in raising global awareness and recommending actions to ban

> the technology.

>

> COP6: The Sixth Conference of the Parties to the Convention

> on Biological Diversity meets in The Hague, April 8-26,

> 2002. The ETC Group hopes that after numerous studies on

> genetic trait control technology, COP6 will ban Terminator

> as an anti-farmer technology that threatens biodiversity and

>

> food sovereignty.

>

> World Food Summit Five Years Later: When governments meet

> June 10-13, 2002 in Rome, the ETC Group hopes they will

> reaffirm the findings of the FAO's** Panel of Eminent

> Experts on Ethics, which concluded that Terminator seeds are

>

> unethical, and recommend that member nations ban the

> technology.

>

> World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10): Heads of

> State meeting in South Africa August 26 to September 4, 2002

>

> will have the opportunity to call for a ban on Terminator

> technology as an immoral application of genetic engineering

> that threatens biodiversity and food security.

>

> The ETC Group has published a new brochure, " Terminate

> Terminator in 2002: Defend Food Sovereignty. " It can be

> downloaded free at

> http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/terminatorbrochure02.pdf.

>

> *The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration,

> formerly RAFI. **The United Nations Food and Agriculture

> Organization.

>

> For more information, see

> http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/new_termpatent_jan2002.pdf

>

> .

> Sources: ETC Group news release, January 31, 2002; ETC Group

>

> brochure, Terminate Terminator in 2002, February 19, 2002.

>

> Contact: The ETC Group International Office, P.O. Box 68016

> RPO Osborne, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3L 2V9 Canada; phone (204)

>

> 453-5259; fax (204) 284-7871; email etc; Web

> site http://www.etcgroup.org .

>

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