Monsanto files patent for new invention: the pig

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Fri, 05 Aug 2005 17:53:28 -0000

[s-A] Monsanto Files Patent For New Invention: The Pig!

 

 

 

Monsanto files patent for new invention: the pig

Greenpeace researcher uncovers chilling patent plans

02 August 2005

 

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto-pig-patent-111

 

The Earth is flat, pigs were invented by Monsanto, and genetically

modified organisms are safe. Right.

 

Geneva, Switzerland — It's official. Monsanto Corporation is out to

own the world's food supply, the dangers of genetic engineering and

reduced biodiversity notwithstanding, as they pig-headedly set about

hog-tying farmers with their monopoly plans. We've discovered

chilling new evidence of this in recent patents that seek to

establish ownership rights over pigs and their offspring.

 

In the crop department, Monsanto is well on their way to dictating

what consumers will eat, what farmers will grow, and how much

Monsanto will get paid for seeds. In some cases those seeds are

designed not to reproduce sowable offspring. In others, a flock of

lawyers stand ready to swoop down on farmers who illegally, or even

unknowingly, end up with Monsanto's private property growing in their

fields.

 

One way or another, Monsanto wants to make sure no food is grown that

they don't own -- and the record shows they don't care if it's safe

for the environment or not. Monsanto has aggressively set out to

bulldoze environmental concerns about its genetically engineered (GE)

seeds at every regulatory level.

 

So why stop in the field? Not content to own the pesticide and the

herbicide and the crop, they've made a move on the barnyard by filing

two patents which would make the corporate giant the sole owner of

that famous Monsanto invention: the pig.

 

The Monsanto Pig (Patent pending)

 

The patent applications were published in February 2005 at the World

Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva. A Greenpeace

researcher who monitors patent applications, Christoph Then,

uncovered the fact that Monsanto is seeking patents not only on

methods of breeding, but on actual breeding herds of pigs as well as

the offspring that result.

 

" If these patents are granted, Monsanto can legally prevent breeders

and farmers from breeding pigs whose characteristics are described in

the patent claims, or force them to pay royalties, " says Then. " It's

a first step toward the same kind of corporate control of an animal

line that Monsanto is aggressively pursuing with various grain and

vegetable lines. "

 

There are more than 160 countries and territories mentioned where the

patent is sought including Europe, the Russian Federation, Asia

(India, China, Philippines) America (USA, Brazil, Mexico), Australia

and New Zealand. WIPO itself can only receive applications, not grant

patents. The applications are forwarded to regional patent offices.

 

The patents are based on simple procedures, but are incredibly broad

in their claims.

 

In one application (WO 2005/015989 to be precise) Monsanto is

describing very general methods of crossbreeding and selection, using

artificial insemination and other breeding methods which are already

in use. The main " invention " is nothing more than a particular

combination of these elements designed to speed up the breeding cycle

for selected traits, in order to make the animals more commercially

profitable. (Monsanto chirps gleefully about lower fat content and

higher nutritional value. But we've looked and we couldn't find any

" Philanthropic altruism " line item in their annual reports, despite

the fact that it's an omnipresent factor in their advertising.)

 

According to Then, " I couldn't belive this. I've been reviewing

patents for 10 years and I had to read this three times. Monsanto

isn't just seeking a patent for the method, they are seeking a patent

on the actual pigs which are bred from this method. It's an

astoundingly broad and dangerous claim. "

 

Good breeding always shows

 

Take patent application WO 2005/017204. This refers to pigs in which

a certain gene sequence related to faster growth is detected. This is

a variation on a natural occurring sequence -- Monsanto didn't invent

it.

 

It was first identified in mice and humans. Monsanto wants to use the

detection of this gene sequence to screen pig populations, in order

to find which animals are likely to produce more pork per pound of

feed. (And that will be Monsanto Brand genetically engineered feed

grown from Monsanto Brand genetically engineered seed raised in

fields sprayed with Monsanto Brand Roundup Ready herbicide and doused

with Monsanto Brand pesticides, of course).

But again, Monsanto wants to own not just the selection and breeding

method, not just the information about the genetic indicators, but,

if you pardon the _expression, the whole hog.

 

* Claim 16 asks for a patent on: " A pig offspring produced by a

method ... "

* Claim 17 asks for a patent on: " A pig herd having an increased

frequency of a specific ...gene... "

* Claim 23 asks for a patent on: " A pig population produced by

the method... "

* Claim 30 asks for a patent on: " A swine herd produced by a

method... "

 

This means the pigs, their offspring, and the use of the genetic

information for breeding will be entirely owned by Monsanto, Inc. and

any replication or infringement of their patent by man or beast will

mean royalties or jail for the offending swine.

 

Not pig fodder

 

When it comes to profits, pigs are big. Monsanto notes that " The

economic impact of the industry in rural America is immense. Annual

farm sales typically exceed US$ 11 billion, while the retail value of

pork sold to consumers reaches US$ 38 billion each year. "

 

At almost every level of food production, Monsanto is seeking a

monopoly position.

 

The company once earned its money almost exclusively through

agrochemicals. But in the last ten years they've spent about US$ 10

billion buying up seed producers and companies in other sectors of

the agricultural business. Their last big acquisition was Seminis,

the biggest producer of vegetable seeds in the world.

 

Monsanto holds extremely broad patents on seeds, most, but not all of

them, related to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Monsanto has

also claimed patent rights on such non-Monsanto inventions as

traditionally bred wheat from India and soy plants from China. Many

of these patents apply not only to the use of seeds but all uses of

the plants and harvest that result.

 

Monsanto's GMO corn threatens biodiversity.

 

Monsanto's GMO corn threatens biodiversity.

Orwellian: " The Earth is flat, pigs were invented by Monsanto, and

GMOs are safe. "

 

The big picture is chilling to anyone who mistrusts Monsanto's record

disinterest for environmental safety.

 

And if you're not worried, you should be: central control of food

supply has been a standard ingredient for social and political

control throughout history. By creating a monopoly position, Monsanto

can force dangerous experiments like the release of GMOs into the

environment on an unwilling public. They can ensure that GMOs will be

sold and consumed wherever they say they will.

 

By claiming global monopoly patent rights throughout the entire food

chain, Monsanto seeks to make farmers and food producers, and

ultimately consumers, entirely dependent and reliant on one single

corporate entity for a basic human need. It's the same dependence

that Russian peasants had on the Soviet Government following the

Russian revolution. The same dependence that French peasants had on

Feudal kings during the middle ages. But control of a significant

proportion of the global food supply by a single corporation would be

unprecedented in human history.

 

It's time to ensure that doesn't happen.

It's time for a global ban of patents on seeds and farm animals.

It's time to tell Monsanto we've had enough of this hogwash.

 

— Brian Thomas Fitzgerald

Tell Monsanto to stop patenting life

 

* Let Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant (no relation to the actor who plays

a sleazy corporate executive in Bridget Jones' Diary) and the board

of Monsanto know you don't want them patenting your food.

http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=1836 & s=gen2