Breaking News: New Patents on Terminator Granted in Canada and Europe

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Tuesday, October 25, 2005 5:37 PM

[bt-actionalerts-en] Breaking News: New Patents on Terminator

Granted in Canada and Europe

 

 

 

 

Ban Terminator Campaign – Breaking News October 25, 2005

 

New Patents on Terminator Granted in Europe and Canada!

 

Corporations move closer to bringing Terminator to market. The need

for a successful Ban Terminator Campaign is clearer than ever.

 

Delta & Pine Land and the United States Department of Agriculture have

been granted new patents on the Terminator technology that they

jointly own. On October 11 the Canadian Patent Office granted patent

CA 2196410 and on October 5 the European Patent Office granted patent

EP 775212B.

Applications for similar patents have been filed in Australia, Brazil,

China, Hong Kong, Japan, Turkey and South Africa.

 

Take Action: A sample letter to write to your government is posted

under Take Action at www.banterminator.org – More specific actions and

contacts are coming soon. Please stay tuned.

 

Please see below two press releases with the details:

1. International Press Release: Corporates gain control over nature's

seeds as the Terminator patent is granted, October 25, 2005

 

2. Canadian Press Release: Canada Grants New Controversial Terminator

Patent To US Company: Patent on " Suicide seeds " allowed, October 25,

2005

 

 

 

 

 

1. Corporates gain control over nature's seeds as the Terminator

patent is granted

 

Amsterdam, 25 October 2005 - Greenpeace today exposed details that the

patent for the controversial " Terminator technology " was granted in

Europe on 5 October 2005. The Terminator patent (1) has been approved

for all plants that are genetically engineered so that their seeds

will not germinate. Further research by the " Ban Terminator Campaign " ,

a network of farmers' unions and environmental organisations revealed

that a patent was also granted in Canada on 11 October 2005.

 

Plants created using Terminator technology will produce sterile seeds,

creating a monopoly and unnatural control of the seeds. Farmers will

not be able to use seeds from such plants for the following season's

cultivation. The seeds will rot \in the soil without producing new

plants. If this technology is introduced in crops such as soya, wheat,

canola and cotton it will force farmers to buy new seeds every year

from the same company.

 

" Farmers should be aware that corporations all over the world are

ready to take control of their seeds with genetic engineering (GE).

These corporations will control the entire food chain with the help of

monopoly patents and Terminator technology, " said Christoph Then,

Greenpeace International GE campaigner. " We need a global ban on this

technology and on any patents on seeds. These corporate instruments

will disrupt the backbone of global food supply, making it impossible

for the farmers to reuse their own harvest for planting. "

 

So far, the market introduction of the Terminator technology-which was

already developed about ten years ago-was successfully prevented

through worldwide protest of several groups and stakeholders. But many

observers believe that the GE industry will drive towards the

legalisation of this technology at the meeting of the UN Convention on

Biological Diversity in March next year. The grant of the patent could

push even harder for market introduction.

 

" These new patents confirm that corporations are once again actively

pursuing Terminator technology and an international ban on the

technology is urgently needed, " said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator of the

new global Ban Terminator Campaign, which involves farmers unions,

environmental and Indigenous peoples organisations (2).

 

Although the GE industry claims that Terminator technology will help

contain the spread of GE contamination, Greenpeace believes otherwise.

" GE technology can not be controlled by Terminator seeds. On the

contrary, it is likely that farmers will find their harvest being

contaminated with this Terminator technology, if introduced. This is a

real threat for estimated 80% of the farmers all over the world who

save their seeds for cultivation. "

 

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses

non-violent creative confrontation to expose global environmental

problems to force solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful

future.

 

For further information, contact:

Christoph Then, Greenpeace International GE Campaign, +49 171 8780832

Judit Kalovits, Greenpeace International Communications, +31 621 296914

Lucy Sharratt, Ban Terminator Campaign, +1 613 2412267, mobile: +1 613

2226214

 

Notes to Editors:

(1) The Terminator patent, EP 775212B, was granted to US-based Delta

& Pine and the United States of America, represented by the Secretary

of Agriculture. According to further data bank research the patent was

already granted in similar versions in USA, further applications were

filed in Australia, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Turkey and South

Africa.

(2) www.banterminator.org

 

 

 

 

2. Canada Grants New Controversial Terminator Patent To US Company

Patent on " Suicide seeds " allowed

 

Ottawa, October 25, 2005 – Today Greenpeace and the Ban Terminator

Campaign revealed that new patents have been granted in both Canada

and Europe for a Terminator technology owned jointly by US seed

corporation Delta & Pine Land and the United States Department of

Agriculture. The patents were granted on October 11 and 5

respectively. The move confirms the greatest fears of farmers',

Indigenous peoples groups and social movements across the world that

Terminator technology is once again being pushed towards

commercialization.

 

Terminator seeds are genetically engineered to be sterile after first

harvest so farmers cannot use the seed in the next season. It would

force farmers to buy seed every year and concentrate even more power

in the hands of major biotechnology and seed corporations. Intensive

global uproar has kept the technology from being field-tested or

commercialized but companies are now pushing for acceptance.

 

" These new patents confirm that corporations are once again actively

pursuing Terminator seeds and an international ban on Terminator is

urgently needed, " said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator of the new global

Ban Terminator Campaign.

 

New fears that governments and corporations are working together to

push Terminator were first confirmed in February 2005 when the

Canadian government shocked the world by trying to overturn the

international de facto moratorium on Terminator that exists at the

United Nations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Uproar

from Canadian and international groups kept the moratorium alive. To

address this crisis, the National Farmers Union and other

Canadian-based groups including ETC Group, Inter Pares and USC Canada

initiated a global Ban Terminator Campaign (www.banterminator.org).

 

" The Canadian government must immediately stop promoting corporate

Terminator seeds and protect the rights of farmers by banning the

technology, " said Terry Boehm, Vice President of the National Farmers

Union, " Terminator is a great threat to farmers in developed and

developing countries. The Canadian government should be ashamed to be

associated with this technology. Terminator is an attempt to achieve

biologically what the government has been unable to do legislatively. "

 

" Corporate control of seeds is the only goal of Terminator. The

corporate attempt to greenwash Terminator by saying it can help

prevent genetic contamination is false as the technology itself is not

100% reliable and it can nevertheless contaminate the environment and

threaten biodiversity'. This is an outrageous strategy to

commercialize a dangerous, anti-farmer and non-ecological technology,

" said Eric Darier, Greenpeace Canada campaigner, " Patents on

Terminator can and must be denied for the public good. "

 

The Ban Terminator Campaign is urging governments around the world to

establish national bans on Terminator and to ban Terminator at the

major meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity March 20-31

2006 in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.

 

For more information: Terry Boehm, Vice President, National Farmers

Union, Saskatchewan 306 255 2880; Eric Darier, Greenpeace Canada

Campaigner, Montreal 514 933 0021 x15 Cell: 514 605 6497; Lucy

Sharratt, Coordinator, Ban Terminator Campaign, Ottawa 613 241 2267

Cell: 613 222 6214

 

 

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