Biopiracy

Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2008

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News Release
Coalition Against Biopiracy
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
www.captainhookawards.org
www.etcgroup.org

Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2008

The Coalition Against Biopiracy* exposes Hooks and celebrates Cogs

Winners announced at the UN’s Biodiversity Convention in Bonn

Today the world learned which corporations, governments, institutions and individuals earned a spot in biopiracy’s hall of shame when the Coalition Against Biopiracy (CAB) announced the winners of the 5th Captain Hook Awards at a lunch-time ceremony during the Ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Bonn, Germany.

“The Maritim Hotel, where the CBD meets this week and next,...   Read More













Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Geoengineering, Human Genomics, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Other, Synthetic Biology, Terminator & Traitor

Hollow Victory: Enola Bean Patent Smashed At Last (Maybe)

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ETC Group
News Release
29 April 2008
www.etcgroup.org

Hollow Victory: Enola Bean Patent Smashed At Last (Maybe)

The infamous Enola bean patent, first denounced by ETC Group eight years ago as a textbook case of biopiracy, was struck down yesterday (April 29, 2008) by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in Washington, D.C. One of the most controversial plant patents in history, the effort to defeat it was unprecedented because it involved the United Nations and international plant breeding institutes.

“Many people are calling the PTO’s decision to reject the Enola bean patent a victory, but we’re inclined to call it a travesty,” said Hope Shand of ETC Group. “In essence, the U.S. patent system allowed the owner of a flagrantly unjust patent to legally monopolize markets and destroy competition – for close to half...   Read More










Categories: Biopiracy

The Coalition Against Biopiracy today calls for nominations for the Fifth Captain Hook Awards

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News Release
Coalition Against Biopiracy
7 March 2008
www.captainhookawards.org

Ahoy, Mates! The Coalition Against Biopiracy today calls for nominations for the Fifth Captain Hook Awards

*** Please Circulate to Your Networks throughout the Seven Seas ***

What's the most scandalous case of biopiracy[1] in your country? Who's ripping off indigenous knowledge in your community? Which privateer is most egregiously pillaging the global commons for profit? Who's monopolizing your genes or patenting your plants?

Nominate your least favorite pirate for a 2008 Captain Hook Award. All outrageous achievements in biopiracy deserve recognition!

Nominate your most admired biopiracy-resistor for a 2008 Cog...   Read More














Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Cultural Diversity, Intellectual Property & Patents, "New Enclosures", Public / Private Relations

Farmers Call for Suspension of Seed Treaty

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For immediate release – endorsed by the civil society and farmers’ organizations present at FAO
Thursday, 1 November 2007

Farmers Call for Suspension of Seed Treaty

Governments fail to meet minimal Treaty obligations  UN conference told

Farmers’ organizations who were invited to attend a United Nations meeting on the Treaty that governs the exchange of crop seeds for research and plant breeding late yesterday told the assembled governments that the Treaty would have to be suspended. Speaking on behalf of 30 farmers’ and other civil society organizations, Ibrahima Coulibaly of  ROPPA (regional farmers’ organization of West Africa) said that, “the Treaty, hosted in Rome by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), must halt the exchange of crop germplasm – the critical...   Read More





Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents

REVOKED!! Monsanto Monopoly Nixed in Munich

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ETC Group
News Release
3 May 2007
www.etcgroup.org

REVOKED!! Monsanto Monopoly Nixed in Munich

but little joy in foiling soy ploy at this late date

Munich – The European Patent Office today put the brakes on Monsanto’s over-the-top corporate greed by revoking its species-wide patent on all genetically modified soybeans (EP0301749) – a patent unprecedented in its broad scope. ETC Group, an international civil society organization based in Canada, won its 13-year legal challenge against Monsanto’s species-wide soybean patent when an EPO appeal board ruled that the patent was not new or sufficient (i.e., the invention claimed was not sufficiently described for a skilled person to repeat it). The patent challenge was supported by Greenpeace and “No Patents on Life!” Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher of UK-based EcoNexus also joined...   Read More







Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, "New Enclosures", Public / Private Relations, Terminator & Traitor

Extreme Genetic Engineering: An Introduction to Synthetic Biology

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News Release
ETC Group
January 16, 2007
www.etcgroup.org

Extreme Genetic Engineering: ETC Group Releases Report on Synthetic Biology

Findings to be presented at World Social Forum in Nairobi - 20-25 January

A new report by the ETC Group concludes that the social, environmental and bio-weapons threats of synthetic biology surpass the possible dangers and abuses of biotech. The full text of the 70-page report, Extreme Genetic Engineering: An...   Read More

Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, Other New Technologies, Synthetic Biology

Monsanto Acquires Delta & Pine Land and Terminator

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News Release
ETC Group
16 August 2006
www.etcgroup.org
www.banterminator.org

Monsanto Announces Takeover of Delta & Pine Land and Terminator Seed Technology (again)

In a quest to expand its corporate seed empire - Monsanto, the world's largest seed enterprise - announced yesterday that it will buy the world's leading cotton seed company, Mississippi-based (USA) Delta & Pine Land, for US$1.5 billion. Monsanto and Delta & Pine Land (D&PL) together account for over 57% of the US cotton seed market. With D&PL subsidiaries in 13 countries - including major markets such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Pakistan - the takeover means that Monsanto will command a dominant position in one of the world's most important agricultural trade commodities and that millions of cotton farmers will be...   Read More

Categories: Biopiracy, Biotechnology, CGIAR, Corporate Concentration, Cultural Diversity, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, "New Enclosures", Terminator & Traitor

News Release: Call for rejection of World Bank-GEF biosafety projects

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Groups in Latin America and Africa call for rejection of World Bank-GEF biosafety projects

News Release / June 27th 2006

Released by:
African Centre for Biosafety - http://www.biosafetyafrica.net
ETC Group - http://www.etcgroup.org
GRAIN - http://www.grain.org
Red por una América Latina Libre de Transgénicos - http://www.rallt.org

Two World Bank projects, with funding from the GEF (Global Environmental Facility), propose to introduce genetically modified crops such as maize, potatoes, cassava, rice and cotton into five Latin American and four African countries that are centers of origin or diversity for these and other major food crops. Civil society organizations warn that DNA contamination from genetically modified crops poses an unacceptable risk to stable crops that are the basis of peasant economies in these regions. The multi-million...   Read More

Categories: Biopiracy, Biotechnology, CGIAR, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights

Groups in Africa, Latin America condemn World Bank biosafety projects

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The World Bank is set to secure funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for two projects that will undermine public debate and aggressively drive GM crops into the heart of peasant agriculture. The two projects, one in West Africa and the other in Latin America, will hasten the spread of GM crops into farmer seed systems and even into certain centres of origin.

Categories: Biopiracy, FAO, CGIAR, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration

Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2006

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The Coalition Against Biopiracy exposed the globe's nastiest biopirates and rewarded the most steadfast resistors at the Captain Hook Awards on 24 March during the meeting of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Curitiba, Brazil. This ETC Group Communique provides a detailed description of the 2006 award winners.

Categories: Biopiracy, CGIAR, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Cultural Diversity, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Terminator & Traitor, Biotechnology, Human Genomics, Nanotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Intellectual Property & Patents, "New Enclosures", Public / Private Relations

News Release: And the Winners Are...Captain Hook and Cog Awards announced in Curitiba

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News Release
ETC Group and the Coalition Against Biopiracy
March 24, 2006
www.etcgroup.org
www.captainhookawards.org 

And the Winners Are...
The winners of the Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy announced in Curitiba today are an eclectic group that includes old favorites and new up-and-comers; Community-based biodiversity efforts win Cog Awards for defending food sovereignty

Google "Crashed" today at the Captain Hook Awards ceremony during the meeting of the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). No, this doesn't mean that Internet service was interrupted in Curitiba's ExpoTrade Convention and Exhibition Centre where the CBD meeting is being held through March 31. It means that Google walked away with an unexpected big...   Read More

Categories: Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Intellectual Property & Patents

News Release: Ban Terminator Campaign -- Terminator Seed Battle Begins: Farmers Face Billions of Dollars in Potential Costs

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Ban Terminator Campaign
News Release
www.banterminator.org
22nd March 2006

Terminator Seed Battle Begins:
Farmers Face Billions of Dollars in Potential Costs

Curitiba, Brazil. After a week that has seen a worldwide mobilisation against Terminator technology, the issue of Suicide Seeds is about to hit the negotiating floor of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Curitiba, Brazil. Known to the CBD as GURTs (Genetic Use Restriction Technologies), Terminator crops are genetically modified to create sterile seeds at harvest so that farmers must buy new seed every season. Today the Ban Terminator Campaign, a global coalition of over 500 organisations, released new financial calculations indicating that Terminator seeds will impose a burden of billions of extra dollars in seed costs on some of the world's poorest nations....   Read More

Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, CGIAR, Corporate Concentration, Cultural Diversity, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, "New Enclosures", Other, Public / Private Relations, Terminator & Traitor

Granada's Grim Sowers Plow Up Moratorium on Terminator, Clear the Path for its Approval at UN

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ETC Group
Ban Terminator Campaign
News Release
27 January 2006
www.etcgroup.org
www.banterminator.org

Granada's Grim Sowers
Plow up Moratorium on Terminator,
Clear the Path for its Approval at UN

Terminator Opponents Prepare for Battle
at COP8 in Curitiba, Brazil March 20-31, 2006

Indigenous peoples were betrayed and Farmers' Rights trampled at a UN meeting this week when the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian governments - guided by the US government and a brazen cabal of corporate Gene Giants - took a major step to undermine the existing moratorium on Terminator technology (i.e., plants that are genetically modified to produce sterile seeds at harvest). The damaging recommendations from the meeting in Granada, Spain, now go to the upcoming 8th biennial meeting of the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity...   Read More

Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Cultural Diversity, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, "New Enclosures", Public / Private Relations, Terminator & Traitor

ETC Group at the World Social Forum, Caracas,Venezuela, January 24 - 29, 2006

ETC Group at the World Social Forum, Caracas Venezuela, January 24 - 29, 2006

From Biotechnology to Nanotechnology

Hotel Caracas Hilton - Rotisserie
Friday Jan 27th
8:30 - 11:30

A panel discussion with Pat Mooney (ETC Group, Canada), Andres Barreda, (CASIFOP, Mexico), Elizabeth Bravo (Accion Ecologica, Ecuador), Edgardo Lander (Universidad Central de Venezuela), Silvia Ribeiro (ETC Group, Mexico).

The debate will focus on the social, economic and environmental impacts of biotech on local communities and what we can expect with the advance of nanotechnology - the manipulation of matter, both living and non-living, at the scale of atoms and molecules.

Biopiracy, Human Genomics and New Technologies

Colegio Universitario de Caracas, La Floresta, 2nd floor, Room 204
Saturday Jan 28
15:30 - 18:00

This workshop will include presentations and debate on the...   Read More

Categories: Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Nanotechnology, Terminator & Traitor

Terminator Threat Looms: Intergovernmental meeting to tackle suicide seeds issue

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ETC Group
News Release
20 January 2006
www.etcgroup.org

Terminator Threat Looms:
Intergovernmental meeting to tackle suicide seeds issue
CBD's Working Group on 8(j) Meets in Granada, Spain 23-27 January

Indigenous peoples, farmers' organizations and civil society representatives are bracing to defend a de facto United Nations' moratorium on seed sterilization technology - the moratorium is now under attack by the multinational seed and biotech industry. A meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, where "suicide seeds" are on the agenda, gets underway in Spain next week. The UN moratorium - which recommends against the field-testing and commercial sale of seed sterilization technology - is under attack. Delta & Pine Land (a multinational seed company) and the US Department of Agriculture recently won new patents on Terminator in...   Read More

Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Cultural Diversity, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Public / Private Relations, Terminator & Traitor