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ETC Group
News Release
February 11, 2010
www.etcgroup.org
Top-down Planet Hackers Call for Bottom-up Governance
Geoengineers Bid to Establish Voluntary Testing Regime Must be Opposed
While most scientists left the Copenhagen Climate Summit feeling gloomy about their influence, a small group of geoengineering advocates came away emboldened by the summitâs weak outcome and uncertain road ahead. This group of scientists aims to get on with research and experimentation in controversial geoengineering technologies. Their real excitement is over âsolar radiation managementâ (SRM). This is a way of âcooling down the planetâs thermostatâ by reflecting a portion of the sunâs rays back to outer space, through a variety of techniques ranging from sunshades in space, to aerosol sulphates in the stratosphere, to whitening clouds. These high-risk, planet-altering schemes affect global warming without changing...
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Who Will Feed Us?
2009âs most important intergovernmental meeting on the climate and food crises has already happened. In October, as climate negotiators were fighting in Bangkok and as the UN food agencies were jousting over a restructured response to the food crisis and plans for the World Food Summit, the Food and Agriculture Organizationsâs (FAO) Commission on Genetic Resources met quietly in Rome to review the preparedness of the international community to adapt and develop crops, livestock, aquatic and microbial genetic resources used in food and agriculture to address climate change. The meeting also considered the political and corporate constraints that could prevent a major strategic shift to achieve our food security. The Rome Food Summit in November and the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December should pay attention. At stake is the answer to the most important question not being asked in...
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ETC Group
News Release
14 July 2009
www.etcgroup.org
Enola Patent Ruled Invalid: Haven’t we Bean here before?
(Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.)
On July 10, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that U.S. patent 5,894,079 (the “Enola” bean patent), which claims a yellow bean of Mexican origin, is invalid because none of the patent claims meet the criterion of non-obviousness. The case has been closely watched by civil society groups concerned about biopiracy, the patenting of life and the corporate control of food production. The Court’s clear 7-page decision argues that anyone interested in reproducing or improving Mexican yellow beans would have done exactly what the “inventor” Larry Proctor did: “plant the beans, harvest the resulting plants for their seeds, planting the latter seeds, and repeat the process two more times.”[1] The decision concludes...
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ETC Group
Update
March 20, 2009
www.etcgroup.org
“Wartmongers” Thwarted as Bumpy Pumpkin Patent Goes Flat
Last month, ETC Group reported on a patent application(1) under examination at the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in which Siegers Seed Company of Holland, Michigan, claimed invention of a “warted pumpkin...wherein the outer shell includes at least one wart...” On February 13, the USPTO put its 9-page verdict in the mail(2) rejecting all of the application's 25 claims.
“The good news is that the USPTO rejected all claims in the warty pumpkin patent application,” says Silvia Ribeiro from ETC Group's Mexico office. “And also that in her decision, the patent examiner cited a catalogue from Seed Savers Exchange – a non-profit organization that preserves and distributes heirloom seeds....
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À qui appartient la nature?
Pouvoir des grandes sociétés et ultime frontière de la marchandisation du vivant
Problèmes, obsessions et occasions : une préface
TIl y a trente ans, l’humanité avait un problème; la science avait une obsession; et l’industrie tenait une occasion. Notre problème était l’injustice. Les rangs des affamés ne cessaient de grossir et les rangs des agriculteurs, de s’affaiblir. De son côté, la science était obsédée par la biotechnologie – la possibilité de modifier génétiquement les cultures et le bétail (et l’être humain) pour les doter de traits qui allaient régler tous nos problèmes. L’industrie agroalimentaire tenait l’occasion de prélever l’énorme valeur ajoutée tout au long de la...
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ETC Group News Release November 13, 2008 www.etcgroup.org
Who Owns Nature?
New report warns of corporate concentration, commodification of nature; highlights global resistance grounded in "Food Sovereignty"
ETC Group today releases a 48-page report, "Who Owns Nature?" on corporate concentration in commercial food, farming, health and the strategic push to commodify the planet's remaining natural resources.
In a world where market research is becoming increasingly proprietary and pricey, ETC Group's report names names, discloses market share and provides top 10 industry rankings up and down the corporate food chain. Not all the corporations identified in ETC Group's new report are household names, but collectively they control a staggering share of the commercial products found on industrial farms, in our refrigerators and medicine cabinets.
An international advocacy...
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Who Owns Nature?
In this 100th issue of the ETC Communiqué we update Oligopoly, Inc. – our ongoing series tracking corporate concentration in the life industry. We also analyze the past three decades of agribusiness efforts to monopolize the 24% of living nature that has been commodified, and expose a new strategy to capture the remaining three-quarters that has, until now, remained beyond the market economy.
To download the full 48-page report, click on 'Download PDF,' above.
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June 2008 ETC Group Translator Ciao FAO: Another "Failure-as-Usual" Food Summit Contrary to the opinion of many, June's Food Summit actually did something. It signaled the beginning of the end for the multilateral system as we know it. Over the next six months the food emergency - and the international institutions designed to address it - could get worse. The full text offers a line-by-line interpretation of the Food Summit's final declaration. Issue: During the 3-5 June 2008 World Food Summit, governments patched together sufficient funds to keep the lid on food rebellions for a few months but all the fundamental and long-term institutional and financial problems remain. In Rome, governments opted for a mythical "techno-fix" led by agribusiness in collaboration with the Gates Foundation and other philanthro-capitalists. These "klepto-mandates" are usurping the multilateral system. There is also a clear power shift away from the...
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(PDF2 above contains the complete poster)
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, was the perfect place to...
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Communiqué May/June 2008 Issue # 99
Patenting the “Climate Genes”… And Capturing the Climate Agenda
Issue: The world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more. BASF, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dupont and biotech partners have filed 532 patent documents (a total of 55 patent families) on so-called “climate ready” genes at patent offices around the world. In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis, the Gene Giants are gearing up for a PR offensive to re-brand themselves as climate saviours. The focus on so-called climate-ready genes is a golden opportunity to push genetically engineered crops as a silver bullet solution to climate change. But patented techno-fix seeds...
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ETC Group News Release Tuesday, May 13, 2008 www.etcgroup.org
Gene Giants Grab "Climate Genes"
Amid Global Food Crisis, Biotech Companies are Exposed as Climate Change Profiteers A report released today by Canadian-based civil society organization, ETC Group, reveals that the world's largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses associated with climate change - including drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more. ETC Group's report warns that - rather than a solution for confronting climate change - the promise of so-called "climate-ready" crops will be used to drive farmers and governments onto a proprietary biotech platform. "In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis,...
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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 Award. All those who have fought off biopirates, defeated predatory patents or otherwise foiled the nefarious plots of fiendish privateers deserve recognition. (Cog Awards are so-named because cogs were ships designed to...
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Svalbard's Doomsday Vault: The Global Seed Vault Raises Political/Conservation Debate The swarm of media attention focusing on today's opening of the Global Seed Vault in Norway's high Arctic may overshadow an even bigger news story. Yesterday, 26 February, the Norwegian government pledged to give 0.1% of money spent on commercial seed sales to support Farmers' Rights, and challenged other governments to do the same. The critical message is that even the most secure gene bank storage is not the ultimate solution. Governments must provide support to farmers to improve local conservation and breeding, and help them obtain access to far away seed accessions. Global food security depends upon a coherent in situ (on-farm) and ex situ (gene bank) strategy. The need to support farmers' on-farm conservation and breeding work is urgent. On the occasion of the opening of the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, ETC Group releases a new Communique, "Svalbard's Doomsday Vault: The...
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ETC Group
News Release
8 December 2007
www.etcgroup.org
Extreme Monopoly:
Venterâs Team Makes Vast Patent Grab on Synthetic Genomes
Six months ago ETC Group exposed the Venter Instituteâs controversial patent applications on the worldâs first human-made living organism built entirely from synthetic DNA (dubbed âSynthiaâ by ETC Group). Newly published patent claims reveal an even bigger grab for ownership of synthetic life.
A suite of patent applications lodged by J. Craig Venter and his colleagues claims exclusive monopoly on a wide swath of synthetic biology and demonstrate a not-so-subtle move to position Venterâs company, Synthetic Genomics, Inc., as the âmicrobesoftâ of synthetic life. Find out about Read more
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ETC Group News Release 8 December 2007 www.etcgroup.org
Extreme Monopoly:
Venter’s Team Makes Vast Patent Grab on Synthetic Genomes
Six months ago ETC Group exposed the Venter Institute’s controversial patent applications on the world’s first human-made living organism built entirely from synthetic DNA (dubbed “Synthia” by ETC Group). Newly published patent claims reveal an even bigger grab for ownership of synthetic life.
A suite of patent applications lodged by J. Craig Venter and his colleagues claims exclusive monopoly on a wide swath of synthetic biology and demonstrate a not-so-subtle move to position Venter’s company, Synthetic Genomics, Inc., as the ‘microbesoft’ of synthetic life. Find out about Read more
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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 material for plant breeding. The suspension should remain in effect until governments meet the minimal obligations of the...
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The World’s Top 10 Seed Companies - 2006
UPDATED: World’s Top 10 Seed Companies Based on 2006 Seed Revenues
Company
2006 seed sales US $ millions
1. Monsanto + Delta & Pine Land (US) pro forma
$4,476
2. Dupont (US)
$2,781
3. Syngenta (Switzerland)
$1,743
4. Groupe Limagrain (France)
$1,035
5. Land O’ Lakes (US)
$756
6. KWS AG (Germany)
$615
7. Bayer Crop Science (Germany)
$430
8. Takii (Japan) estimate*
$425
9. Sakata (Japan)
$401
10. DLF-Trifolium (Denmark)
$352
Source: ETC Group
Based on 2006 revenues, the top 10 seed corporations account for $13,014 million or 57% of the commercial seed market worldwide.
The top 3 seed companies account for $9,000 million – or 39% of the commercial seed market worldwide.
The top 4 seed companies account for 44% of the commercial...
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* also available in french*
Despite the fact that governments re-affirmed and strengthened the United Nations’ moratorium on Terminator technology (a.k.a. genetic use restriction technology [GURTs]) in March 2006, public and private sector researchers are developing a new generation of suicide seeds – using chemically induced “switches” to turn a genetically modified (GM) plant’s fertility on or off.
Issue: Under the guise of biosafety, the European Union’s 3-year Transcontainer Project is investing millions of euros in strategies that cannot promise fail-safe containment of transgenes from GM crops, but could nonetheless function as Terminator, posing unacceptable threats to farmers, biodiversity and food sovereignty. Terminator technology – genetic seed sterilization – was initially developed by the multinational seed/agrochemical...
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ETC Group lance aujourd’hui Terminator -La suite, un communiqué sur une nouvelle recherche en rapport avec les semences-suicide et autres technologies relatives aux semences GM (génétiquement modifiées) qui constituent une menace inacceptable pour les agriculteurs, la biodiversité et la souveraineté alimentaire.
ETC Group nous parle aujourd’hui d’une nouvelle cuvée de technologies du génie génétique, présentées comme une solution biosécuritaire à la dissémination non désirée des transgènes de cultures, arbres et plantes pharmaceutiques GM. En pratique, la commercialisation de ces technologies permettra aux multinationales des semences d’affermir leur emprise sur les semences exclusives et de gruger les droits des agriculteurs.
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* also available in french* ETC Group today releases “Terminator: The Sequel,” a Communiqué reporting on new research related to “suicide seeds” and other genetically modified (GM) seed technologies that pose unacceptable threats to farmers, biodiversity and food sovereignty.
Today ETC Group reports on a new crop of genetic engineering technologies that are being promoted as a biosafety solution to the unwanted spread of transgenes from GM crops, trees and pharmaceutical-producing plants. In practice, these technologies, if commercialized, will allow the multinational seed industry to tighten its grasp on proprietary seeds and to restrict the rights of farmers.
The 28-page Communiqué begins with an examination of the European Union’s...
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