Recent content

Exploiting Apoptosis - the University of Texas GRIM Patent

Enviado por ETC Staff el

GRIM Patent (US #5,846,768 - December 8, 1998)

Problems resulting from the continued widespread use of pesticides has prompted some biologists to pursue other means of controlling insects. While there have been some success stories in biological control, these have not been numerous, and spraying with toxic chemicals continues to be the norm. The Texas patent attempts to address this problem by incorporating a toxic component in the genome of fertile insects.

Plant Breeders' Wrongs Righted in Australia?

Enviado por ETC Staff el

Under attack for blatant abuses to its Plant Breeders' Rights (intellectual property) legislation and accused of abetting the biopiracy of Farmers' Varieties around the world - including Australian Aboriginal varieties - Canberra's beleaguered PBR Office has issued new regulations intended to prevent piratical plant patents. But will they? What about past abuses? What does it mean for the renegotiation of the WTO's TRIPS" (patent) chapter this December 1-2 (1998)?

Monsanto's 'Spectre' Dims

Enviado por ETC Staff el

Has CEO Bob Shapiro, the 'Goldfinger' of biotechnology, suddenly become the 'Man with the Minus Touch' ... or has Monsanto run afoul 007?

The plot thickens as Monsanto's biotech PR blitz has led to increasing problems for the corporation, including the scrapped merger between Monsanto and American Home Products.

Temas relacionados: 
Concentración Corporativa
Patentes y Biopiratería
Terminator y Nuevos confinamientos

CGIAR Adopts "No Terminator" Policy

Enviado por ETC Staff el

The Terminator - and related genetic seed sterilization technology - has been banned from the crop breeding programs of the world's largest international agricultural research network. The strong and unambiguous policy was adopted by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) at a meeting at the World Bank in Washington on Friday, October 30th.

It's a courageous decision. The CGIAR has done the right thing, for the right reasons," says Pat Mooney, Executive Director of RAFI, "a ban on Terminator is a pro-farmer policy in defence of world food security."

The CGIAR is a global network of 16 international agricultural research centres, which collectively form the world's largest public plant breeding effort for resource-poor farmers. The Terminator genetic engineering technique renders farm-saved seed sterile, forcing farmers to return to the commercial seed market every year. The technology is aimed primarily at seed markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America, where over 1.4 billion people depend on farm-saved seed and on-farm plant breeding. If widely adopted, the Terminator would make it impossible for farmers to save seed and breed their own crops.

Fuera de control (Out of Control) solamente disponible en inglés

Enviado por ETC Staff el

Los sistemas de patentes del Norte amenazan la seguridad alimentaria, la dignidad humana y son predadores de los recursos y conocimientos del Sur.

Este cuadro ilustra donde estan veinte de las peores patentes que se han otorgado y les da puntajes a países según el número de patentes predadoras que han permitido que se otorguen en su territorio. Se puede bajar en PDF una imagen completa del cuadro en su formato original.

Temas relacionados: 
Patentes y Biopiratería

Out of Control

Enviado por ETC Staff el

Northern Patent Systems Threaten Food Security, Human Dignity, and are Predatory on the South's Resources and Knowledge

This chart illustrates where twenty of the world's worst patents have been granted and scores individual countries on the number of predatory patents they have allowed to issue on their soil. A full size picture can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format.

 

Temas relacionados: 
Patentes y Biopiratería

CGIAR to Avoid Terminator Technology

Enviado por ETC Staff el

With more than 70% of the Third World's rice and wheat crops based upon its crop breeding programmes, the world's largest network of agricultural research institutes is vowing not to useTerminator Technology (a biotech-based strategy that prevents seed from regerminating in a secondgrowing season). The decision is a slap-in-the-face to one of its major funders - the US Government, and to Monsanto Corporation - who claim their technology will help feed the hungry.

RAFI Translator: Dead Seed Scroll?

Enviado por ETC Staff el

The USDA's Terminator Defence

Embarrassed by the deluge of more than 1850 letters from concerned farmers, scientists, and other individuals from 54 countries, the USDA's "Fact Sheet" is a muted re-hash with no new arguments or data.

Temas relacionados: 
Terminator y Nuevos confinamientos
Relaciones Públicas / Privadas
Relacionados foros: 
Alimentación y Agricultura: FAO, CGIAR, CFS

Frustrated Harvest

Enviado por ETC Staff el

Frost has come early for the CGIAR's much-awaited Systemwide Review

After 17 years - a 17 day wonder? Now the question is, what next?

In search of vindication and vision, the CGIAR's first Systemwide Review in 17 years is indeed a vociferous defence of the past but its recommendations for the future vacuous and doomed to be discounted. After 18 months and $1.5 million is the System back where it started? How will it recover from its post-harvest losses?

Life Industry Giants Devour Seed/Biotech Interests

Enviado por ETC Staff el

Seed industry rankings have a shorter shelf life than tomatoes. As RAFI predicted, the frenetic pace of seed industry mergers has made our list of major seed companies and their subsidiaries out of date in a matter of weeks (see the July/August RAFI Communique, Seed Industry Consolidation).

Temas relacionados: 
Concentración Corporativa

Terminator

Enviado por ETC Staff el

So Bad, Even Monsanto Can't put a Spin on It

Monsanto appears apoplectic in the face of global criticism over the seed-killing Terminator technology. In recent weeks the company has taken a drubbing across the globe, from India to New Zealand, Zimbabwe, the UK, and even in cyberspace. But so far Monsanto's legendary spinmasters have been unable to counter the criticism and articulate any good reason why the world needs the Terminator. Who, after all, wants a dead seed?

Temas relacionados: 
Concentración Corporativa
Patentes y Biopiratería
Terminator y Nuevos confinamientos
Armas biológicas
Genómica y Biotecnología
Derechos humanos / Derechos de los Agricultores
Biodiversidad y diversidad cultural

Terminador

Enviado por ETC Staff el

Monsanto aparece apopléjico frente a la crítica global sobre la tecnología Terminador que mata semillas. En semanas recientes (1998), la compañía ha sufrido derrotas en todo el mundo, desde la India a Nueva Zelandia, Zimbabwe, el Reino Unido, e incluso en el ciberespacio. Sin embargo, los legendarios funcionarios de relaciones públicas de Monsanto no han podido hasta el momento contradecir la crítica ni articular razón buena alguna por la cual el mundo necesita el Terminador. ¿Quién, después de todo, desea una semilla muerta?

Temas relacionados: 
Concentración Corporativa
Patentes y Biopiratería
Terminator y Nuevos confinamientos
Armas biológicas
Genómica y Biotecnología
Derechos humanos / Derechos de los Agricultores
Biodiversidad y diversidad cultural

Plant Breeders Wrongs

Enviado por ETC Staff el

147 Reasons to Cancel the WTO's Requirement for Intellectual Property on Plant Varieties The Biopiracy and Plant Patent Scandal of the Century

Plant patent" offices in several industrialized countries are knowingly granting plant variety monopolies to plant breeders for cultivars actually bred by farmers in at least 43 Third World countries. RAFI and Heritage Seed Curators Australia (HSCA) today are presenting a roster of 147 "dubious" plant variety claims to challenge the World Trade Organization's edict that countries must grant intellectual property "protection" over living plant varieties. The WTO is meeting in Geneva September 17-18 to discuss procedures for reviewing the controversial clause in 1999. Now, the question shouldn't be "What the WTO is going to do about plant breeders rights?" rather, it is "What are the WTO and the various intergovernmental 'patent' conventions going to do about plant breeders wrongs?"

Plant Breeders Wrongs

Enviado por ETC Staff el

An inquiry into potential for plant piracy through international intellectual propery Conventions A report by RAFI, in partnership with Heritage Seed Curators Australia (HSCA)

RAFI's in-depth report on plant piracy, prepared in partnership with Heritage Seed Curators Australia, concludes that intellectual property regimes for plant varieties are inherently predatory upon the knowledge of indigenous peoples and farming communities.

 

Temas relacionados: 
Patentes y Biopiratería

And Now... the Verminator!

Enviado por ETC Staff el

Fat Cat Corp. with Fat Rat gene can Kill Crops

Europe's answer to the American Home Monster" Terminator Technology is the Verminator, a new chemically activated seed killer. The Verminator kills seeds - in one of the invention's claims - by switching on rodent fat genes that have been bioengineered into crops. Zeneca BioSciences (UK) is vying with the "Monster" (Monsanto) to become Top Cat in the global seed industry even if it means playing cat and mouse with farmers and destroying their age-old practice of saving and breeding crop varieties.

Páginas

Suscribirse a Recent content