2 Million signatures against patents on plants
Berlin/Munich, 24.03. 2013. The European Patent Office (EPO) is coming under increasing pressure from citizens to stop granting controversial patents to biotech giants. Nearly 2 million citizens have signed an online petition against patents on conventionally-bred seeds, started on 9th April by the global campaigning organisation Avaaz, and handed over to the German Ministry of Agriculture today. The petition was triggered by the (EPO) announcing it will grant further patents on conventional breeding, despite a resolution of the European Parliament and others which urged the EPO to stop these patents. Just today two new patents on paprika and pepper (Monsanto) and sunflowers (Dupont) based on methods used in conventional breeding have been granted. Now No Patents on Seeds! and Avaaz are demanding that the governments of the 38 member states of the EPO answer the call of 2 million citizens, uphold prohibitions in current European patent law and stop the EPO granting more patents for conventionally-bred seeds.
“Nearly 2 million world citizens want the member states of the EPO to stop big biotech firms from patenting away our everyday vegetables and fruits. This is their chance to take our food supply out of the hands of corporations like Monsanto,” says Emma Ruby-Sachs, Campaign Director at Avaaz.
At a conference organised by the German Ministry of Agriculture in Berlin, No Patents on Seeds! is calling for political initiatives as soon as possible: “Similar to the banking system, the EPO seems to be more or less unable to self-regulate. Industry is just served as if it were a commercial client of the EPO“, says Christoph Then for No Patents on Seeds!. “Most urgent problems could be solved just within a few months. Too many years were spent already just observing and analysing the problem. Meanwhile only three companies, Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta are already controlling more than 50 percent of the international seed market.”
There are huge differences between the text of the European Patent Convention (EPC) which is the legal basis of the EPO and its current interpretation. While for example the EPC prohibits patents on plant and animal varieties, the EPO routinely grants patents that extend to varieties. The Administrative Council which is the assembly of representatives at any time could change the interpretation of the current law thereby enforce the existing prohibitions. This could be a first decisive step, which is also supported by the vote of the European Parliament from May 2012. Further efforts like a change of the legislation would be needed to prohibit patents on life in general.
Patents granted today (EP1261252 and EP1804571) concern mutation breeding and gene selection that are used to support conventional breeding. The patents cover plant varieties, seeds and food products. Patents like these are helping the big companies to foster market concentration. Recently there were some announcements by companies like Syngenta which promised to give access to patented seeds for other breeders. But these voluntary agreeements can not be seen as a substitute for access to plant material for all breeders as foreseen by European law so far, which is the basis for innovation in patent law.
The organisations behind the coalition of No Patents on Seeds! are extremely worried that patents will foster further market concentration, making farmers and other stakeholders of the food supply even more dependent just on a few big international companies and ultimately giving less choice to consumers. The Coalition No Patents on Seeds! is organised by Bionext (Netherlands), The Berne Declaration (Switzerland), GeneWatch (UK), Greenpeace (Germany), Misereor (Germany), Development Fund (Norway), No Patents on Life (Germany), Rete Semi Rurali (Italy), Reseau Semences Paysannes (France) and Swissaid (Switzerland). These organisations are calling for a revision of European Patent Law to exclude breeding material, plants and animals and food derived thereof from patentability. The coalition is supported by several hundred other organisations (www.no-patents-on-seeds.org).
Contact:
– Avaaz: Pascal Vollenweider +41 793349457, Pascal@avaaz.org
– No Patents on Seeds!: Christoph Then, Tel +49 151 54638040, info@no-patents-on-seeds.org