Biotech giants demand a high price for saving the planet

The Independent by Geoffrey Lean | Jun. 10, 2008 (News Report)

Giant biotech companies are privatising the world's protection against climate change by filing hundreds of monopoly patents on genes that help crops resist it, a new investigation has concluded.

The study - by the authoritative Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group), based in Ottawa, Canada - has found that nine firms have filed at least 532 patents around the world on about 55 different genes offering protection ... Full Story »

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by Shibi Emmanuel - Oct. 1, 2008

This story has global implications on the food crisis: It seems to be clearer than ever that this crisis is man-made and has more to do with man made laws and regulations. Laws ought to be changed to serve mankind not the other way around : patents should not be granted if there is a possibility that in future it can destroy food security, patent should be granted only on the explicit understanding that if granting of a patent has hurt even one man then it would stand revoked. Even better would be to exclude food from patentable items.