Biopiracy of Turkish resource
Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 4:47 pm
https://seedfreedom.in/biopiracy-of-tur ... le-carrot/
Please note:
Seminis, a subsidiary of Monsanto (world's most hated corporation and with good reason) added nothing new to the carrot which their representative bought in an isolated, remote, out of the way place in Turkey of about 1.5 million inhabitants. Their breeders merely selected for desired traits, such as color. I am informed that the "legal definition" of 'plant breeding' includes selection, apparently without admixture of outside genes. Please recall to mind that American laws are often written by corporate lobbyists and nowhere is this practice more prevalent than in the agriculture sector. For an American Senator or Congressperson, service on an agriculture committee is not a sexy or high profile assignment, but it can be lucrative for a representative willing to rubberstamp legislation favorable to agribusiness interests.
There are many potentially lucrative commercial uses for the (stolen) purple carrot, such as in health drinks and food coloring. American public opinion is turning against artificial food colorings.
Not Turkey the sovereign nation, nor its' citizens, nor its' farmers stand to receive the slightest benefit from Seminis' commercial exploitation of one of its' landrace vegetable varieties.
In the past, corporate theft of natural resources was always backed up by the threat of military force, but the American public has recently shown its disinclination to endure any further wars in support of the pretensions of our megalomaniac upper classes.
Patents not unlike the one Seminis was awarded for the carrot it did not breed itself have been successfully challenged in American courts. One case involved selection of yellow color in a heritage bean from Mexico. In another case, public outcry and petitions to the Patent Office convinced the officials of that agency to not grant a patent on warty skin in squash. Such warty skin is a feature of many heritage varieties of squash, not to mention other curcurbitae, which are hundreds of years old, as I, along with many other people, pointed out in the letters we sent to the Patent Office. I wish we had known about the carrot patent before it was granted.
Black, or purple, carrots are grown in many countries and I know for a fact that seed is sold commercially in some European countries. Seminis might simply have purchased packets of purple carrot seeds from different vendors and then cross pollinated those to produce a new variety. Some purple hybrids have already been introduced into the North American seed market. I believe 'Purple Dragon' is the name of one F1 hybrid variety.
Should the Turkish govt. wish to file suit to either vacate the patent or claim royalties, Turkey may surely count on the support of the entire seed saving/food sovereignty movement in the USA and around the world as well. OK, I know, that would be those scruffy dippy hippy organic gardener types your relatives in Europe and the USA can't stand, but, hey, allies are where you find them. It was an international coalition of scientists and the aforementioned scruffy dippy hippies who convinced Vladimir Putin to halt bulldozing of the world famous (among botanists) Vavrilov Institute's grounds, home to the irreplaceable collection assembled by the Russian scientist Vavrilov. Can the president of your country convince Mr. Putin to do anything he does not want to do? No, I didn't think so. Neither can Barak Obama.
I hope any Turkish citizen who might be reading this will consider asking his or her govt. to protest this theft of a historic Turkish resource.
Please note:
Seminis, a subsidiary of Monsanto (world's most hated corporation and with good reason) added nothing new to the carrot which their representative bought in an isolated, remote, out of the way place in Turkey of about 1.5 million inhabitants. Their breeders merely selected for desired traits, such as color. I am informed that the "legal definition" of 'plant breeding' includes selection, apparently without admixture of outside genes. Please recall to mind that American laws are often written by corporate lobbyists and nowhere is this practice more prevalent than in the agriculture sector. For an American Senator or Congressperson, service on an agriculture committee is not a sexy or high profile assignment, but it can be lucrative for a representative willing to rubberstamp legislation favorable to agribusiness interests.
There are many potentially lucrative commercial uses for the (stolen) purple carrot, such as in health drinks and food coloring. American public opinion is turning against artificial food colorings.
Not Turkey the sovereign nation, nor its' citizens, nor its' farmers stand to receive the slightest benefit from Seminis' commercial exploitation of one of its' landrace vegetable varieties.
In the past, corporate theft of natural resources was always backed up by the threat of military force, but the American public has recently shown its disinclination to endure any further wars in support of the pretensions of our megalomaniac upper classes.
Patents not unlike the one Seminis was awarded for the carrot it did not breed itself have been successfully challenged in American courts. One case involved selection of yellow color in a heritage bean from Mexico. In another case, public outcry and petitions to the Patent Office convinced the officials of that agency to not grant a patent on warty skin in squash. Such warty skin is a feature of many heritage varieties of squash, not to mention other curcurbitae, which are hundreds of years old, as I, along with many other people, pointed out in the letters we sent to the Patent Office. I wish we had known about the carrot patent before it was granted.
Black, or purple, carrots are grown in many countries and I know for a fact that seed is sold commercially in some European countries. Seminis might simply have purchased packets of purple carrot seeds from different vendors and then cross pollinated those to produce a new variety. Some purple hybrids have already been introduced into the North American seed market. I believe 'Purple Dragon' is the name of one F1 hybrid variety.
Should the Turkish govt. wish to file suit to either vacate the patent or claim royalties, Turkey may surely count on the support of the entire seed saving/food sovereignty movement in the USA and around the world as well. OK, I know, that would be those scruffy dippy hippy organic gardener types your relatives in Europe and the USA can't stand, but, hey, allies are where you find them. It was an international coalition of scientists and the aforementioned scruffy dippy hippies who convinced Vladimir Putin to halt bulldozing of the world famous (among botanists) Vavrilov Institute's grounds, home to the irreplaceable collection assembled by the Russian scientist Vavrilov. Can the president of your country convince Mr. Putin to do anything he does not want to do? No, I didn't think so. Neither can Barak Obama.
I hope any Turkish citizen who might be reading this will consider asking his or her govt. to protest this theft of a historic Turkish resource.