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"The Earth is flat, pigs were invented
by Monsanto, and genetically modified
organisms are safe. Right."
Through
more patent perversions such as the earlier
"Terminator Corporations' Suicide Seeds"
Monsanto is blatantly continuing their scheme
of rounding up the food chain from A to Z!
"One way or another, Monsanto wants to make
sure no food is grown that they don't own --
and the record shows they don't care if it's
safe for the environment or not. Monsanto has
aggressively set out to bulldoze environmental
concerns about its genetically engineered (GE)
seeds at every regulatory level. So why stop
in the field? Not content to own the pesticide
and the herbicide and the crop, they've made a
move on the barnyard by filing two patents
which would make the corporate giant the sole
owner of that famous Monsanto invention: the
pig. "
"The big picture is chilling to anyone who
mistrusts Monsanto's record disinterest for
environmental safety. And if you're not
worried, you should be: central control of
food supply has been a standard ingredient for
social and political control throughout
history. By creating a monopoly position,
Monsanto can force dangerous experiments like
the release of GMOs into the environment on an
unwilling public. They can ensure that GMOs
will be sold and consumed wherever they say
they will."
Such blatant abuse can only continue if it is
not challenged. Unfortunately, the typical
lack of response from the masses and the idle
government oversight is precisely why these
perversions occur and continue. Sadly the only
way to counter these shenanigans is to
collectively and openly flaunt these patents
...
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Monsanto Files Patent for New Invention: The
Pig - The original is here
(opens in ew window)
It's official. Monsanto Corporation is out to
own the world's food supply, the dangers of
genetic engineering and reduced biodiversity
notwithstanding, as they pig-headedly set
about hog-tying farmers with their monopoly
plans. We've discovered chilling new evidence
of this in recent patents that seek to
establish ownership rights over pigs and their
offspring. In the crop department, Monsanto is
well on their way to dictating what consumers
will eat, what farmers will grow, and how much
Monsanto will get paid for seeds. In some
cases those seeds are designed not to
reproduce sowable offspring. In others, a
flock of lawyers stand ready to swoop down on
farmers who illegally, or even unknowingly,
end up with Monsanto's private property
growing in their fields.
One way or another, Monsanto wants to make
sure no food is grown that they don't own --
and the record shows they don't care if it's
safe for the environment or not. Monsanto has
aggressively set out to bulldoze environmental
concerns about its genetically engineered (GE)
seeds at every regulatory level. So why stop
in the field? Not content to own the pesticide
and the herbicide and the crop, they've made a
move on the barnyard by filing two patents
which would make the corporate giant the sole
owner of that famous Monsanto invention: the
pig.
The Monsanto Pig (Patent pending) . . . The
patent applications were published in February
2005 at the World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva. A Greenpeace
researcher who monitors patent applications,
Christoph Then, uncovered the fact that
Monsanto is seeking patents not only on
methods of breeding, but on actual breeding
herds of pigs as well as the offspring that
result. "If these patents are granted,
Monsanto can legally prevent breeders and
farmers from breeding pigs whose
characteristics are described in the patent
claims, or force them to pay royalties," says
Then. "It's a first step toward the same kind
of corporate control of an animal line that
Monsanto is aggressively pursuing with various
grain and vegetable lines."
There are more than 160 countries and
territories mentioned where the patent is
sought including Europe, the Russian
Federation, Asia (India, China, Philippines)
America (USA, Brazil, Mexico), Australia and
New Zealand. WIPO itself can only receive
applications, not grant patents. The
applications are forwarded to regional patent
offices.
The patents are based on simple procedures,
but are incredibly broad in their claims. In
one application (WO 2005/015989 to be precise)
Monsanto is describing very general methods of
crossbreeding and selection, using artificial
insemination and other breeding methods which
are already in use. The main "invention" is
nothing more than a particular combination of
these elements designed to speed up the
breeding cycle for selected traits, in order
to make the animals more commercially
profitable. (Monsanto chirps gleefully about
lower fat content and higher nutritional
value. But we've looked, and we couldn't find
any "Philanthropic altruism" line item in
their annual reports, despite the fact that
it's an omnipresent factor in their
advertising.) According to Then, "I couldn't
believe this. I've been reviewing patents for
10 years, and I had to read this three times.
Monsanto isn't just seeking a patent for the
method, they are seeking a patent on the
actual pigs which are bred from this method.
It's an astoundingly broad and dangerous
claim."
Good breeding always shows . . . Take patent
application WO 2005/017204. This refers to
pigs in which a certain gene sequence related
to faster growth is detected. This is a
variation on a natural occurring sequence --
Monsanto didn't invent it. It was first
identified in mice and humans. Monsanto wants
to use the detection of this gene sequence to
screen pig populations, in order to find which
animals are likely to produce more pork per
pound of feed. (And that will be Monsanto
Brand genetically-engineered feed grown from
Monsanto Brand genetically-engineered seed
raised in fields sprayed with Monsanto Brand
Roundup Ready herbicide and doused with
Monsanto Brand pesticides, of course).
But again, Monsanto wants to own not just the
selection and breeding method, not just the
information about the genetic indicators, but,
if you pardon the expression, the whole hog.
Claim 16 asks for a patent on: "A pig
offspring produced by a method ..."
Claim 17 asks for a patent on: "A pig herd
having an increased frequency of a specific
...gene..."
Claim 23 asks for a patent on: "A pig
population produced by the method..."
Claim 30 asks for a patent on: "A swine herd
produced by a method..."
This means the pigs, their offspring, and the
use of the genetic information for breeding
will be entirely owned by Monsanto, Inc., and
any replication or infringement of their
patent by man or beast will mean royalties or
jail for the offending swine.
Not pig fodder . . . When it comes to profits,
pigs are big. Monsanto notes that "The
economic impact of the industry in rural
America is immense. Annual farm sales
typically exceed US$ 11 billion, while the
retail value of pork sold to consumers reaches
US$ 38 billion each year."
At almost every level of food production,
Monsanto is seeking a monopoly position. The
company once earned its money almost
exclusively through agrochemicals. But in the
last ten years they've spent about US$ 10
billion buying up seed producers and companies
in other sectors of the agricultural business.
Their last big acquisition was Seminis, the
biggest producer of vegetable seeds in the
world.
Monsanto holds extremely broad patents on
seeds . . . most, but not all of them, related
to Genetically-Modified Organisms (GMOs).
Monsanto has also claimed patent rights on
such non-Monsanto inventions as
traditionally-bred wheat from India and soy
plants from China. Many of these patents apply
not only to the use of seeds but all uses of
the plants and harvest that result.
Orwellian: "The Earth is flat, pigs were
invented by Monsanto, and GMOs are safe." The
big picture is chilling to anyone who
mistrusts Monsanto's record disinterest for
environmental safety. And if you're not
worried, you should be: central control of
food supply has been a standard ingredient for
social and political control throughout
history. By creating a monopoly position,
Monsanto can force dangerous experiments like
the release of GMOs into the environment on an
unwilling public. They can ensure that GMOs
will be sold and consumed wherever they say
they will.
By claiming global monopoly patent rights
throughout the entire food chain, Monsanto
seeks to make farmers and food producers, and
ultimately consumers, entirely dependent and
reliant on one single corporate entity for a
basic human need. It's the same dependence
that Russian peasants had on the Soviet
Government following the Russian revolution.
The same dependence that French peasants had
on Feudal kings during the middle ages. But
control of a significant proportion of the
global food supply by a single corporation
would be unprecedented in human history.
It's time to ensure that doesn't happen. It's
time for a global ban of patents on seeds and
farm animals. It's time to tell Monsanto we've
had enough of this hogwash. - Brian Thomas
Fitzgerald
Tell Monsanto to stop patenting life.
(link is broken, so not included here...)
Contact
Eileen Dannemann, former director, National Coalition of Organized Women
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