An analysis of current applications for patents at the world patent authority WIPO shows that some companies such as Monsanto are applying for patents which cover foodstuffs, feed and energy production all in one. They include rights to every possible stage of production and use.
Starting with seed, the companies claim rights to the whole chain of production even up to processing the harvest, e.g. into salad oil and agrofuel. In contrast, companies selling seed supplies can only operate on the basis of the protection of varieties usual in Europe, and have no say whatsoever in what happens to the harvest or the products that are made from it. Patents which cover the whole of production and use of foodstuffs and biomass will bring about a fundamental change.
Surprisingly, in many cases the patents are based upon the cultivation of conventional plants and the patents for genetically engineered plants seem to be diminishing. In patent applications containing descriptions of genetic engineering in plants, the technical descriptions are often remarkably imprecise, so that often what is being patented are effects which are more or less expected. The analysis of the contents of the patents leads one to think that the future influence of transgenic plants grown for the production of food and energy will be minimal.
Patent applications, however, show that companies such as Monsanto are putting themselves into a position to control both the markets for food production and sustainable raw materials regardless of whether or not genetic engineering is used. This means that they can earn money from competing markets and would profit immensely from a capping of resources. Companies in such a strong position could, for instance, have an interest in making agricultural equipment systematically more expensive, something that would certainly intensify hunger crises in poor countries.
Using cereal plants such as maize, wheat and soya to produce energy in industrialised countries is already one of the reasons given for the price increase of basic foods in developing countries. At the same time, share prices for the world’s largest vendor of seeds, the US enterprise Monsanto, rose in 2007 as steeply as the price for crude oil shares.
To make matters worse there are also more and more patent applications for breeding livestock. In 2008 the European Patent Office approved a patent for breeding pigs (EP 1651777). Dozens of further patents have already been submitted for approval.
From the analysis of the patent applications Testbiotech sees an imminent threat to patent law the purpose of which is a massive takeover of the breeding and cultivation of plants and animals, as well as the markets for food production and sustainable raw materials.
In particular we are greatly worried that the European Patent Office is currently considering approving patents on normal, non-genetically engineered plants and animals. This would automatically lead to the patenting of follow-on steps in the production of foods or biomass. Over 50 farmers’ organisations from many parts of the world have spoken out against this kind of patenting.
5. October 2009