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More Bio-Piracy From Monsanto

By: Zahava Bell


It is illegal to patent food plants in Europe. Still, Monsanto has succeeded in patenting a traditional variety of Indian wheat known for it’s high elasticity and low gluten content.
Monsanto claims this as it’s own unique invention, when, in fact it this has been cultivated for hundreds of years by Indian farmers. It is used for chapattis, rotis and other traditional Indian foods. Greenpeace patent expert, Dr. Christoph Then says that, “ It is theft of the results of the work in cultivation, made by Indian farmers.”

Monsanto got around the illegalities when it bought the Dutch food giant, Unilever and inherited a patent. It gives them exclusive rights for the distribution of this Indian style wheat and it’s products in Europe, thereby cutting off potential markets for Indian exports. Rainer Osterwalder of the European Patent Office says that there are no laws in place to stop corporations from committing bio-piracy. “ Sometimes the office cannot prevent (the fact) that indigenous knowledge is used for a patent and the indigenous people cannot use it anymore. Science is often one step ahead of the laws,” he admitted.

Greenpeace and affiliates have mounted a campaign with local farmers to pressure the Indian government to respond in a serious manner to this threat to their nation’s economy.
So far, to no avail. An appeal to the EPO in Munich was made by Greenpeace to challenge the Monsanto patent of Nap Hal wheat. It is still pending.
They were successful in 2000,when, because of their petition, the Indian Supreme court revoked 99% of RiceTec’s patent on Basmati rice.




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