Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 8 • Number 16 • 19th September 2008

Activists Accuse Industry of Biopiracy on Climate-Ready Crops

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Environmental activists are speaking out against agricultural biotechnology companies, claiming their patenting of genetically engineered climate-resistant is tantamount to biopiracy.

The charges come as a reaction to a June 2008 report by Ottawa-based Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group) that draws attention to a recent spike in patent applications for “climate-ready” seeds in the past four years. Biotech companies say that these new crops will be able to withstand the harsh environmental conditions of a future planet affected by climate change.

But activists argue that industry is simply looking to profit from long established traditional knowledge. “Farmers in India have long known and used flood-resistant, drought-resistant, cold-resistant and heat-resistant seeds to adapt to local climatic conditions,” says environmental activist Vandana Shiva. “Patents on these traits to multinational companies deny the innovation embodied in indigenous knowledge.”

Current Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regulations do not require patent applications to disclose the origin of biological resources or associated traditional knowledge. But developing countries are now pushing for the Agreement to be amended to require applicants to acknowledge origins and to provide evidence of prior information consent from the origin country and of benefit sharing.

According to the ETC Group report, over 530 applications for so-called climate-ready genes have already been submitted around the world. The organisation asserts that the deluge of patent applications reveals a new strategy by the biotech industry to profit from climate change. “Biotech companies see a silver lining in climate change: An opportunity to assert that agriculture cannot win the war against climate change without genetic engineering,” the report reads. “In other words, industry claims that biotech crops will offer essential adaptation measures.”

Environmental activists argue that companies are mapping the genome seeds that are already used by traditional farmers and that patenting them could limit future access.

But industry counters that their advancements in biotech will be desperately needed in the future as weather patterns change and that patenting is the best way to help agricultural security. “Climate change will pose new challenges for farmers around the world, and Monsanto and other companies are making major research and development investments to help farmers meet those challenges,” Monsanto said in a press release. “Patent protection allows companies to see a return on their investment which enables further investment in research and product development.”

To access the ETC Group report “Patenting the ‘Climate Genes’…And Capturing the Climate Agenda” visit http://www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?pub_id=687

“Companies preparing to rule ‘climate ready’ crop market - report,” ENN, 14 May 2008; “Climate ready GM crops: The patent race,” CLIMATE CHANGE CORP, 17 September 2008; “Should Crucial Technology be Patentable?,” MONSANTO PRESS RELEASE, 17 September 2008.