fyi
| Betreff: | [Genet-forum] Some seed companies are opposing patents but... |
|---|---|
| Datum: | Thu, 30 Mar 2023 09:11:39 +0200 |
| Von: | Eric Meunier <eric@infogm.org> |
| An: | newtech@infogm.org, new-gm-eur@lists.corporateeurope.org <new-gm-eur@lists.corporateeurope.org>, synbiocritics@synbiowatch.org, genet-forum@lists.genet-info.org |
Sorry for cross-postings.
Eric
Some seed companies are opposing patents but...
by Eric MEUNIER
Date of publication : 29 March 2023
Recently, some seed companies in France and Germany have
denounced what opponents of GMOs have been saying for years:
deregulating the new techniques of genetic modification would
allow appropriation of life through patents. But the solution
favoured by some seed companies is not to keep the GMO label
as a trace of patents in a plant and even less to restrict the
scope of patents. On the contrary, some of them wish to
organize among themselves the conditions of access to the
patent and the settlement of potential conflicts. A new way of
privatizing public law.
At the beginning of February 2023, the french seeds and plants
interprofession (Semae) organized a symposium on the theme of
“variety creation at the service of the farm in 2030”. During
two round tables, which discussed the issue of new genetic
modification techniques, some seed companies, whose words can be
rare, publicly questioned the supposed performances of
techniques of genetic modification and the conditions of use of
associated patents. Here are the main extracts.
Technically, a more complex reality than claimed
During a first round table entitled “Climate change: what tools
for our farms?”, Jean-Pierre Cohan, from Arvalis - Institut du
végétal, was very much in favour of deregulating products
obtained through new genetic modification techniques [1].
According to him, these processes can “open up a number of ways
for obtaining more resilient varieties that are more tolerant to
a number of biotic (disease resistance) and abiotic stresses”.
Above all, he regrets that these techniques are today considered
as giving regulated GMOs with the “constraints” that this
implies (risk assessment, labeling...).
Marin Desprez, Head of Strategy for the Florimond Desprez seed
group, was more critical. He believes that... => to read the
full article www.infogm.org/7715
-- Eric Meunier Inf'OGM - www.infogm.org