fyi

-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- 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

www.infogm.org/7715

*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