elni Review 2011, Issue 2,  pp. 53-57. https://doi.org/10.46850/elni.2011.008

In recent years, there have been an increasing number of patent applications on conventionally bred plants and animals. These patents no longer simply focus on a particular segment of farm and food production, such as the cultivation of genetically engineered seeds, but more on the resources of daily living in general. According to the authors’ research, there has been an ongoing steady increase in the number of such patent applications in this area. Patents are being filed on seeds and breeding material, plants and animals, processes for breeding and food derived thereof, such as oil, flour, tomatoes, melons, milk and eggs. While the technical innovation in most cases is only minor, the scope of the patents is extremely broad, covering the whole chain of food production, from farm to fork. Several such patents have already been granted. Modern patent law is in danger of being abused and losing control of resources and products needed for global food production. The authors of this report believe that patents on plants and animals as well as breeding materials should be excluded by law, and open source systems in plant and animal breeding should be promoted to support innovation in plant breeding, enhance biological diversity in agriculture and secure world food production.

Access full article

References

1. Then & R. Tippe, Seed monopolists increasingly gaining market control, 2011.
2. C.Then & R. Tippe, The future of seeds and food under the growing threat of patents and market concentration, 2009.
3. P.H. Howard, Visualizing Consolidation in the Global Seed Industry: 1996–2008, Sustainability (2009), 1, 1266-1287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su1041266.
4. Then, Dolly ist tot, Rotpunktverlag (2008).
5. ETC, Who Owns Nature, (2008).
6. OECD, Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food, Published by OECD Publishing, (1992), OECD Code: 931992031P1, ISBN 92-64-13725-4.
7. N. Louwaars et al., Breeding Business, the future of plant breeding in the light of developments in patent rights and plant breeder’s rights, University of Wageningen, CGN Report (2009).  
8. K. Hubbard, Out of Hand, farmers face the consequences of a consolidated seed industry, National Family Farm Coalition (2009).
9. C.Then & R. Tippe, The future of seeds and food under the growing threat of patents and market concentration (2009) M. d’Escoto Brockmann, UN-General Assembly (2008).
10. UK Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Integrating Intellectual Property Rights and Development Policy (2002).
11. Knight, Crop improvement: A dying breed, (2003) Nature 421: 568-570.
12. The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to the European Commission (EGE), Ethics of modern developments in agriculture technologies, Opinion Nr. 24 (2008).
13. Then & R. Tippe, Seed monopolists increasingly gaining market control, 2011.
14. Wissenschaftlicher Beirat für Biodiversität und Genetische Ressourcen beim Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz, 2011, Product-by-Process-Ansprüche auf Biopatente in der Tier- und Pflanzenzucht – Voraussetzungen, Problemlagen und Handlungsempfehlungen.
15. Bundesverband Deutscher Pflanzenzüchter (BDP), BDP-Position zur Ausgestaltung des Patentschutzes in der Pflanzenzüchtung BDP fordert Änderung der europäischen Biopatentrichtlinie 98/44/EG.
16. P. Feindt, Biopatente – eine Gefährdung für Nutzung und Erhaltung der Agrobiodiversität? Beirat für Biodiversität und Genetische Ressourcen beim Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz, 2010.