Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Monsanto stole patented wheat from Indian farmers
Monsanto had taken out a patent for a "genetically modified" strain of wheat. Today, they lost that patent in Europe, after Greenpeace proved that the wheat in question had in fact been selectively bred by Indian farmers and had not emerged from Monsanto's labs.
The European Patent office in Munich had granted a patent to Monsanto on May 21, 2003. The patent covered wheat exhibiting a special baking quality that Monsanto claimed to be its invention.Link (Thanks, Jason!)However, Greenpeace proved in its opposition that the wheat variety was bred by Indian farmers for improving its baking quality and it was not a genetically-engineered invention as claimed by Monsanto.
posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:27:52 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments
