Jolly Gene Giant
- To: propagation@mallorn.com
- Subject: Jolly Gene Giant
- From: D* M*
- Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 13:45:03 -0700 (PDT)
> Subject: Jolly Gene Giants> Below is a compilation
of recent GE postings.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Matthew Sleigh
>
> B & T World Seeds
> Paguignan
> 34210 Olonzac
> France
>
> fax:00 33 4 68 91 30 39
> ph: 00 33 4 68 91 29 63
>
> m@b-and-t-world-seeds.com
> http://b-and-t-world-seeds.com/
>
> Monsanto surrenders 'suicide seeds'
> but continues work on other Traitor Technologies
>
> With biotech's Silver Bullet firmly imbedded in its
> own foot, Monsanto is
> dropping its guns, abandoning the Terminator, and
> telling farmers that it
> wants to play nice. Not so fast, hombre!
>
> Following 18 months of controversy and intense
> popular opposition around
> the world, Monsanto CEO Robert B. Shapiro has
> advised Gordon Conway,
> President of the Rockefeller Foundation that
> Monsanto has decided to
> abandon plans to commercialize Terminator Technology
> (causing crop seed to
> become sterile at harvest time). Monsanto's open
> letter to Rockefeller is
> available on the company's web site at:
> http:/www.monsanto.com/monsanto/gurt/default.htm
> However, the company says it will continue to
> pursue closely-related
> research targets that could allow Monsanto to switch
> on - or off - other
> genetic traits vital to a crop's productivity.
> Commonly known as "Traitor"
> technology.
>
> Limping from a Silver Bullet:
>
> Monsanto is the second major "Gene Giant" to back
> away from Terminator
> Technology. In June of this year, the UN Convention
> on Biological Diversity
> received a letter from UK-based AstraZeneca
> announcing that it would
> not commercialize seed sterility technologies. In
> all, more than a
> dozen companies and public institutes have at least
> 31 patents that
> include claims involving seed sterilization.
> Monsanto was
> the big gun, however, and Terminator became a
> public relations disaster
> for the company when it made a bid to acquire Delta
> & Pine Land Seed
> Company in May, 1998. Delta & Pine Land co-owns the
> "prototype"
> Terminator patent with the U.S. Department of
> Agriculture (USDA) --
> US patent number 5,723,765. In addition, Monsanto
> holds a second patent, WO 9744465, published 27
> November 1997.
>
> Terminator Turn-Around:
>
> Even though Monsanto's public commitment to abandon
> Terminator is not
> questioned, it is to be noted that market and
> technical realities may
> eventually force a different outcome. In a letter
> dated 24 February 1999
> AstraZeneca categorically stated that it abandoned
> the development of its
> Terminator-type technology for the purpose of seed
> sterilization in 1992. It
> was discovered that ExSeed, an AstraZeneca joint
> venture with Iowa State
> University, won a new seed sterilization patent on
> 11 August 1997, based on
> a claim made in 1995 - three years after
> AstraZeneca's research was to have
> been abandoned.
>
> All the Gene Giants are pursing R&D on Terminator
> and Traitor technology.
> Companies, including Monsanto, are working to
> control important
> genetic traits of plants with external chemical
> catalysts. Once perfected,
> a seed's genetic trait(s) could be turned on or off
> with the application of
> a
> proprietary chemical, such as an herbicide or
> fertilizer, for example.
> "Companies tell us that trait control will mean more
> options for farmers,
> but chemically-dependent seeds will more likely lead
> to bioserfdom.
>
> USDA Stands Alone:
>
> When will USDA follow suit? USDA is now in the
> shameful position
> of supporting and defending a genetic technology
> that the world's 2nd
> largest seed corporation has clearly rejected due to
> public opposition. At
> a meeting with civil society organizations in June,
> Under-Secretary of
> Agriculture Richard Rominger stated that the USDA
> refuses to abandon
> the patent it co-owns with Delta & Pine Land (a
> Mississippi-based seed
> company in the process of being acquired by
> Monsanto) because it wants
> to see the technology widely licensed.
>
> Monsanto CEO Robert Shapiro's letter says that
> Monsanto made the
> decision to reject Terminator, in part, because it
> was responding to the
> views of its "very important grower constituency."
>
> USDA is increasingly marginalized in its support of
> Terminator, it should
> immediately cease negotiations with Delta & Pine
> Land, abandon the
> patent, and develop a strict policy prohibiting the
> use of taxpayer funds
> for the development of genetic seed sterilization.
>
> Governments Need to Pull the Plug on Terminator:
>
> Monsanto has taken a positive step, but let's not
> forget that farmers can
> never depend on the charity and good will of the
> Gene Giants to reject
> immoral technologies. Without government action to
> firmly reject Terminator
> and Traitor technology, these technologies will be
> commercialized
> within a few years with potentially disastrous
> consequences.
>
>
>
>
=====
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