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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Revealed: how seed market is controlled by Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Dow & DuPont

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Andriy Palamarchuk <apa3a@yahoo.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Revealed: how seed market is controlled by Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Dow & DuPont
  • Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010 09:16:14 -0700 (PDT)

A couple comments.

The original article confuses plant and gene patents. They are very
different. Many consider plant patents beneficial. They help breeders to
recover costs for creating new varieties. Gene patents, however, are what
causes most of the problems.

The fact that an organism is genetically modified does not say much in
itself. We should analyze and regulate the actual effects of the change, not
how it was implemented.

A change in genes can be obtained through traditional breeding techniques as
well as through genetic engineering. Sure, some kinds of changes are much
easier to do with genetic engineering. However with new technologies breeding
approaches may become as practical, so it would be possible to obtain the
effect of inserting a salmon gene into tomato by breeding. Regulating GM
organisms increases pressure on developing such technologies, because the
organisms developed with them won't fall under the regulations.

In fact, this already happens. Remember reading that a biotech company tried
to work around a gene patent by breeding bacteria with the required
properties.

Andriy







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