permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

  On Sunday, December 8, 2013 1:00 PM, "Claiborne D, SumOfUs.org" <
us@sumofus.org> wrote:
      *Nestlé is claiming that it owns a natural cure that's been used for
over 1,000 years*.
Tell Nestlé to stop trying to patent the natural cure-all, nigella sativa.
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Nigella sativa -- more commonly known as fennel flower -- has been used as
a cure-all remedy for over a thousand years. It treats everything from
vomiting to fevers to skin diseases, and has been widely available in
impoverished communities across the Middle East and Asia.
*But now Nestlé is claiming to own it, and filing patent claims around the
world to try and take control over the natural cure of the fennel flower
and turn it into a costly private drug.*
Tell Nestlé: Stop trying to patent a natural cure!
In a paper published last year, Nestlé scientists claimed to “discover”
what much of the world has known for millennia: that nigella sativa extract
could be used for “nutritional interventions in humans with food allergy”.
But instead of creating an artificial substitute, or fighting to make sure
the remedy was widely available, *Nestlé is attempting to create a nigella
sativa monopoly and gain the ability to sue anyone using it without **Nestlé’s
permission*. Nestlé has filed patent applications -- which are currently
pending -- around the world.
Prior to Nestlé's outlandish patent claim, *researchers in developing
nations such as Egypt and Pakistan had already published studies on the
same curative powers Nestlé is claiming as its own.* And Nestlé has done
this before -- in 2011, it tried to claim credit for using cow’s milk as a
laxative, despite the fact that such knowledge had been in Indian medical
texts for a thousand years.
Don’t let Nestlé turn a traditional cure into a corporate cash cow.
This isn't surprising, considering Nestle has a long track record of not
caring about ethics. After all, this is the corporation that poisoned its
milk with melamine, purchases cocoa from plantations that use child slave
labor, and launched a breast milk substitute campaign in the 1970s that
contributed to the suffering and deaths of thousands of babies from poor
communities.
But we also know that *Nestlé is sensitive to public outcry, and that it's
been beaten at the patent game before.* If we act fast, we can put enough
pressure on Nestlé to get it to drop its patent plans before they harm
anyone -- but if we want any chance at affecting Nestlé's decision, we have
to speak out now, while its patent claims are still under review.
Thanks for all you do,
Claiborne, Melanie and the team at SumOfUs.org

**********
More Information:
Third World Network (PDF): Food giant Nestlé claims to have invented
stomach soothing use of habbat al-barakah (Nigella sativa), 6 July, 2012
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-- 
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
http://www.avantgeared.com
https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
Skype: lawrence.f.london