In recent years, there has been a concerning surge in patents on traditionally bred plants across Europe, raising alarms about potential threats to the future of plant breeding.
Implications for food security and sovereignty
More than 1,000 plant varieties, including broccoli, tomato, melon, spinach, lettuce, maize, wheat, and barley, are already concerned by patents predominantly owned by international companies within the agrochemical sector. Loopholes in legal texts have allowed these patents to proliferate, putting the future of biodiversity and traditional breeding practices at risk.
Patents granted on genes, seeds, and food have emerged as a major risk to both global food security and regional food sovereignty. They jeopardise the ability of breeders to access conventionally bred varieties for further improvement, which potentially could end the freedom of traditional plant breeding.
Political action and a change in legislation is urgently needed
If this development persists, many breeders will either have to stop breeding or will become dependent on bigger companies through having to take out license contracts with patent holders. The consequences extend to the Global South, where the adoption of legislation allowing patents on seeds could undermine food sovereignty as well as traditional regional production, propagation and seed exchange.
To stop these patents and protect Europe’s food sovereignty, political action and a change in legislation is urgently needed.
Protecting food sovereignty
No Patents on Seeds! is actively working to protect the freedom of action of traditional breeders, drawing attention to the violation of European patent law and the risks these patents pose to global food security and regional food sovereignty. To this end, the organisation emphasises the need to ban patents on breeding processes, including crossing or selection, as well as the use of naturally occurring or randomly generated genetic variations.
No Patents on Seeds! calls for legislative changes and public awareness to ensure the future of traditional plant breeding practices and safeguard global food security.
“We want to safeguard ‘freedom to operate’ for all European breeders, market gardeners and farmers involved in conventional breeding, growing and propagation of food plants and farm animals. Access to biological diversity needed for conventional breeding to, amongst others, react to climate change and biodiversity loss must not be controlled, hampered or blocked by patents”, claims No Patents on Seeds!.
The organisation calls for legislative changes and public awareness to ensure the future of traditional plant breeding practices and safeguard global food security. It also appeals for collective action to protect food sovereignty and access to seeds in Europe. No Patents on Seeds! insists that Contracting States of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Office (EPO) should implement without delay a correct interpretation of patent law, including on genetically modified plants and animals resulting from conventional breeding. It also encourages the European Union to “adopt the correct interpretation of patent laws as well in their national legislation”.
- Write an mail to the EU commission now and ask them to take action!
- Further information available at www.no-patents-on-seeds.org
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