Public opposition to patents on seeds remains strong across Europe. A representative survey published today by No Patents on Seeds! in five EU member states, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland, shows that around 80% of citizens reject the idea of granting patents on living organisms such as plants and animals.
More than 70% of respondents also said no to patents on naturally occurring genes. The strongest levels of rejection were recorded in Poland and Germany, followed by France and Italy. In response, the international coalition No Patents on Seeds! is calling on the European Union to take responsibility and prohibit patents on plants and animals.
The survey also found broad support for protecting diversity in plant breeding and food supply. More than 90% of respondents agreed that this diversity is crucial, while also stressing that environmental protection should be a priority when assessing patents on genetically engineered plants and their market approval. The highest support on these points was found in Poland and Italy, followed by Germany and France.
“The picture is consistent in all five countries: the public rejects patents on seeds. A majority of EU citizens are very critical of patents on natural traits and want to see a precautionary approach when it comes to patents on genetically engineered plants and their environmental release,” said Nout van der Vaart from Oxfam Novib. “It is time for political decision-makers to take their responsibilities seriously and stop patents on seeds in the EU. They must also place more importance on securing diversity in plant breeding and the protection of the public goods.”
The survey was conducted by the opinion research institute Civey. One of the main reasons behind the study is the upcoming vote by EU member states and the European Parliament on new legislation concerning food plants obtained through new genetic engineering, also referred to as new genomic techniques or NGTs.
The proposed law could exempt these plants from current risk assessment and labelling rules. Depending on the final outcome, this could lead to a significant increase in the number of patented seeds. The European Parliament had initially called for patents on plants and genetic resources to be prohibited or restricted. However, the compromise text that the Council and Parliament are expected to vote on would allow all NGT plants to be patented, including naturally occurring genes. In addition, most NGT plants could be released without undergoing environmental risk assessment.
“All genetically engineered crops, including NGTs, are patented, but seed corporations like Bayer, BASF and Syngenta even claim patents on conventional crops. In this way they drive other seed companies out of business so they can dominate the market even more,” warned Nina Holland from Corporate Europe Observatory. “The patents block access for plant breeders to a wide variety of seeds, necessary for a resilient food system. In fact, we all will get dependent on the decisions of this handful of companies and the prices they set. That is why citizens clearly reject such patents.”
No Patents on Seeds! is an international coalition of organisations working to protect conventional plant breeders and farmers against the growing concentration of power in the seed market. For this reason, the coalition supports those EU member states and Members of the European Parliament who are in favour of banning patents on plants.
“It is apparent that the perspective of the public was not sufficiently taken into account in preparing the current proposal for the future regulation of NGT plants. This needs to be corrected. We demand that the text is amended to stop patents on seeds, or that these are completely rejected,” said Martha Mertens from Friends of the Earth.
- More information and survey results are available at: www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/survey
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