India: 
3 NGOs File Petition Against Wheat Patent For Monsanto 

SASHOK B SHARMA / The Financial Express (India) 28jan04

[More on Monsanto and its products]

New Delhi (Jan 27)—International non-government organisation (NGO), Greenpeace along with the Indian organisations like the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) and Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS) on Tuesday filed a petition at the European Patent Office (EPO), Munich challenging the patent rights given to Monsanto on Indian landrace of wheat, Nap Hal.

Patent expert Christoph, then, Aseesh Tayal of Greenpeace-India, Vandana Shiva of RFSTE and Krihna Bir Choudhary of BKS jointly signed the petition.

Monsanto, on the other hand defended its move and Ranjana Smetacek of company's India unit speaking to FE said, "the patent in question relates to an Indian landrace, Nap Hal. This patent right was filed by Unilever in 1990. In 1998 Unilever's wheat division was acquired by Monsanto and hence the patent rights was transferred to Monsanto. Unilever sourced the genes of Nap Hal from the gene banks in the multilateral system (MLS). The orginal patent claimed to use the variety for processing bread in Europe. Now that Monsanto has withdrawn from its cereal business in Europe in mid-October, 2003, this patent no longer holds good."

According to the press release issued by Greenpeace, "the patented variety of wheat with specific baking characteristics of flour derived from it was orginally developed in India and has been cultivated, bred and processed for bread (Chapatis) by Indian farmers for years. The patent that Monsanto now holds means it has the monopoly on farming, breeding and processing of this type of wheat. The patent (EP 445929) was granted on May 21, 2003 by EPO, Munich."

According to the European Patents Convention, patents cannot be issued on plants that are normally cultivated, any more than they are allowed to be issued on their seeds. In case of the Monsanto wheat patent, the EPO has clearly disregarded rules and law, the press release said.

Dr Aseesh Tayal of Greenpeace-India said "the patent is a blatant example of biopiracy as it is tantamount to the theft of the results of the breeding efforts of Indian farmers. Unless we are able to successfully subvert the attempts of the multinationals, Indian farmers and scientists could end up paying royalties to foreign corporations for using traditional knowledge that their own communities have developed."

"Our investigations show that the examiners at the EPO knew that the wheat involved is cultivated entirely normally and that it is not an invention, Monsanto employed all kinds of tricks and deception to conceal this fact, though the truth is amply clear on proper examination. This case shows again that only a clear prohibition of patents on plants and seeds can stop the ongoing abuse of modern patent law," said Dr Christoph Then, a patent expert of Greenpeace German office.

Dr Krishan Bir Choudhary of BKS called upon European governments, particularly the German government to prevent such recurrences in future.

source: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=51348 29jan04