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>Monsanto is moving swiftly to finalize its control over the Terminator
>technology. The company may extract an exclusive license from the US
>Department of Agriculture (USDA) within weeks. RAFI is initiating an
>urgent internet-based international campaign to stop the USDA -
>Monsanto negotiations before it's too late. A special WWW page has been
>set up at http://www.rafi.org/usda.html to enable anyone with internet
>access to send a customized message to the USDA asking it to cease
>negotiations and bury this anti-farmer, anti-biodiversity technology.
>Additional contact details are provided below.
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
>A Monsanto subsidiary, Delta & Pine Land (D&PL), is currently
>negotiating with the USDA to exclusively license the US Government's
>interest in the controversial Terminator technology patent, a genetic
>technique that renders farm-saved seed sterile. The seed-sterilizing
>technology - developed with US taxpayer dollars - will prevent farmers
>from saving seed from their harvest, forcing them to return to the
>commercial seed market every year.
>
>The Terminator patent (US # 5,723,765) is jointly owned by D&PL and the
>USDA. Under US law, since D&PL worked with USDA to develop the
>technology, the company has the option to negotiate an exclusive
>license. Hoping to find a gullible international public, Monsanto's PR
>machine in Brussels, New Delhi, Harare, St. Louis, and points in
>between, are massaging jittery governments and publicly trying to
>distance the company from the Terminator technology by referring to it
>as "conceptual" and "not yet proven." But the company's move to
>negotiate an exclusive license with USDA confirms that Monsanto is
>eager to commercialize Terminator seeds.
>
>Despite international controversy boiling over in at least two UN
>agencies rather than engage in public dialog, a leaked internal memo by
>Deputy Administrator K. Darwin Murrell reveals that USDA hopes to
>quietly manage controversy over the patent. The memo warns USDA
>employees that Terminator research is "a sensitive issue that requires
>an extra level of review" to help "avoid potential political and legal
>pitfalls." But the USDA insists that the Terminator is a beneficial
>technology and confirms that its scientists are themselves interested
>in developing the seed sterilizing technique as platform to host a
>package of "stacked" traits in genetically engineered plants.
>
>
>SAY NO TO TERMINATOR!
>
>RAFI invites you to join an international e-mail campaign being
>initiated today to protest the licensing and commercial development of
>the Terminator technology. RAFI has set up a special web page
>(http://www.rafi.org/usda.html) that automatically sends a customized
>e-mail to US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman (also see address
>information below). We urge you to write to US Department of
>Agriculture officials to demand that USDA cease licensing negotiations
>and abandon all international patent applications on a dangerous and
>immoral technology that should never see the commercial light of day.
>
>RAFI is urging government institutions to hold public inquiries on the
>alarming rate of seed industry consolidation, and to take steps to
>safeguard - not eliminate - the fundamental right of farmers to save
>seed and breed crops.
>
>RAFI is also calling for protest over the fact that public research
>funds were used to develop a technology that will bring no agronomic
>benefit to farmers, and no benefits to consumers. The Terminator
>technology is designed simply to increase seed industry profits by
>forcing farmers to return to the commercial seed market every year.
>
>
>Global Issue
>
>The potential impact of the Terminator technology goes far beyond US
>borders. It is an international issue, with global implications. Delta
>& Pine Land says that it will target the use of Terminator seeds in the
>South, where over 1.4 billion people - primarily poor farmers - depend
>on farm-saved seed as their primary seed source. Monsanto, which
>recently merged with American Home Products, is the world's second
>largest seed corporation and the number one agrochemical corporation.
>
>The owners of the Terminator patent have indicated that they will apply
>for patents in 87 countries worldwide. The patent is pending at the
>European Patent Office, in Canada, Australia, Japan and South Africa.
>USDA should be asked to abandon all international patent applications,
>and to revoke Terminator patents that have already issued, on the basis
>of public morality as provided in Article 27(2) of GATT TRIPS.
>
>The Terminator technology is the subject of controversy and debate
>worldwide. For example:
>
>* In May, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological
>Diversity (COP IV) recommended that the precautionary principle be
>applied to the Terminator technology. COP IV also directed its
>scientific body to examine the technology's impact on farmers and
>biodiversity. In light of the Biodiversity Convention's ongoing
>assessment, USDA should cease negotiations that will lead to its
>commercial development.
>
>* India's agriculture minister Som Pal told the Indian parliament in
>August that he has banned the import of seeds containing the terminator
>gene because of the potential harm to Indian agriculture.
>
>* By majority vote, the Dutch Parliament recently moved to oppose the
>European Patent Directive by appealing to the European Court of
>Justice. The Terminator patent is one of the key issues that prompted
>the Dutch to renew objections to the Patent Directive that was passed
>by the European Parliament earier this year.
>
>Negotiations between USDA and Monsanto are now underway, it is
>important to act now! Stop Monsanto's bid to license and control the
>dangerous Terminator technology. E-mail messages and/or faxes should be
>sent to the following USDA officials and members of Congress. To see
>sample letters, and automatic sending options, go to RAFI's web site:
>http://www.rafi.org/usda.html
>


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