[Duurzaamlijst] Monsanto vs Mother Earth

Boyd Noorda (privé-adres: zie sociamedia.nl) mailinglists-out op sociamedia.nl
Vr Apr 12 17:24:29 CEST 2013


------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:	Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:46:42 -0400


One million against Monsanto patents in 36 hours! let's build the 
biggest petition to stop Monsanto ever. Tell everyone.

Dear Avaazers, 

It´s unbelievable, but Monsanto and Co. are at it again. These 
profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to gain exclusive 
control over the seeds of life - the source of our food. They´re 
trying to patent away varieties of our everyday vegetables and 
fruits like cucumber, broccoli and melons, forcing growers to pay 
them for sed and risk being sued if they donTMt. 

But we can stop them from buying up Mother Earth. Companies like 
Monsanto have found loopholes in European law to have exclusive 
rights over conventional seeds, so we just need to close them shut 
before they set a dangerous global precedent. And to do that, we 
need key countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands -- where 
opposition is already growing -- to call for a vote to stop 
MonsantoTMs greedy plans. The Avaaz community has shifted governments 
before, and we can do it again. 

Many farmers and politicians are already against this -- we just 
need to bring in people power to pressure these countries to keep 
Monsanto´s hands off our food. Sign now and share with everyone to 
help build the biggest food defense call ever: 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_rb/?bLLynbb&v=24005

Once a patent exists in one country, trade agreements and 
negotiations often push other countries to honour it as well. That´s 
why patents change everything about how our food chain works: for 
thousands of years, farmers could choose which seeds they´d use 
without worrying about getting sued for violating intellectual 
property rights. But now, biotech companies are getting patents on 
the seeds and then charging farmers exorbitant royalty fees. And 
farmrs canTMt even save patented seeds for replanting the next 
season -- Monsanto has sued hundreds of them for practicing the 
ageold art of seed-saving and plant breeding. Monsanto and Co. 
claim that patents drive innovation -- but in fact they create a 
corporate monopoly of our food. 

But luckily, the European Patent Office is controlled by 38 member 
states who, with one vote, can end dangerous patents on food that is 
bred using conventional methods. Even the European Parliament has 
issued a statement objecting to these kinds of destructive patents. 
Now, a massive wave of public outcry could push them to ban the 
patenting of our everyday food for good. 

The situation is dire already -- Monsanto alone owns 36% of all 
tomato, 32% of sweet pepper and 49% of cauliflower varieties 
registered in the EU. With a simple regulatory change, we could 
protect our food, our farmers and our planet from corporate control 
-- and it's up to us to make it happen: 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_rb/?bLLynbb&v=24005

The Avaaz community has never been afraid to stand up to corporate 
capture of our institutions, from pushing back the Rupert Murdoch 
mafia, to helping ensure that telecoms keep their hands off our 
Internet. Now it´s time to defend our food supply from this 
corporate takeover.

With hope and determination,

Jeremy, Michelle, Oli, Dalia, Pascal, Ricken, Diego and the whole 
Avaaz team


SOURCES:

Conventionally-bred plants or animals should be exempt from patents, 
say MEPs (EU Parliament)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20120509IPR4
4733/html/Conventionally-bred-plants-or-animals-should-be-exempt-fro
m-patents-say-MEPs

President of the European Patent Office gives green light for 
patents on plants and animals (No Patents on Seeds)
http://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/information/background/green-l
ight-for-patents-on-plants-and-animals

Monsanto: All Your Seeds Belong to Us (Mother Jones)
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/02/scotus-hears-monsanto
-soybean-case

Seeds and Patents on Life (World Agriculture Report)
http://www.globalagriculture.org/index.php?id=2156 

Structures and developments of the swiss and international seed 
markets through the a case study on certain vegetables varieties 
(Berne decleration, Swissaid and others) (German only) 
http://www.evb.ch/cm_data/Saatgutmarkt_Juni_2012.pdf 

Plant Patentability Questions Deepen In EPO Tomato Patent Case (IP 
Watch)
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/06/13/plant-patentability-questions-dee
pen-in-epo-tomato-patent-case/

Tomato patent back before EPO´s Enlarged Board of Appeal 
(Europolitics)
http://europolitics.eis-vt-prod-web01.cyberadm.net/business-competit
iveness/tomato-patent-back-before-epo-s-enlarged-board-of-appeal-art
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