Do patents threaten food security?
Date: 15-Nov-01 Country: SWITZERLAND Author: Karen Iley “Today’s pirates are cheating the poor and are now emerging as a threat to people’s right to food,” ActionAid, an international development agency campaigning against the causes of poverty, said its recent “Crops and Robbers” report. “The ability of farmers to put food on the table to feed their families is being undermined by patents and the patent system which is agreed and supported by mainly western countries,” said Zoe Elford, an ActionAid campaigner on food rights. Groups like ActionAid accuse companies of stealing the natural resources of developing countries. They say putting intellectual property rights (IPR) on crops creates unfair profit potential. “It’s unacceptable for a corporation to take the genetic resources that farmers have developed and conserved, do some tweaking and then claim a private monopoly on the material,” said Renee Vellve at GRAIN, a non-governmental body which promotes biodiversity. The increasing u
