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Patents on The following article
was published in the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) #6844,
With best wishes,
Environment: Plunder
of Tanzanian farmers' sorghum through patents Geneva, 18 Jan (Riaz
K. Tayob) -- A new study questions the legal and ethical basis for patents
granted, and other pending applications, on a gene isolated from a Tanzanian
farmers' variety of sorghum that may yield tremendous profits outside
for multinational corporations and research institutions outside The December 2009
African Centre for Biosafety briefing paper "Africa's Granary Plundered:
Privatisation of Tanzanian Sorghum Protected by the Seed Treaty"
by Edward Hammond states that the gene, named SbMATE, has enormous commercial
potential because sorghum plants with the gene are tolerant to the negative
combination of acid and aluminium commonly found in soils throughout
the world. Even though the
research is still in its infancy, large corporations have already expressed
interest in licensing SbMATE for further research for application in
other species through genetic engineering, possibly in maize, rice and
eucalyptus trees. The briefing paper
questions the ownership of the gene from Tanzanian sorghum (IS7173),
as patented in the "Not long ago,
it seemed like the question was settled in favour of farmers and citizens
of developing countries," the briefing paper states. This was through
a 1994 In Trust Agreement between the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO), and then by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), in which it was established that
the vast collection of farmers' germplasm held by the CGIAR could not
be patented "in the form received" from those collections. The rational for
the prohibition on intellectual property claims was to further CGIAR's
mission, "to achieve sustainable food security and reduce poverty
in developing countries through scientific research." The briefing paper
states that the variety of sorghum from which SbMATE is sourced is part
of the CGIAR collection and is covered by Annex 1 of the ITPGRFA. Embrapa, one of
three of the patent applicants, obtained its material from Hugh Doggett
(a breeder based in then British colony Explaining the potential
of the gene, the briefing paper explains that aluminium tolerance is
a major breeding goal for a number of important crops that are often
aluminium sensitive, including sorghum, maize and rice. Aluminium toxicity
is a significant constraint on agricultural production and it is estimated
to affect more than 20% of the land in Sub-Saharan Africa and The patent application
that calls the gene "SbMATE" was granted in the In the international
patent claim, the applicants state that they are to seek national or
regional patents in more than 100 countries, including The briefing paper
explains the scope of the patents applied for. The patent claims the
Tanzanian gene itself, including its promoter sequence (which is activated
by aluminium) and related regulatory sequences. The applicants also
claim any other Also claimed are
genetically engineered plants of any species that express the Tanzanian
tolerance gene. Specifically claimed are wheat, maize, sorghum, and
rice plants with the SbMATE gene. The benefits of
the SbMATE gene are not limited to sorghum. For those that promote the
widespread use of genetically modified plants, the gene has the potential
to unlock new agricultural productivity on aluminium toxic soils that
cover a large proportion of the world's arable land, the briefing paper
states. While the gene works
in principle, research is in its infancy. Widespread commercial use
is years away, particularly in non-sorghum crops into which the gene
would have to be genetically engineered. Even though the
impact of the SbMATE will only become clear in ensuing years, for now,
the commercial potential is significant and multinational giant Dow
Chemicals is seeking to license SbMATE to use it in maize and sorghum
while In 2009, the entire
genome of sorghum was sequenced, well before that of other crops. The
rapid development of sorghum genomics is in part due to considerable
interest in sorghum as a source of ethanol for bio-fuels. The briefing paper
states that a series of new studies have again underscored the irreplaceable
contribution of African farmers' varieties (both old and new introductions),
to the A recent external
review of one US Agency for International Development (USAID) program
in The sorghum in the
"Sart",
a Sudanese sorghum introduced to the More recently, African
contributions that paid off handsomely for the The briefing paper
warns that permitting the SbMATE patent to stand, and for the private
sector to profit from it, would signal a new open hunting season on
privatisation of the vast collection of farmers' varieties of good crops
held by the CGIAR. It cautions that such patent claims pose a grave
challenge to the ITPGRFA and CGIAR. +
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