Knife - did you even read the "CLARIFICATION" - February 2005
The report jointly issued by Focus on the Global South and GRAIN in October 2004 on Iraq's new patent law has received a lot of attention worldwide. It has also generated a misunderstanding that we wish to clarify.
The law does not prohibit Iraqi farmers from using or saving "traditional" seeds. It prohibits them from reusing seeds of "new" plant varieties registered under the law - in practical terms, this means they cannot save those seeds for re-use. The report has been revised to express this more clearly.
See the article you posted used a Fear Factor to get people, (mostly people against the War in Iraq), something to get all worked up about.
Quote:
Did you know that farmers sign technology agreements when buying seed?
Farmers that purchase Monsanto's seeds must sign a "Monsanto Technology/Stewardship Agreement" (samples: 2003 Agreement, 2002 Agreement).
The Agreement require, among others, that the farmer agree:
To use Seed containing Monsanto Technologies solely for planting a single commercial crop.
Not to supply any Seed containing patented Monsanto Technologies to any other person or entity for planting. Not to save any crop produced from this Seed for planting and not to supply Seed produced from this Seed to anyone for planting.
Monsanto aggressively protects its patent rights and enforces its agreements according to this AP story, via Yahoo! News: Enforcing single-season seeds, Monsanto sues American farmers.
According to the article, Monsanto has sued farmer Homan McFarling for saving seed from one harvest and replanting the seeds the following season. A no-no according to Monsanto's Technology Agreement. But a practice past down from generation to generation.
Con't -- http://www.mt-law.com/blog/2005/02/d...mers-sign.html
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“What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.”
-- Bertrand Russell, “Roads to Freedom”