Monsanto invents the pig !

[Guest guest]

Through more patent perversions such as the earlier

" <http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2006/02/27/terminator_corporations_suici\

de_seeds.htm>Terminator

Corporations' Suicide Seeds " Mansanto is blatantly continuing their

scheme of rounding up the food chain from A to Z!

" One way or another, Monsanto wants to make sure no food is grown

that they don't own -- and the record shows they don't care if it's

safe for the environment or not. Monsanto has aggressively set out to

bulldoze environmental concerns about its genetically engineered (GE)

seeds at every regulatory level. So why stop in the field? Not

content to own the pesticide and the herbicide and the crop, they've

made a move on the barnyard by filing two patents which would make

the corporate giant the sole owner of that famous Monsanto invention:

the pig. "

" The big picture is chilling to anyone who mistrusts Monsanto's

record disinterest for environmental safety. And if you're not

worried, you should be: central control of food supply has been a

standard ingredient for social and political control throughout

history. By creating a monopoly position, Monsanto can force

dangerous experiments like the release of GMOs into the environment

on an unwilling public.They can ensure that GMOs will be sold and

consumed wherever they say they will. "

Such blatant abuse can only continue if it is not challenged.

Unfortunately, the typical lack of response from the masses and the

idle government oversight is precisely why these perversions occur

and continue. Sadly the only way to counter these shenanigans is to

collectively and openly flaunt these patents ...

Gupta

http://tinyurl.com/gyflh

---------------

<http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto-pig-patent-111>Monsanto

Files Patent for New Invention: The

Pig<http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto-pig-patent-111>

- The original is here

It's official. Monsanto Corporation is out to own the world's food

supply, the dangers of genetic engineering and reduced biodiversity

notwithstanding, as they pig-headedly set about hog-tying farmers

with their monopoly plans. We've discovered chilling new evidence of

this in recent patents that seek to establish ownership rights over

pigs and their offspring. In the crop department, Monsanto is well on

their way to dictating what consumers will eat, what farmers will

grow, and how much Monsanto will get paid for seeds. In some cases

those seeds are designed not to reproduce sowable offspring. In

others, a flock of lawyers stand ready to swoop down on farmers who

illegally, or even unknowingly, end up with Monsanto's private

property growing in their fields.

One way or another, Monsanto wants to make sure no food is grown that

they don't own -- and the record shows they don't care if it's safe

for the environment or not. Monsanto has aggressively set out to

bulldoze environmental concerns about its genetically engineered (GE)

seeds at every regulatory level. So why stop in the field? Not

content to own the pesticide and the herbicide and the crop, they've

made a move on the barnyard by filing two patents which would make

the corporate giant the sole owner of that famous Monsanto invention: the pig.

The Monsanto Pig (Patent pending) . . . The patent applications were

published in February 2005 at the World Intellectual Property

Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva. A Greenpeace researcher who monitors

patent applications, Christoph Then, uncovered the fact that Monsanto

is seeking patents not only on methods of breeding, but on actual

breeding herds of pigs as well as the offspring that result. " If

these patents are granted, Monsanto can legally prevent breeders and

farmers from breeding pigs whose characteristics are described in the

patent claims, or force them to pay royalties, " says Then. " It's a

first step toward the same kind of corporate control of an animal

line that Monsanto is aggressively pursuing with various grain and

vegetable lines. "

There are more than 160 countries and territories mentioned where the

patent is sought including Europe, the Russian Federation, Asia

(India, China, Philippines) America (USA, Brazil, Mexico), Australia

and New Zealand. WIPO itself can only receive applications, not grant

patents. The applications are forwarded to regional patent offices.

The patents are based on simple procedures, but are incredibly broad

in their claims. In one application (WO 2005/015989 to be precise)

Monsanto is describing very general methods of crossbreeding and

selection, using artificial insemination and other breeding methods

which are already in use. The main " invention " is nothing more than a

particular combination of these elements designed to speed up the

breeding cycle for selected traits, in order to make the animals more

commercially profitable. (Monsanto chirps gleefully about lower fat

content and higher nutritional value. But we've looked, and we

couldn't find any " Philanthropic altruism " line item in their annual

reports, despite the fact that it's an omnipresent factor in their

advertising.) According to Then, " I couldn't belive this. I've been

reviewing patents for 10 years, and I had to read this three times.

Monsanto isn't just seeking a patent for the method, they are seeking

a patent on the actual pigs which are bred from this method. It's an

astoundingly broad and dangerous claim. "

Good breeding always shows . . . Take patent application WO

2005/017204. This refers to pigs in which a certain gene sequence

related to faster growth is detected. This is a variation on a

natural occurring sequence -- Monsanto didn't invent it. It was first

identified in mice and humans. Monsanto wants to use the detection of

this gene sequence to screen pig populations, in order to find which

animals are likely to produce more pork per pound of feed. (And that

will be Monsanto Brand genetically-engineered feed grown from

Monsanto Brand genetically-engineered seed raised in fields sprayed

with Monsanto Brand Roundup Ready herbicide and doused with Monsanto

Brand pesticides, of course).

But again, Monsanto wants to own not just the selection and breeding

method, not just the information about the genetic indicators, but,

if you pardon the expression, the whole hog.

Claim 16 asks for a patent on: " A pig offspring produced by a method ... "

Claim 17 asks for a patent on: " A pig herd having an increased

frequency of a specific ...gene... "

Claim 23 asks for a patent on: " A pig population produced by the method... "

Claim 30 asks for a patent on: " A swine herd produced by a method... "

This means the pigs, their offspring, and the use of the genetic

information for breeding will be entirely owned by Monsanto, Inc.,

and any replication or infringement of their patent by man or beast

will mean royalties or jail for the offending swine.

Not pig fodder . . . When it comes to profits, pigs are big. Monsanto

notes that " The economic impact of the industry in rural America is

immense. Annual farm sales typically exceed US$ 11 billion, while the

retail value of pork sold to consumers reaches US$ 38 billion each year. "

At almost every level of food production, Monsanto is seeking a

monopoly position. The company once earned its money almost

exclusively through agrochemicals. But in the last ten years they've

spent about US$ 10 billion buying up seed producers and companies in

other sectors of the agricultural business. Their last big

acquisition was Seminis, the biggest producer of vegetable seeds in the world.

Monsanto holds extremely broad patents on seeds . . . most, but not

all of them, related to Genetically-Modified Organisms (GMOs).

Monsanto has also claimed patent rights on such non-Monsanto

inventions as traditionally-bred wheat from India and soy plants from

China. Many of these patents apply not only to the use of seeds but

all uses of the plants and harvest that result.

Orwellian: " The Earth is flat, pigs were invented by Monsanto, and

GMOs are safe. " The big picture is chilling to anyone who mistrusts

Monsanto's record disinterest for environmental safety. And if you're

not worried, you should be: central control of food supply has been a

standard ingredient for social and political control throughout

history. By creating a monopoly position, Monsanto can force

dangerous experiments like the release of GMOs into the environment

on an unwilling public.They can ensure that GMOs will be sold and

consumed wherever they say they will.

By claiming global monopoly patent rights throughout the entire food

chain, Monsanto seeks to make farmers and food producers, and

ultimately consumers, entirely dependent and reliant on one single

corporate entity for a basic human need. It's the same dependence

that Russian peasants had on the Soviet Government following the

Russian revolution. The same dependence that French peasants had on

Feudal kings during the middle ages. But control of a significant

proportion of the global food supply by a single corporation would be

unprecedented in human history.

It's time to ensure that doesn't happen. It's time for a global ban

of patents on seeds and farm animals. It's time to tell Monsanto

we've had enough of this hogwash. - Fitzgerald

<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=uet4avbab.0.lajkhvbab.venrihbab.4931 & p=http%3A%2F%2Fact\

..greenpeace.org%2Fams%2Fe%3Fa%3D1836%26s%3Dgen2>Tell

Monsanto to stop patenting

life<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=uet4avbab.0.lajkhvbab.venrihbab.4931 & p=http%3A%2F%2\

Fact.greenpeace.org%2Fams%2Fe%3Fa%3D1836%26s%3Dgen2>.

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..greenpeace.org%2Finternational%2Fsupportus%3Fappeal_id%3D166_111>Help

us stop patents on

life<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=uet4avbab.0.oajkhvbab.venrihbab.4931 & p=http%3A%2F%2\

Fwww.greenpeace.org%2Finternational%2Fsupportus%3Fappeal_id%3D166_111>.

When you donate to Greenpeace, you keep researchers like Christoph at

work as they keep an eye on corporations like Monsanto.

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