Patents Endanger Plant Breeding in Europe
In principle, the patenting of conventionally bred plants and animals is prohibited.
A new report by the coalition «No Patents on Seeds» outlines how seed corporations are monopolising naturally occurring gene sequences or random genetic mutations through patents. In doing so, they are blocking conventional breeding and putting food security at risk.
The report published by «No Patents on Seeds» and submitted to the European Patent Office (EPO)¹ as part of a campaign demonstrates how, despite the prohibition on patenting conventionally bred plants and animals, patent applications continue to be filed that affect conventional breeding. In various patent applications, Syngenta is claiming thousands of naturally occurring genetic variations needed for the breeding of food crops such as soybeans and maize in order to improve their resistance to plant pests. Bayer, BASF, Rijk Zwaan and others have filed numerous patent applications for tomatoes with resistance to the so-called Jordan virus. The genes in question were discovered by these companies primarily in wild relatives of the tomato. The result of this simultaneous claiming of genetic traits is a ‚patent thicket‚. This effectively blocks access to the biological material needed in traditional breeding to produce the desired virus resistance. The previously free access to existing varieties and to accessions in gene banks is thus severely restricted for breeders.
Political action is needed
In April 2020, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office ruled in a landmark decision that plants and animals derived from ‘essentially biological’ breeding processes are not patentable. This was a response to the demands of civil society, the European Parliament, and breeders’ and farmers’ organisations, which had fought against the granting of such patents for years. Yet the organisations behind «No Patents on Seeds» warned even at that time that too many loopholes remained to truly prevent patents on conventionally bred plants.
This report confirms these findings – and underscores the urgency of political action to ensure that conventional breeders retain their capacity for innovation in the future. «No Patents on Seeds» is currently collecting signatures for a petition, calling on the ministers of the EPO member states to take effective measures against patents on conventional plant and animal breeding. More than 200’000 signatures have already been collected, and more are added every day.
How patents on plants are handled in Europe also influences practices in countries of the Global South. Patents on seeds are highly problematic there, because farmers depend on being able to freely reproduce their seeds for their very survival.
