Yeah, I know the banner says America, but since Monsanto is involved, it’s only a matter of time…
The broccoli protected by the patent EP1069819 was derived by conventional breeding methods. The rights to the patents are being held by US company Monsanto. The company Syngenta which had appealed against the patent, has now surprisingly proposed the cancellation of the planned hearing. The EPO is following this request from industry. This means that the patent for the broccoli, which is derived by traditional breeding methods, will now be upheld with only minor modifications.
Who owns the patent on traditional breeding methods? Early man. The patents on traditional breeding methods may have run out. 200,000 years ago.
Monsanto has developed broccoli that has to be bred? Wow, my grandparents only had to cultivate their crops back in the day.
Broccoli is a cross-breed between cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Naturally occurring (them pollens get into everything), it’s thousands of years old. What’s patented is the intentional breeding of it.
Almost every modern domesticated food crop or animal exists as it does because humans have bred them that way. There is nothing new, novel, or original about this.
Patenting our food aught to be illegal.
@dcphill, you don’t even own the genes expressed in your body, they’ve been patented by someone else.
If we’re going to start making the patenting of living organisms illegal, we should really start closer to home.
Just sayin’
Increased herbicide and pesticide use = longer life expectancy.
Surely this patented broccoli resists both.
Our “everything organic” ancestors did not fair too well on the free range everything and most crops only once a year.
The short life expectancy of the late 19th and early 20th century should be a warning that organic = early parasite ridden death.
Just saying!… headed out to spray some 2 4 D and Surflan.
shoof said:
“Increased herbicide and pesticide use = longer life expectancy.”
and
“The short life expectancy of the late 19th and early 20th century should be a warning that organic = early parasite ridden death.”
I think bigger contributions toward longer life expectancy were made by the development of antibiotics, medical x-rays (and medical science in general), refrigeration, petroleum / roads / cars and a political / economic system that made large numbers able to afford the above.
Which of the above cure heart disease and cancer?
The germ theory of disease made a huge difference.
Like “evolution” and “gravity” “germs” are only a theory! It’s not in the bible!
Just Kidding
While I despise Monsanto as much as the next guy, it’s gene tech that I actually worry about. Breeding – as a technology – is not new, and patenting breeds is also a very very old practice, and an appropriate use of the patent system too. We have much improved many domestic species because of it, and there is nothing irreversible or “unnatural” about the practice; it’s just managed evolution.
Talk about poisoning us. Swiss Miss has recently been substituting Potassium Aspartame, for sugar, in many of it varieties of Cocoa mix. And it doesn’t say “Nutra Sweet” on the envelop. Instead it says, “New and Improved”. I’ve had Aspartame sweetened chocolate before. And it just doesn’t cut it. About half as sweet as sugar flavored chocolate.
Besides, it’s not being marketed as low calorie or diet cocoa. They’re just trying to sneak a cheaper sugar substitute in. But many of the stores I visit, have the stuff piling up on the shelves. And even reducing the price, isn’t moving it. So I suspect the “New and Improved” idea isn’t going to last long. You can still buy Swiss Miss with sugar. But it’s their more costly Dark Chocolate mix. I bought up half a dozen of the old boxes of Milk Chocolate cocoa mix (not improved). Just in case they keep this up thru winter. I’d sooner make my own mix, with real sugar, than put up with the side effects of Aspartame. I fell ill from it, back when it was first used in Carnation Instant Breakfast mixes. I’ve not bought that product since then. Screw Carnation.
Anti-Mitt Romney conspiracy.
Broccoli contains indole-3-carbinol, a molecule found in Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables of its family, the Brassicaceae or Cruciferae, that after being digested is converted into diindolylmethane, an active constituent that have exerted certain anticancer properties in Breast cancer studies, so keep on eating it 😉