Sunday, February 01, 2004

Food patents Posted here Sunday, February 01, 2004 at 8:13:47 AM     The whole article suggests that Monsanto doesn't want to use the patent, but the existence of it is chilling. What we need to watch is the underlying logic about the privatization of common goods, and the inexorable flow of capital/information towards ownership. Of everything. Monsanto's chapati patent raises Indian ire Randeep Ramesh in New Delhi Saturday January 31, 2004 The Guardian Monsanto, the world's largest genetically modified seed company, has been awarded patents on the wheat used for making chapati - the flat bread staple of northern India. The patents give the US multinational exclusive ownership over Nap Hal, a strain of wheat whose gene sequence makes it particularly suited to producing crisp breads. Another patent, filed in Europe, gives Monsanto rights over the use of Nap Hal wheat to make chapatis, which consist of flour, water and salt. ********