Cooking Up a Story: Food News
Center for Food Safety, et al. v. Thomas J. Vilsack, et al.
In an ongoing David versus Goliath legal battle, Frank Morton, an organic seed breeder in Philomath, Oregon, along with the plaintiffs listed in this lawsuit, have successfully sued the USDA and its Animal and Plant Health Inspection [...]
Posted in Food News | Also tagged alfalfa, aphis, bayer, center for food safety, dow, Environment, frank morton, judge jeffrey white, monsanto, organic seeds, patenting of life, ppa, roundup, roundup ready sugar beets, seeds of life, swiss chard, sygenta, table beets, usda, wild garden seeds |
This video from the political advocacy group Greenpeace, provides an overview of the contentious issues of biotechnology (genetic engineering) as it applies to food production. In some ways, biotechnology is the equivalent of the abortion rights issue of the agriculture world. Both sides of the debate hold entrenched views; those in opposition to its use [...]
Posted in Food Conversations | Also tagged bayer, biotechnology, bt cotton, dupont, ge corn, ge soy, genetic engineering, gmo, greenpeace, Growing & Raising Food, monsanto, patent, patents on living things, sygenta |
Finally, I suggested two big questions that these new statutes left unanswered: (1) does a living organism other than a plant fall within the patentable subject matter categories for regular utility patents?; and (2) do plants, and seeds, fall within the patentable subject matter categories for regular utility patents? These questions, especially the second, are pressing because utility patent protection is stronger than either of the special protections designed just for plants.
Part 1: Monsanto sells a glyphosate-based herbicide called “Roundup.” Monsanto also sells seeds for crops – such as soy, corn, sugar beet, cotton, and others – that are genetically engineered to resist Roundup. Monsanto calls these seeds “Roundup Ready.” Patent law was critical to Monsanto’s business strategy, on both the herbicide and crop seed sides [...]