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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>HARVARD MOUSE
DECISION HAS IMPLICATIONS FOR WORLD HUNGER<BR>December 5, 2002<BR>>From a
press release<BR>TORONTO - Canada must defend the right of developing countries
to resist<BR>pressure from the international agribusiness lobby to allow patents
on life<BR>forms, The Canadian Catholic Organization for DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE
(CCODP)<BR>said today in reaction to the Supreme Court's decision to outrule a
patent<BR>on the Harvard Mouse.<BR>Today's decision has implications for world
hunger, the Catholic development<BR>agency said, as a ban on the patenting of
life forms in<BR>Canada will stop Canadian patents on varieties of seeds used to
grow staple<BR>food crops. In the developing world, some 1.4 billion farmers
depend on free<BR>access to seeds of staple crops for their food
security.<BR>"The Supreme Court decision should be a signal to the government
that Canada<BR>must use its influence within the World Trade Organization to
support<BR>developing countries in their efforts to resist pressure to allow
patents on<BR>seeds and other life forms," said Roger Dubois, President of
DEVELOPMENT AND<BR>PEACE. "This would also be consistent with the policy of the
Canadian<BR>International Development Agency to support the food security rights
of the<BR>farmers of the South."<BR>Developing countries have consistently
complained that the international<BR>agribusiness lobby has attempted to use
grey areas in the WTO's agreement on<BR>Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS) to pressure<BR>the former to adopt legislation allowing
patents on life forms. This would<BR>mean that multinational companies would be
able to develop monopolies on<BR>seeds of varieties of staple crops, a situation
which would inevitably lead<BR>to control of the food chain by a small group of
multinationals whose<BR>headquarters are based in the industrialized
countries.<BR>Given the clear position that the Supreme Court has taken on the
patenting<BR>of life forms, Canada should now support calls for the WTO's TRIPS
to be<BR>rewritten so that this unethical practice is outlawed, Mr. Dubois
said.<BR>"We cannot own what is essentially a creation of nature. The seeds of
food<BR>crops are also the product of nature and the collective wisdom
of<BR>generations of farmers. These creations must be used and shared for
the<BR>benefit of all humanity."</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Die
homepage unter <A href="http://www.devp.org">www.devp.org</A> ist auch mit
infos zum Thema 'Biopiraterie' ausgestattet.</FONT><BR></DIV><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Zum
Onko-Maus-Urteil siehe auch:</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Canadian
Supreme Court rejects patent for Harvard research mouse...<BR></FONT><A
href="http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?RecID=1173"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"
size=3>http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?RecID=1173</FONT></A><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>