- Doc Ruby writes -
-
- "The (now former) American Administrator of the
Iraqi CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) government, Paul Bremer,updated
Iraq's intellectual property law to 'meet current
internationally-recognized
standards of protection.'
-
- http://www.iraqcoalition.org/
- regulations/20040426_CPAORD_81_Patents_Law.pdf
-
- The updated law makes saving seeds for next year's
harvest,
practiced by 97% of Iraqi farmers in 2002, the standard farming practice
for thousands of years across human civilizations,
-
- http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htmnow
illegal.
-
- Instead, farmers
<http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6will
have to obtain a yearly license for genetically-modified seeds from
American
corporations. These GM seeds have typically been modified from IP developed
over thousands of generations by indigenous farmers like the Iraqis, shared
freely like agricultural 'open source.' Other IP provisions for technology
in the law further integrate Iraq into the American IP
economy."
-
- http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/04
- /11/13/2023220.shtml?tid=191&tid=155&tid=219
-
- http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htm
-
- http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations
- /20040426_CPAORD_81_Patents_Law.pdf
-
- http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6
-
- As part of sweeping "economic restructuring"
implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no
longer
be permitted to save their seeds. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds
from US corporations -- including seeds the Iraqis themselves developed
over hundreds of years. That is because in recent years, transnational
corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or
developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under
the new American credo: Pay Monsanto, or starve.
-
- regards,
-
- Eric Sean Webber
-
- http://www.monkey.org/~timothy/
|
