Anyway - very good article on GM croups in, of all things, Gourmet magazine.
Summary (but you should drop by a borders, get a coffee, and read it) from Gourmet, April 2005 - Article "Imitation of Life":
Canadian court sets precident with ruling that says, even if GM (genetically modified) crops are blown by the wind into another's field and start growing the patent holder still has rights over those crops. So there's goes the natural cycle...
The official policy of the FDA is essentially to ask for, and be contented with, industry assurances that each particular GM food is "substantially equivalent" to an existing food. ... (Thus far, every GM food on the market has, not suprisingly, been designated as "substantially equivalent" to something)
Here at the Patent Office, lawyers for companies like Monsanto argue that their genetic inventions are not ho-hum "equivalent" to existing products but are actually shockingly unique - so much so, in fact, that they deserve special legal protection for 20 years.
Refering to tomatoes that won't freeze:
Center for Food Safety's Craig Culp: "But how can you not acknowledge that there's a substaintial difference between an ordinary tomato and a tomato with a flounder gene in it"
Given the US ruling that life is patentable - it's become common practice to find crops that have been being grown for 1,000 years and then patent them as your invention which
One Indian argicultural official suggested that the WTO penalize the US for encouraging such raids on indigenous property.
Corporate patents can be preempted by farmers' cooperatives ... The current apparatus places the legal and financial burden on the challengers, which GM critics argue is like expecting hens to wait for the murderous raid and the sue the fox
Anyway - really interesting article and, if you pick it up you'll get a great recipe for Wilad Salmon with Pearl Couscous, Slow Roasted Tomatoes and Lemon Oregano Oil...
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