Destroying Biodiversity: The US Department of Agriculture Says Yes to GMO “Terminator Seed” Technology
This article was one of the first articles published by Global Research in September 2001
It’s official [2001]. The US Department of Agriculture announced that it has concluded negotiations to license the notorious Terminator technology to its seed industry partner, Delta & Pine Land (D&PL). As a result of joint research, the USDA and D&PL are co-owners of three patents on the controversial technology that genetically modifies plants to produce sterile seeds, preventing farmers from re-using harvested seed. A licensing agreement establishes the terms and conditions under which a party can use a patented technology. Although many of the Gene Giants hold patents on Terminator technology, D&PL is the only company that has publicly declared its intention to commercialize Terminator seeds. (for details, see “2001: A Seed Odyssey” RAFI Communique, January/February 2001, www.rafi.org)
USDA’s decision to license Terminator flies in
the face of international public opinion and
betrays the public trust,” said Hope Shand, Research
Director of RAFI. “Terminator technology has been
universally condemned by civil society; banned
by international agricultural research institutes,
censured by United Nations bodies, even
shunned by Monsanto, and yet the US
government has officially sanctioned
commercialization of the technology by
licensing it to one of the world’s largest seed
companies, explains Shand.
USDA’s role in developing Terminator seeds is a disgraceful example of corporate welfare involving a technology that is bad for farmers, dangerous for the environment and disastrous for world food security,” adds Silvia Ribeiro of RAFI. Terminator has been universally opposed as an immoral technology because over 1.4 billion people, primarily poor farmers, depend on farm-saved seeds as their primary seed source.
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