Monsanto Moving Into Third World After Europe Fights Biotech Seeds

by Muddassir Rizvi

Officials in the Pakistani Ministry of Food and Agriculture say Monsanto has been sending "unsolicited suggestions" for incorporation into the Plant Breeders Rights Act, being devised to meet international obligations under the TRIPs agreement.

"Monsanto is also pulling powerful strings to influence the legislative process in its favor, sending letters to government officials, holding meetings with politicians," commented an official of the ministry, requesting not to be named.

The TRIPS agreement requires signatories to extend protection to plant varieties either through patents or a sui generis system.

Pakistan has opted for the latter or a locally devised system in order to provide maximum protection to farmers against seed transnationals companies that are now eyeing the lucrative seed markets in developing countries.

A government committee with representatives from the ministries of commerce, agriculture and industries is working on a draft Plant Breeders Act 1999.

Dr. Shahid Zia, a research fellow with the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), has also been included in the committee.

"The proposed law would allow the farmers to save, retain and exchange seeds, although they will be barred from using the seed for commercial exploitation," Dr. Zia told IPS, adding that the law proposed protection for a period of 20 to 25 years.

Formed on Aug. 6, the committee has already held two meetings and has drafted a proposal for adequate safeguards against transgenic seed varieties entering the Pakistani market.

"The proposed law requires a genetically modified or a transgenic plant to clear tough environmental impact and biosaftey assessments before being given protection," said Dr. Zia.

"In such cases, assessment of such hazards and damages shall be decided by the bio-safety committee," reads a clause in the draft law, which has prompted Monsanto to appeal to the government.

In a letter to the chief of the government's Seed Certification Department dated Aug. 16, Monsanto's Managing Director Dr. A. Rehman Khan has asked for the deletion of this clause, saying it is unacceptable.

"In the presence of this clause, anybody from public can sue us and ask for compensation for hazards and damages which are kind of open-ended risks. Hence, take out this clause," said Khan in his fax.

"Again I repeat that this clause is not acceptable to any multinational company and it should not be different than any non-transgenic variety," Khan said.

After tough resistance to its so-called "terminator" technology in the industrialized countries, Monsanto is now looking at India, Pakistan and China as potential markets for its genetically engineered seeds, whose biosafety impacts are still uncertain.

Scientists believe that the "sterility trait" from first-generation seeds (prompting their nickname of "terminators") will infect via pollen neighboring fields of open-pollinated crops and wild relatives growing nearby.

"Given that the technology is new and untested on a large scale, biosafety issues remain a valid and extremely important concern," argued the Canada-based Rural Advancement Foundation International, an ardent opponent of terminator technology.

"Monsanto is planning to begin trials of its transgenic seeds in either Sahiwal or Faisalabad districts of the Punjab province," said Irfan Ahmed, editor of "Seed Magazine," at a consultation on Plant Breeders Rights organized by SDPI in Islamabad last month.

While 240 local companies are marketing seeds developed by public sector research institutions and transnational companies, including DuPont, Monsanto, Novartis, Pioneer Group, AgriVo and ICI, are waiting to enter the market once legislation to protect plant varieties is in place.

Although the proposed law provides for adequate safeguards against transgenic varieties, some say it still has grey areas that need to be more specifically defined.

"The proposed law bars farmers from commercial exploitation of seed but the law is not clear what commercial exploitation is. Does it mean that farmers will not be able to sell part of their crop in the market, as they have been traditionally doing?" Dr. Zia asked.

Government officials are defending the draft law, saying it will not negatively impact on local farmers, who will be free to save, exchange and share seeds.

"The law will provide incentives in the form of royalties to public sector research institutions and agricultural scientists to develop new high quality seeds," said Dr. Akhlaque Ahmed, head of the Seed Certification Department.

Government research institutions account for more than 90 percent of new plant varieties introduced in the country, while the rest are developed by farmers themselves.

"The law should ensure that the interests of the farmers rather than the companies are protected," said Mushtaq Gadi of the Sustainable Agriculture Action Group.

"Ideally, the government should interpret the sui generis system in light of the Convention on Biological Diversity that talks about the rights of local communities on genetic resources and biodiversity," Gadi said.