3 NGOs File Petition Against Wheat Patent For Monsanto

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New Delhi, Jan 27: : International non-government organisation (NGO) Greenpeace alongwith Indian organisations like Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) and Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS) on Tuesday filed a petition at the European Patent Office (EPO), Munich, challenging the patent rights given to Monsanto on Indian landrace of wheat, Nap Hal.

Patent expert Christoph Then, Aseesh Tayal of Greenpeace-India, Vandana Shiva of RFSTE and Krishna Bir Choudhary of BKS jointly signed the petition.

Monsanto, on the other hand defended its move and RanJana Smetacek of the company’s India unit speaking to FE said, “The patent in question relates to an Indian landrace, Nap Hal. This patent right was filed by Unilever in 1990. In 1998 Unilever’s wheat division was acquired by Monsanto and hence the patent right was transferred to Monsanto. Unilever sourced the genes of Nap Hal from gene banks in the multilateral system (MLS). The original patent claimed to use the variety for processing bread in Europe. Now that Monsanto has withdrawn from its cereal business in Europe in mid-October, 2003, this patent no longer holds good.”

According to the press release issued by Greenpeace, “the patented variety of wheat with specific baking characteristics of flour derived from it was originally developed in India and has been cultivated, bred and processed for bread (Chapatis) by Indian farmers for years. The patent that Monsanto now holds means it has the monopoly on farming, breeding and processing of this type of wheat. The patent (EP 445929) was granted on May 21, 2003 by EPO, Munich.”

According to the European Patents Convention, patents cannot be issued on plants that are normally cultivated, any more than they are allowed to be issued on their seeds. In case of the Monsanto wheat patent, the EPO has clearly disregarded rules and law, the press release said.