It’s official. Monsanto Corporation is out to own the world’s food supply, the dangers of genetic engineering and reduced biodiversity notwithstanding, as they pig-headedly set about hog-tying farmers with their monopoly plans. We’ve discovered chilling new evidence of this in recent patents that seek to establish ownership rights over pigs and their offspring.

It’s official. Monsanto Corporation is out to own the world’s food supply, the dangers of genetic engineering and reduced biodiversity notwithstanding, as they pig-headedly set about hog-tying farmers with their monopoly plans. We’ve discovered chilling new evidence of this in recent patents that seek to establish ownership rights over pigs and their offspring.

zoom The Earth is flat, pigs were invented by Monsanto, and genetically modified organisms are safe. Right.

In the crop department, Monsanto is well on their way to dictating whatconsumers will eat, what farmers will grow, and how much Monsanto willget paid for seeds. In some cases those seeds are designed not to reproduce sowable offspring. In others, a flock of lawyers stand ready to swoop down on farmers who illegally, or even unknowingly, end up with Monsanto’s private property growing in their fields.

Oneway or another, Monsanto wants to make sure no food is grown that theydon’t own — and the record shows they don’t care if it’s safe for theenvironment or not. Monsanto has aggressively set out to bulldozeenvironmental concerns about its genetically engineered (GE) seeds at every regulatory level.

Sowhy stop in the field? Not content to own the pesticide and theherbicide and the crop, they’ve made a move on the barnyard by filingtwo patents which would make the corporate giant the sole owner of thatfamous Monsanto invention: the pig.

The Monsanto Pig (Patent pending)

Thepatent applications were published in February 2005 at the WorldIntellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva. A Greenpeaceresearcher who monitors patent applications, Christoph Then, uncoveredthe fact that Monsanto is seeking patents not only on methods ofbreeding, but on actual breeding herds of pigs as well as the offspringthat result.

“If these patents are granted, Monsanto can legallyprevent breeders and farmers from breeding pigs whose characteristicsare described in the patent claims, or force them to pay royalties,”says Then. “It’s a first step toward the same kind of corporate controlof an animal line that Monsanto is aggressively pursuing with variousgrain and vegetable lines.”

There are more than 160 countries andterritories mentioned where the patent is sought including Europe, theRussian Federation, Asia (India, China, Philippines) America (USA,Brazil, Mexico), Australia and New Zealand. WIPO itself can onlyreceive applications, not grant patents. The applications areforwarded to regional patent offices.

The patents are based on simple procedures, but are incredibly broad in their claims.

Inone application ( WO 2005/015989 to be precise) Monsanto is describingvery general methods of crossbreeding and selection, using artificialinsemination and other breeding methods which are already in use. The main “invention” is nothing more than a particular combination ofthese elements designed to speed up the breeding cycle for selectedtraits, in order to make the animals more commercially profitable.(Monsanto chirps gleefully about lower fat content and highernutritional value. But we’ve looked and we couldn’t find any”Philanthropic altruism” line item in their annual reports, despite thefact that it’s an omnipresent factor in their advertising.)

Accordingto Then, “I couldn’t belive this. I’ve been reviewing patents for 10years and I had to read this three times. Monsanto isn’t just seeking a patent for the method,they are seeking a patent on the actual pigs which are bred from thismethod. It’s an astoundingly broad and dangerous claim.”

Good breeding always shows

Takepatent application WO 2005/017204. This refers to pigs in which acertain gene sequence related to faster growth is detected. This is avariation on a natural occurring sequence — Monsanto didn’t invent it.

Itwas first identified in mice and humans. Monsanto wants to use thedetection of this gene sequence to screen pig populations, in order tofind which animals are likely to produce more pork per pound of feed.(And that will be Monsanto Brand genetically engineered feed grown fromMonsanto Brand genetically engineered seed raised in fields sprayedwith Monsanto BrandRoundup Ready herbicide and doused with MonsantoBrand pesticides, of course).

But again, Monsanto wants to ownnot just the selection and breeding method, not just the informationabout the genetic indicators, but, if you pardon the expression, thewhole hog.

Claim 16 asks for a patent on: “A pig offspring produced by a method …”

Claim 17 asks for a patent on: “A pig herd having an increased frequency of a specific …gene…”

Claim 23 asksfor a patent on: “A pig population produced by the method…”

Claim 30asks for a patent on: “A swine herd produced by a method…”

Thismeans the pigs, their offspring, and the use of the genetic informationfor breeding will be entirely owned by Monsanto, Inc. and anyreplication or infringement of their patent by man or beast will meanroyalties or jail for the offending swine.

Not pig fodder

Whenit comes to profits, pigs are big. Monsanto notes that “The economicimpact of the industry in rural America is immense. Annual farm salestypically exceed US$ 11 billion, while the retail value of pork sold toconsumers reaches US$ 38 billion each year.”

At almost every level of food production, Monsanto is seeking a monopoly position.

Thecompany once earned its money almost exclusively through agrochemicals.But in the last ten years they’ve spent about US$ 10 billion buying upseed producers and companies in other sectors of the agriculturalbusiness. Their last big acquisition was Seminis, the biggest producerof vegetable seeds in the world.

Monsanto holds extremely broadpatents on seeds, most, but not all of them, related to GeneticallyModified Organisms (GMOs). Monsanto has also claimed patent rights onsuch non-Monsanto inventions as traditionally bred wheat from India andsoy plants from China. Many of these patents apply not only tothe use of seeds but all uses of the plants and harvest that result.

Orwellian: “The Earth is flat, pigs were invented by Monsanto, and GMOs are safe.”

The big picture is chilling to anyone who mistrusts Monsanto’s record disinterest for environmental safety.

Andif you’re not worried, you should be: central control of food supplyhas been a standard ingredient for social and political controlthroughout history. By creating a monopoly position, Monsanto canforce dangerous experiments like the release of GMOs into theenvironment on an unwilling public. They can ensure that GMOswill be sold and consumed wherever they say they will.

Byclaiming global monopoly patent rights throughout the entire foodchain, Monsanto seeks to make farmers and food producers, andultimately consumers, entirely dependent and reliant on one singlecorporate entity for a basic human need. It’s the same dependencethat Russian peasants had on the Soviet Government following theRussian revolution. The same dependence that French peasants had onFeudal kings during the middle ages. But control of a significantproportion of the global food supply by a single corporation would beunprecedented in human history.

Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/monsanto-pig-patent-111/