*[Enwl-eng] Screaming vegetables
ENWLine
Hi,
Last month, a bunch of screaming broccoli and tomatoes in Munich stood outside of the European Patent Office (EPO) to save the future of our food!
Our partners and the voices of more than 180,000 people from our community protested to stop companies like Bayer-Monsanto or Carlsberg from having the exclusive right to grow our fruits, vegetables, and seeds (click on the video below!)
And our voices were heard! The Chairman of the EPO, Josef Kratochvíl, three days after our protest wrote us an official letter saying that he “respects the opinion of civil society groups” and ”welcomes a fruitful dialogue with these groups.” [1]
Last year, the EPO officially accepted that conventionally-bred plants are not patentable. [2] But Bayer-Monsanto and others are abusing the European patent system to take control of our food. [3] They want to decide what we eat, what farmers produce, what retailers sell, and how much we all have to pay for it.
While the Chairman says that he respects and welcomes our opinion, this just isn’t enough. They must close all legal loopholes in patent law that allow companies to register new patents on tomatoes, barely, melons, and all natural foods.
The EPO will meet again at the end of June and its chairman wants a “fruitful” dialogue. We’re currently planning another action prior to this meeting to ensure they’ll get our message: make a final decision to close loopholes and stop patents on seeds once and for all!
Thanks for your support,
David (London), Mika (Bordeaux), Giulio
(Rome) and the entire WeMove team
PS: Help us continue the fight to free our seeds and save the future of our food. Your donation today will be a tremendous help to join forces against corporate power tomorrow. Can you chip in?
References:
[1] Our partners, No Patents on Seeds, received an
official letter from the European Patent Office regarding “Your communication
material handed over to the EPO on 22 March 2021° on March 24, 2021.
[2]
https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/communications/2020/20200514.html
;
https://www.sdhsprogram.org/european-patent-office-plants-animals-obtained-classical-breeding-not-patentable/
[3]
https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/sites/default/files/news/Stop%20patents%20on%20our%20food%20plants%20(2021)_0.pdf
WeMove Europe is a community of people from all walks of life,
who call Europe our home,
no matter where we were born, where we live or who
we love. In the name of a brighter future for people and the planet,
we
come together to sign petitions, send letters and protest on the streets to make
our voices heard.
Our power comes from each other. And it's thanks to
small monthly donations, fivers and tenners, that we can keep going.
Vladimir, please help keep WeMove Europe strong by chipping in.
| DONATE! |
WeMove Europe SCE mbH | Planufer 91 Berlin | www.wemove.eu | Privacy policy |
------------- * ENWL * ------------
Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia
Independent Environmental Net Service
Russian: ENWL (North West), ENWL-inf (FSU), ENWL-misc (any topics)
English: ENWL-eng (world information)
Send information to en...@lew.spb.org, enwl...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org
Subscription, Moderator: vf...@lew.spb.org or en...@enw.net.ru
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/enwl/
Additionally: http://www.enwl.net.ru/
(C) Please refer to exclusive articles of ENWL
-------------------------------------