(govtwatch4) Outlaws Saving Seeds!
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Sardar
sar...@spiritone.com
reco...@hotmail.com
November 17, 2004
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----- Original Message -----
MOM
mom...@mailman.montana.com
November 15, 2004
Outlaws Saving Seeds!

New Iraq Law
Outlaws Saving Seeds!
Requires Licenses!
Posted by Timothy
On Monkey.org
11-14-4

Doc Ruby writes -

"The (now former) American Administrator of the Iraqi CPA (Coalition
Provisional Authority) government, Paul Bremer, updated Iraq's
intellectual property law to 'meet current internationally-recognized
standards of protection.'

http://www.iraqcoalition.org/
regulations/20040426_CPAORD_81_Patents_Law.pdf

The updated law makes saving seeds for next year's harvest, practiced by
97% of Iraqi farmers in 2002, the standard farming practice for thousands
of years across human civilizations, illegal.

http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htmnow

Instead, farmers http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6 will have to obtain
a yearly license for genetically-modified seeds from American
corporations. These GM seeds have typically been modified from IP
developed over thousands of generations by indigenous farmers like the
Iraqis, shared freely like agricultural 'open source.' Other IP
provisions for technology in the law further integrate Iraq into the
American IP economy."

http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/04
/11/13/2023220.shtml?tid=191 tid=155 tid=219

http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htm

http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations
/20040426_CPAORD_81_Patents_Law.pdf

http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6

As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush
Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save
their seeds. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US
corporations -- including seeds the Iraqis themselves developed over
hundreds of years. That is because in recent years, transnational
corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or
developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living
under the new American credo: Pay Monsanto, or starve.

regards,

Eric Sean Webber

http://www.monkey.org/~timothy/

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