GURT

It is good that Agriculture Canada has decided to not allow Genetic Us Restriction Technology (GURT) field test for the time being. At first sight GURT seems to be a good idea—it at once protect the patent rights of the companies that created the seeds and prevent cross-pollination. The problem is that both of these ‘benefits’ have serious problems. Patent rights are not perpetual and they should not be, particularly genetic patents. The materials used are directly taken from nature. If we can consider nature property, it can only be considered as share by all. In this case then, the right should be in the combination of the genes, but the material—the genes themselves—are not property of the companies. They should therefore be treated like medicines and have limit put on their patents. Once the patent runs out, anyone should be able to reproduce these seed. With them being infertile, this is impossible without the backing of technology unavailable to most. The result is that properties that we partly own is taken away and then sold back to us without limit. That is akin to theft. When it comes to cross-pollination there is more immediate concern. Gene technology is not 100% reliable. If some seeds carrying the gene but the infertile character is not manifested the consequence is dire when other seeds can then carry the infertile genes. The consequences can be disastrous. There is one more concern, it seems to me. If GURT is generally successful, seeds companies will focus on the much more profitable GURT seeds and the distribution of other seeds will become scarce. In that scenario, the supply of the world’s food will be controlled by the seeds companies and we will have a situation worse than oil supply today. We must not allow the world’s food supply be controlled by just a few organizations.