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[SANET-MG] terminator banned in India
The law described below should serve as a model for USA and Canada
Financial Express, November 14, 2005
NEW DELHI, NOV 13: Farmers have hailed the government’s decision to
notify the Plant Varieties Protection and Farmers’ Rights (PVP&FR) Act,
2001. They said that though the decision is belated, it would solve the
farmers’ problems to a great extent.
The legislation was passed by Parliament way back in 2001 and received
Presidential assent in the same year, but was withheld from
notification, which prevented its implementation over the past few years.
The Act, apart from protecting farm bio-diversity, allows farmers to
save and exchange seeds in unbranded form for use in the next crop
season. The Act has also banned registration of seeds containing
terminator technology vide section 18 (1) (C).
The government has recently constituted Plant Varieties Protection and
Farmers’ Rights Board under the chairmanship of Dr S Nagarajan for
implementation of the Act.
Speaking to FE, executive chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS) Dr
Krishan Bir Chaudhary said: “The PVP&FR Act was long withheld from its
implementation due to pressure from the interested lobby of seed
companies. This law gives some leverage to farmers in matters of use of
seeds, though not complete freedom. There had been recent attempts to
nullify this meagre freedom given to farmers under this Act by the
introduction of amendments to the Seeds Act in the Parliament. The
farmers will not tolerate any such move and demand immediate withdrawal
of the proposed amendments to the Seeds Act. Rather PVP&FR Act should be
further amended to give more freedom to farmers.”
Dr Chaudhary had earlier expressed concern over Delta & Pine Land
announcing its new plans to foray into the seed sector, after it got
patent rights for its terminator technology in patent offices abroad. He
now said that with the notification of PVP&FR Act, the country is better
poised to deal with this situation.
Dr Chaudhary was the sole farmers’ representative to the recently held
global conference on biotechnology hosted by Asia-Pacific Association of
Agriculture Research Institutions (APAARI) and FAO in Bangkok where he
demanded that the seed multinationals compensate farmers for failure of
Bt cotton.
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