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Subject: <nettime> Rice: Basmati or Texmati? From: Cip <Goa_Tourism@compuserve.com> Date: 27 Apr 1998 23:11:59 +0200 * * * * * Sender: owner-nettime-l@basis.Desk.nl Precedence: bulk NEW DELHI (AP)--India's new government may enact legislation to protect farmers' rights on patents, a local news agency reported Monday. The Indian government has been upset in recent months over patents awarded in the U.S. for plant products that the government says have been used in India for hundreds of years. The latest row is over the granting of a patent to a Texas-based rice firm to produce and market a long-grain rice called Texmati, similar to Basmati, an aromatic rice grown in parts of India and Pakistan. India says Basmati refers specially to the type of rice grown in that region and wants the patent canceled. It has, however, not filed an appeal with the U.S. Patent Office. India's junior agriculture minister, Som Pal, told a meeting in New Delhi that the World Trade Organization should punish those who misuse patents, Press Trust of India news agency reported. India does not have laws to protect its biodiversity rights and intellectual property. In the past, two American scientists were granted a patent - subsequently canceled - for using turmeric to heal wounds. The Indian government successfully argued before the U.S. Patent Office that turmeric root has been used for centuries in India to heal wounds. Earlier, it lost out in trying to prevent American companies from patenting processes to make insecticides using neem, a plant used for thousands of years by Indian farmers to keep away insects. Meanwhile, a non-governmental organization, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, has filed a case in India's Supreme court to force the government to react in the Basmati patent case. The court asked India's attorney-general last week what the government had done to prevent biopiracy. At least seven government ministries are currently involved in taking steps to prevent biopiracy, the court was told. They include a law to protect agricultural biodiversity, recognizing indigenous knowledge systems and bring into effect the convention on biological diversity, according to Vandana Shiva, director of the foundation. --- # distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner@desk.nl