B.S.Ahloowalia

Principal Research Officer, Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Kinsealy Research Centre, Dublin, Ireland.

Perspective

Trading in Genes and Genetic Resources for Plant Breeding

The planned and sustainable use of agricultural resources of any country is critical to the economic development, human welfare and environment protection. "Right to food" is one of the basic and the first Human Rights. However, the fulfillment of this Right is determined by a balanced equation of population and food availability. The singular factor in the imbalance of this equation is the ever-increasing human population, which has brought a new dimension in trading of the genetic resources for food production.

Multinationals have realized that both the processing and marketing of food, as well as the inputs required for food production (seeds, fertilizers and pesticides), hold the key to the future of sustaining food production. Hence, the acquisition and patenting of novel processes and products has become an integral part of world trade in food. New tools of molecular biology, recombinant DNA technology and plant tissue culture have been added to complement the classical plant variety improvement based on creating variation, selection, evaluation and multiplication of desired genotypes. The patenting of novel genes and protection of new plant varieties has become a new feature of the multinational activity. Even of greater concern is the protectionism of the recombinant DNA technology to generate new genotypes by adding new genes in existing plant varieties, which is leading to in an inequitable trading in plant genetic resources. Most developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America do not have plant breeder's rights or legal systems to enforce them.

The progress in plant breeding has so far depended heavily on the free flow and availability of germplasm. The germplasm of the most important food crops, rice, wheat, maize, barley, potato, banana, sweet potato, yams, beans and many forage crops is stored in the CGIAR institutions, and is held in held in trust for the good of humanity and free use of genes and genomes. Nearly all of this germplasm has originated in the developing countries. The multinationals and private companies are making free use of this material but demanding huge sums of money to sell the single genes for resistance to insect pests and herbicides. This development in plant breeding is not only completely immoral and unethical but also inequitable in trading. It should be realized that without the use of existing genomes, the new genes (transgenes) are of no value, since genes do not act on their own but only in concert with the rest of the genome. Hence, the concept of 'genome patent' (e.g. Plant Breeders' Rights) would be more meaningful than that of the individual genes. Since the rest of the germplasm is available freely, the transgenic varieties and transgenes cannot be an exception to the rule, and must be available freely for further breeding in the same way as the rest of the genes held in trust for use by any one. Failing this, the owners of the patented genes must pay for the use of genes and genomes held in public trust, and in proportion to the number and value of genes, and the royalties should be deposited with the CGIAR institutes for the respective germplasm. CGIAR institutions, and developing countries with their genetic resources and local varieties, which will be the basis of all future transgenic types, hold all the cards and power to negotiate the use of patented genes. This can also be done by not allowing patenting of gene to be used in plant breeding, and providing only a limited Breeders Rights on the transgenic varieties. The Breeders' Rights must not interfere with the age old rights of the farmers and must allow on-farm seed production and retention of seed by farmers to grow their subsequent crop. Farmers must have the free choice to buy seed only when they so wish. Introduction of 'terminator' like genes should be completely banned by developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America where land holdings are small, dependent on manual labour, farming is a way of life, and likely to remain so into the next millennium. This is in complete contrast to the large-sized and highly mechanized farms in the developed countries of North America and some European countries.

Faced with the pressures from developed countries and lobby of the multinationals, the developing countries have the following options:

To use the well known and established technologies such as induced mutations and somaclonal variation in combination with in vitro culture and molecular techniques. The food and food products thus generated are not classed as GMOs and thus avoid all the legal issues and public concerns.
Not to allow the introduction of new genes in gene pools without the acceptance of some sort of liability by the traders of transgenic varieties towards the perceived damage from gene contamination.
To demand an equitable sharing of profits from the private seed companies for the use of germplasm held in trust, from which the novel gene based varieties are derived, and return these profits to the CGIAR institutes and FAO.
To permit plant breeders to use classical methods, such as induced mutations to change the genetic make-up of transgenes. Such mutants then become the property of innovator on the same basis as transgenes and declared as freely available.
Individual developing countries must negotiate with the multinationals and other private companies on the use of native germplasm and local varieties used in the production of transgenic varieties. This should be based on equitable sharing of inserted genes in proportion to the genome of the local varieties and the capital spent on their development.

There are still many legal issues which need to be resolved. If gene patents are to be allowed in the developing countries, then who shall own the following genes? 1. Mutant genes derived from a wild species or land race or an unrelated species or genus which have been modified by conventional mutagenesis. 2. Transgenes mutated either with a mutagen or by sequence changes - insertion or deletion of base pairs or re-location by transposons. And whose liability is a patented transgene transferred to the crop of a neighbor who may not want this gene? Is it the person who holds the patent, the company which sold the seed or the grower whose crop is the source of the gene transfer? Civil litigation in developing countries is already a disaster, and to start more of these cases on seed related issues could become a nightmare for farmers and courts alike. Presently, a multinational has taken some 300 farmers to court for retaining on farm seeds. The last thing the developing countries want to see is their farmers sitting in courts rather than fields!