Press Release of the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), 02/07/2012
The European Parliament, the only democratically elected institution of the European Union, will vote next week on the European unitary patent. This text very directly threatens farmers’ rights over seeds and breeding animals. If passed, it will criminalise the farmers who keep their own seeds, claiming that they may be stealing intelectual property in the form of possibly patented genetic material, and even make it possible to seize their crops when their seeds have been contaminated by such patented genes from genetically modified seeds.
With regard to livestock, a farmer will not be able to sell for breeding a patented animal or an animal born on his own farm from a patented animal. If «fortuitous or accidental» contamination happens following exchanges or mixtures of animals, a breeder can no longer use or sell their own contaminated animals. Ultimately, any reproduction at the farm level and any exchange of animals between farmers will be banned, even though these reproductions and exchanges are the basis of farmers’ selection and social and economic relations in rural areas.
«This is the occasion for the members of the European Parliament to vote against a legislation that would give industry the control of the entire food chain, from seed to plate. If farmers lose control over their seeds and their animals, citizens lose their right to food and Food sovereignty», said Guy Kastler, from the European Coordination Via Campesina.
The members of the European Coordination Via Campesina oppose all forms of taxes or royalties on farm saved seed, call for a ban on patents on plants or animals, their genes or their production processes, and the protection of the rights of farmers to retain, reproduce, sell and exchange seeds.
That is why the European Coordination Via Campesina, which represents 27 agricultural organizations in 17 countries in Europe, supports the amendments of the Green Group in the enactment of European Unitary Patent, on which the European Parliament will vote this Wednesday, July 2, 2012.
ECVC also calls on all organizations and citizens who oppose the privatization of life and struggle for the autonomy of farmers from the seed industry to contact MEPs, so that they vote in favor of these amendments (attached below), to protect farmers’ rights and the possibility for citizens to have access to healthy and local food.