There has been a fierce debate on the patenting of certain plants and breeding for ten years. And now the European Patent Office (EPA) has decided, despite strong resistance, to go ahead with the controversial patent for the “wrinkled tomatoes.” And the EPA had already waved through the "broccoli patent” in September.
These decisions are, from the perspective of the Bavarian Farmers' Association, completely incomprehensible and unsustainable. Therefore the Bavarian Farmers' Association repeats and emphasizes its negative opinion on patents on plants and animals.
The "bio-patents" are possible through an interpretation of the EU Biotechnology Directive of 1998 by the European Patent Office. In 2013 it was already decided that "essentially biological breeding methods," based on crossing and selection, couldn’t be patented. Nevertheless, the European Patent Office issued patents on plants derived from these processes. And this is firstly absurd and in the second place an interpretation of the EU Biotechnology Directive in a manner that was not the intention. Furthermore in social and political debates bio-patents are rejected by the majority.
"Open Source" is the proven system for breeding. That means that genetic resources are freely available. This scheme enables rapid progress in breeding, ensures the preservation of a landscape with medium-sized farms and prepares Bavarian farmers for the challenges of climate change.
The Bavarian Farmers Association downright dismisses patents on plants and animals.
The recent decisions of the European Patent Office clearly show that the EU directive for bio-patents must urgently be revised and modelled after the German patent law. It is necessary that the EU's bio-patent directive is specified and a clear prohibition of patents on plants and animals should be added, because after all patent law was created for technical inventions. For plants, there are already more suitable plant breeders' rights.
Since this revision process will take time, it is also necessary that the European Commission draft a design recommendation of bio-patent as soon as possible. This is the only way to prevent further granting of bio-patents as the European Patent Office already has numerous requests waiting.