http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4243929,00.html
India outraged as US company wins patents on rice
Luke Harding in New Delhi Thursday August 23, 2001 The Guardian (London)
The decision to give an American company patents on three strains of basmati rice has provoked an uproar in India, where angry MPs have disrupted parliament and accused the coalition government of selling out to foreign interests.
The US patent and trademark office has granted three patents to RiceTec of Texas. Four years ago RiceTec made sweeping attempts to register basmati as a trademark, but later it withdrew several of its patent applications in the face of overwhelming opposition.
But last week the patent office allowed it to register three hybrid versions of basmati - Texmati, Jasmati and Kasmati. It produced the varieties by crossbreeding basmati seed with American long-grain rice.
RiceTec was also given permission to claim that its brands are "superior to basmati".
The ruling has caused consternation in India, where basmati rice has been growing for centuries in the foothills of the Himalayas. Basmati, which is long grained, soft textured and has an aromatic flavour, is exported in huge quantities to Britain from India and Pakistan.
The Indian government insisted yesterday that the ruling would not affect India's lucrative basmati exports to America. But other campaigners say the case shows how western corporations are using the World Trade Organisation's oppressive patent laws to exploit poor farmers in the developing world.
The British charity ActionAid said: "There is growing concern that corporations are taking advantage of traditional Indian crops developed over thousands of years by farmers, without any recompense for the poor people who do all the work.
"We still remain concerned that there could be a threat to [India's] export markets. The fact is that this company is intent on marketing its basmati and is trying to get it into British supermarkets."
ActionAid has launched a campaign against "bio-piracy" - multinationals taking out patents on crops that grow in poor countries.
-- John K. Taber