ROME, Italy – Canada has joined 116 other countries in supporting an international germplasm treaty.
The Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, which still must be ratified by signing countries, sets rules for use of plant germplasm held in public facilities and requires royalty payments when plant breeders create new varieties from commonly held plant germplasm.
It was hailed on Nov. 5 as a major international accomplishment, a significant new tool in the fight against world hunger and “the first treaty of the 21st Century.”
There was enthusiastic praise from governments, non-governmental activists and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, where the agreement was negotiated.
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“This treaty, while flawed, is a very important step forward in protecting plant genetic diversity,” said Pat Mooney, executive director of the Manitoba group ETC, which has waged a long battle in favour of preserving genetic diversity and against plant patenting and terminator genes.
“It is a real step toward world food security.”
During speeches after the Nov. 3 vote at an FAO members’ meeting in Rome, Canadian delegation head Diane Vincent, who is also the federal associate deputy agriculture minister, praised the vote as an important contribution to the goal of reducing world hunger and preserving genetic diversity.
Fernando Gerbasi, Venezuelan ambassador to the FAO who chaired the negotiations that started in 1994, said the treaty “fills a gap in a fundamental area of agricultural diversity and the environment.”
At its core is a commitment that varieties held in publicly funded gene banks will be protected, will be more readily exchanged between researchers, and will be recognized with a royalty to be paid into an FAO-administered trust fund if they are the basis of a new variety.
Some of the money could be sent back to the country that hosts the original variety to encourage research and preservation of native varieties.
“It is a recognition that when plant breeders benefit from the existence of publicly held genetics, they owe back to the system,” said a Canadian bureaucrat involved in negotiating the treaty who asked to not be identified.
Mooney said in an interview during the FAO meeting that many scientists have been reluctant to release samples of gene bank germplasm for fear a private company would patent it.
“This will give them some comfort and allow freer exchange of material,” he predicted.
NGO officials like Mooney lost their fight for “farmer rights” to save part of their crop for planting. They wanted these rights to override the seed creator’s patent or plant breeders’ rights protection. The treaty says national plant breeders rights laws will prevail over farmer rights.
Mooney said that fight will continue.
However, officials said that provision was necessary to keep seed industry support for the treaty.
Despite that concession to plant breeders’ rights, the United States and Japan abstained from the vote.
U.S. agriculture secretary Ann Veneman told a news conference there was concern in the U.S. that the treaty would undermine “the integrity of intellectual property rights.”
Still, pre-treaty activists predict the U.S. will abide by the rules, even if it does not ratify.
The treaty will take effect once 40 countries have ratified it. Activists hope that will happen before a world food summit in Rome next June.
In Canada, the negotiating official said the government will consult with the industry for advice on whether, how and when to ratify it.
“Our signing on does not commit us to ratify, but we will take it to our stakeholders for advice,” he said.
