IRAQ FARMERS TO PAY CORPORATIONS FOR SEED? (from ATSNN), page 1

I have read a couple of articles on this issue over the last few days and found it unbelievable. The idea that seeds, that these farmers have developed over hundreds of years and freely distributed among themselves, should now become copyrighted, and use licenced by US corporations is. in my opinion, quite obscene.

www.grain.org
When former Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administrator L. Paul Bremer III left Baghdad after the so-called "transfer of sovereignty" in June 2004, he left behind the 100 orders he enacted as chief of the occupation authority in Iraq. Among them is Order 81 on "Patent, Industrial Design, Undisclosed Information, Integrated Circuits and Plant Variety." [1] This order amends Iraq's original patent law of 1970 and unless and until it is revised or repealed by a new Iraqi government, it now has the status and force of a binding law. [2] With important implications for farmers and the future of agriculture in Iraq, this order is yet another important component in the United States' attempts to radically transform Iraq's economy.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

So far I have seen only ways of robbing the Iraqis blind and not much in the way of rebuilding. This just looks like another way of fleecing the farmers of Iraq and, in time, may force them to sell up to large corporate interests when they cannot pay for the seed. Welcome to the world of the capitalist West!!!