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Home >> Biotechnology /Genomics and Intellectual Property >>Terminator and Traitor Technologies >> The Patent and Its Possible Uses
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The patent and its possible uses

On March 3, 1998, a patent under the title 'Control of Plant Gene Expression', later dubbed as terminator technology in the media, was issued in USA, jointly to Delta and Pine Land Company (D and PL) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

It was claimed that, the genetic system described in the patent worked well with tobacco and cotton.

It was also believed that the system should eventually become workable. Further, the first commercial crop (cotton) utilizing this technology is expected to be marketed by the year 2004.

The patent work was mainly done by Melvin Oliver, a scientist with USDA-ARS in Lubbock, Texas, through cooperative research with D & PL. The patent claims a very broad protection and is valid for plant cells, tissues, seeds and. whole plants of any species (both transgenic and conventional crop varieties) containing the combination of genes described in the patent.

The inventors of terminator technology applied for patents in at least 78 countries. USDA and D and PL also announced that they will make this technology ideally available to many seed companies through licensing agreements.

D and PL had also predicted that the technology could be applied over 400 million hectares (one billion acres) and will be targeted for use in countries like China, India and Pakistan. According to them, this will provide competition between the different seed suppliers.

The patent technique was described as gene protection technology by Monsanto and its main future application, as advocated by D and PL, will be the development of technology protection system. However, Rural Advance­ment Foundation International (RAFI), later named as ETC Group, a Canada based, non-government organization (NGO) dubbed the technology as terminator technology,

since they believed that it will terminate the farmers' independence and threaten the food security of over a billion resource-poor farmers in developing countries, where the seed saved by the farmers accounts for 80% of the total seed requirement.

The Indian Government banned the entry into the country of any seed material that may carry the 'terminator gene' and had also decided not to grant a patent to D and PL for the terminator technology. The implementation of such decisions apparently was difficult, although efforts are being made to develop molecular probes to detect terminator genes in the seed, entering the country from outside.

According to Sally Miller Hayes, another scientist from USDA, the above technology was developed for the study of gene expression. For instance, the technology may be used for any trait desired to be expressed in one situation, but not in the other. Such possible traits include male sterility, drought or insect resistance, time of seed germination or flower development.

The other possible uses of the 'gene protection technology' advocated 'by Monsanto are: (i) minimization of outcrossing with related species;

(ii) increased choice of seed varieties for the farmers; (iii) help in pro1ecting farmers' rights; (iv) provision for consistently high quality seeds; (v) development of best variety seeds by yearly improvement; (vi) maintenance of desirable characteristics in varieties that are grown for more than one year.

The scientists at D and PL, however, believed at that time, that its main future application would be in the development of the so called 'technology protection system' against free use of transgene technology.

Therefore, one major application proposed included the protection of the rights of seed producers/breeders to disallow the farmers to use their own harvested seeds for replantation.
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