Traitor Technology the t-Gurt, Debate on Terminator, Trait Control Technology, Dozen Patent Claims, Harvested Seed Sterile, Useless for Replentation

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	Traitor Technology, the T-GURT During 1998-99, while the debate on terminator was still going on, a new trait-control technology (dubbed by RAFI as 'traitor technology') appeared in more than two dozen patent claims from 12 institutes/seed companies. The technology was also described as t-GURT. This technology did not render the harvested seed sterile and, therefore, did not render it useless for replantation.
Instead, it required that the seed be sprayed by a specific herbicide or fertilizer manufactured by the seed company either to enable the seed to germinate or to allow the expression of a desirable trait (e.g., disease resistance) in the plants raised from the harvested seed. Thus, in order to achieve optimum productivity, the farmers will be forced to purchase the herbicide or fertilizer from the same company, from which they purchase the seed. This technology was dubbed as 'traitor technology' by RAFI, who believed that the technology posed a challenge to community plant breeding and national food security.