DuPont Maize Patent Reconsidered

BRUSSELS -- Feb 12/03 - SNS -- The European Patent Office (EPO)is reconsidered a patent given to DuPont on a higher oil content type of maize which had been traditionally produced in Latin America.

The decision stems from widespread protests against European patent number EP 744888 issued in August 2000 by the Mexican government and organizations such as church groups and Greenpeace.

The EPO patent (EP 744888) currently covers naturally and traditionally cultivated maize with higher oil content. Maize with higher oil content is already cultivated in many Latin American countries where the plant originated. The patent holder DuPont claims patent rights on all products for which this maize in used, such as cooking oil and animal feed.

"This is daylight robbery and the EPO is helping in the theft," said Ulrike Brendel, Greenpeace expert on patents. "Obviously this maize is not a DuPont invention but that is what they have a nerve to claim in order to rob the people in Latin America who have cultivated and planted maize seeds for thousands of years. We ask the EPO to halt this patent right away and recognize that the current practice of granting them clearly goes too far."

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