Lord Simon Told 'No' To Patents On Life

On Tuesday 25th November Lord Simon, Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe, Director of RTZ and BP stooge, awoke at his house in London to the sight of 12 "eminent scientists" looking for footholds on his roof and taking samples from his garden plants. "Patent pending" stickers were applied to any interesting bit of living material. As the scientists checked out Lord Simon's back garden for biodiversity, others with banners and megaphones asked him to say 'No' to Patents on Life. Simon was due to approve the EU Life Patents Directive that same week.

The EU Life Patents Directive explicitly allows companies to take out patents on life - genes, cells, whole plants and animals and human body parts. The proposed directive has outraged an unprecedented range of groups - from scientists, Third World development workers, environmentalists, plant and animal breeders, human rights activists, politicians, church leaders and consumer groups. The groups oppose the directive on the grounds that it will give monopoly control to multinationals, commodify life, restrict medical research, extend multinational power over the South's biodiversity and promote genetic engineering. Contact Genetic Engineering Network 0181 374 9516.