Biotech companies want to patent stuff they had no ability to make.
Did they make an enzyme capable of degrading roundup? –No: they simply used one already in existence.
Did they make the “scissors” that were used to cut and move the gene that makes that enzyme from one plant to another? –No: they simply used one already in existence.
Did they create any of the plant cellular processes that create a seed? –No: they simply used those already in existence.
Did they make any of the plant systems that cause that seed to sprout? –No: they simply used those already in existence.
And yet they want second generation plants to be protected by their patents. I am absolutely against the biotech companies being able to patent second generation seed. As a molecular geneticist I am absolutely against GMO seeds in the first place yet In my opinion all permaculturists should buy grain silo seed, grow it, and share the seeds left and right.
Creating something is patentable. At this point only God can create a tree. Until the biotech companies can duplicate that feat second generation seeds should not be patentable.