MUMBAI, March 7: US-based Monsanto Chemicals has filed an application with US authorities claiming patent right over Bt Cotton, a pest resistant cotton seed, it says has been developed by its R&D wing. On getting the patent right, Monsanto will have full control over production and distribution of the pest resistant cotton seeds.The company is planning to claim patent right over 30 varieties of vegetables - herb resistant potatoes, tomatoes, rice, special corn, maize, soyabeans, special trees and bio-pesticides. Once these patents are granted, Indian farmers will have to buy them from the company."More than 30 input and output products are in our R&D pipeline. We are working on products in corn, maize, potatoes, tomatoes, soyabeans, oil crops, tea and . almost every crop. We have applied for a patent right over Bt cotton seeds," said Gary Barton, Director, Public Affairs, Monsanto, USA, the number one herbicide company in the world. While Novartis AG is in the process of claiming patent claim over Btcorn, Hoechst and other MNCs are planning to claim patent right over special varieties of seeds and genes."For each new product we may have to select a new partner," said a Monsanto spokesman. The patent right on the new findings will go to the US parent. "Patent right will go to Monsanto as the cotton gene is already in its possession. Bt cotton is only an improvement upon the cotton gene already supplied by Monsanto to Indian farmers," said a spokesman of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco), adding, "We don't expect Indian farmers to protest as happened in the case of Cargill Corporation."The company has applied to the Indian government to conduct trials in Maharashtra (Jalna) and is planning the commercial launch of Bt cotton seeds by 2000 AD. Bt cotton, New Leaf Potatoes and Roundup Ready crops are seeds already developed and work on a new generation of seeds is going on. Monsanto used to formulate and market weedicides for soyabeans, tea and other crops with its key brands like Roundup,Machete and Avadexn. "We have alliances with Indian universities and research bodies. Agriculture is our main focus with 250 scientists. We are expanding research on new products," Barton said.The Fortune 500 company is also planning to tie up with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Department of Biotechnology of the Central Government to use the latter's expertise and information base to suit its corporate plans. The Dept of Biotechnology has already reached an agreement with Monsanto for setting up specialised research unit to develop new crop strains. However, Centre for Science and Environment, a non-government organisation, has alleged that Monsanto is permitted to use genetic materials of Indian origin to carry out biotechnology research in its unit to be set up in the campus of the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISC), Bangalore.Many experts and NGOs have pointed out the danger of allowing a free hand to MNCs to freely collect genes from India for commercial use after theWorld Trade Organisation agreement. MCIL has recently set up a US $ 25 million state-of-the art R&D centre at Bangalore which would be the hub of its Asian research activities to focus on genomics, bioinformatics and transformation.Monsanto Chemicals has been operating in India since 1949 and is a market leader in agricultural and industrial chemicals market. The MNC subsidiary which has pioneered the concept of weed control in India as part of the Green Revolution is now a leader in rice herbicides marketed under the Machete brand.
