Monsanto's chapati patent raises Indian ire
Monsanto, the world's largest genetically modified seed company, has been awarded patents on the wheat used for making chapati - the flat bread staple of northern India.
The patents give the US multinational exclusive ownership over Nap Hal, a strain of wheat whose gene sequence makes it particularly suited to producing crisp breads.
Another patent, filed in Europe, gives Monsanto rights over the use of Nap Hal wheat to make chapatis, which consist of flour, water and salt.
Ire is putting it mildly. Foreign corporations come in and try to patent neem, which is a tree used medicinally for centuries; basmati rice; and now the wheat used to make chapatis. As the article says
Mr Sharma says there is little hope of the Indian government intervening to prevent the chapati being patented by Monsanto.
It simply cannot afford the legal fees, having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting a US decision to grant a Texan company a patent on basmati rice in 1997...
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