Changes to the Plant Breeders Rights Act - URGENT: act before 8 March 2005

The proposed changes to the PBR Act would, if implemented, impose many more restrictions and prohibitions on farmers who save seed; reverse the onus on burden of proof; extend protection periods on varieties of seeds and plants protected by intellectual property rights legislation; and increase farmers’ operating costs through the expansion of royalty fees.

1. Oppose changes to Plant Breeders Rights Act before 8 March 2005
   Canadian Food Inspection Agency (www.inspection.gc.ca) - text of proposed changes
   contact person: Valerie Scisson, Commissioner CFIA
   e-mail: cfiamaster@inspection.gc.ca
   phone: 613-225-2342
   
   
2. Support the National Farmers Union (www.nfu.ca) in their multi-year national campaign to enshrine the rights of farmers and other Canadians to save, re-use, select, exchange and sell seeds and in their work towards a well-funded, public, not-for-profit plant breeding program.
   
   
3. Stay informed: www.etcgroup.org and www.organics.bc.ca
   
   
4. Eat mindfully
   
   
5. Send the following letter to any or all of the person on the contact list below. Just copy and paste the sample letter to the body of the email and send.

Sample letter:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to express concerns over proposed changes to the Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) Act, and also to voice my opposition to cutbacks in public plant breeding programs.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced the proposed amendments to PBR Legislation on November 8, 2004. The public consultation period on the amendments is scheduled to close on March 8, 2005. Because the public consultations have been limited to a posting on the CFIA website, I believe that farmers and other concerned citizens have not been given sufficient opportunity to learn about the proposed changes, or to weigh the impacts that these changes will have. I feel that full public hearings are needed in urban and rural communities across Canada.

The proposed changes to the PBR Act would, if implemented, impose many more restrictions and prohibitions on farmers who save seed; reverse the onus on burden of proof; extend protection periods on varieties of seeds and plants protected by intellectual property rights legislation; and increase farmers’ operating costs through the expansion of royalty fees.

The current PBR Act does not prohibit farmers from saving seed of a protected variety or from using that seed for non-commercial breeding purposes. The current PBR Act also does not prohibit the conditioning (cleaning) of the seed or the sale of harvested material produced from that seed. Proposed changes to the PBR Act would extend the “rights” of the plant breeder to include harvested material through the introduction of “cascade right”.

The proposal to include a provision for “farmers’ privilege” in the amendments to the PBR Act is an insult to farmers. For countless generations, farmers have had the inalienable right to save and re-use seed. Farmers are, in fact, responsible for the development of most varieties in use today. The traditional, all-inclusive farmers’ right to save seed is implicit in the current PBR legislation. This implicit traditional right should not be replaced with a restrictive and patronizing farmers’ privilege clause, because farmers will have less protection under such a change.

It is clear that the main beneficiaries of these proposed changes will be major seed corporations, which will benefit from the increased intellectual property rights protection and ability to expand royalty collection. I condemn the above discussed changes to the PBR Act and urge government to take action which supports, rather than disadvantages, farmers and other concerned citizens.

The federal government is also cutting back on public research, specifically in the areas of plant variety development, plant agronomy and animal production. The proposed changes to the PBR Act will facilitate the shift toward private, for-profit plant breeding and away from public research. World-renowned facilities such as the Swift Current Research Station are clearly in jeopardy. I want to express my support for public research, which directly benefits farmers and, in turn, benefits consumers. I strongly urge the federal government to re-direct its focus back to public plant breeding.

Sincerely,

Contact list:

Hon. Andrew Mitchell
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Sir John Carling Building
930 Carling Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0C5
Tel: 613 996 3437
Fax: 613 991 2147

Hon. Wayne Easter
Room 318, Justice Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Tel: 613 992 2406
Fax: 613 995 7408

Hon. Paul Martin
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A2
Tel: 613 996 3434
Fax: 613 941 6900
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca

Valerie Scisson (Commissioner)
Glyn Chancey (Chair, Plant Production Division) or
Elizabeth Prentice-Hudson (Examiner)
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
59 Camelot Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
Tel: 613 225 2342
Fax: 613 228 6629
Website: www.inspection.gc.ca

Charlie Angus (NDP Ag Critic)
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Tel: 613 992 2919
Fax: 613 995 0747

Email: Angus.C@parl.gc.ca

Gerry Ritz (Conservative Ag Critic)
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Tel: 613 995 7080
Fax: 613 996 8472
Email: Ritz.G@parl.gc.ca

Roger Gaudet (Bloc Que. Ag Critic)
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Tel: 613 992 0164
Fax: 613 992 5341
Email: Gaudet.R@parl.gc.ca

Hon. Stephen Harper
(Leader of the Official Opposition)
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Tel: 613 996 6740
Fax: 613 947 0310
Email: Harper.S@parl.gc.ca