TPP Fine Print: Biotech Seed Companies Win Again

Click here to access article by Ben Lilliston from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

Big concerns about the deal’s impact on public health, workers, the environment and the legal rights of corporations are already being raised. A close look at the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) chapter shows how just a few lines in TPP can turn into a big win for an industry—in this case, the biotech seed industry.

After examining the details of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) section of the TPP proposed agreement, Lilliston reaches this conclusion:

The TPP’s IPR chapter provides a glimpse into what this new mega free trade deal is all about. The chapter’s requirement that countries grant patent protection for multinational biotech seed companies has little to do with trade and nothing to do with respecting farmers’ innovations, their livelihoods or countries’ food security. It is about asserting, in a very raw way, corporate power over sovereign nations and the farmers who live there.