The proposal takes a different approach by banning the use of only one kind of genetic use restriction technology (GURT) -- the one which actually prevents seed saving. The second kind of GURT remains untouched, allowing GMO producers to continuing using it as a means of recuperating the cost of research and development.
The intended effect is thus to protect subsistance farmers -- and their ability to save seed and trade their produce -- without compromising the commercial interests of GMO producers.
Ban on Variety-Level Genetic Use Restriction
Category: Free Trade | Strength: Mild
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
SADDENED by the continued struggle of many of the poor to secure sufficient and affordable daily nutrition;
RECOGNIZING the potential of genetically modified organism (GMO) technologies to provide for more blight-resistant and nutritious crops;
ACKNOWLEDGING the immense expenses incurred by the producers of GMOs seeking safe and effective genetic modification methodologies;
NOTING the use of genetic use restriction technologies (GURT) by producers of GMOs, as a means of recuperating research expenses by maintaining exclusive production and sale of GMOs, which take two general forms:
- V-GURT - or "variety-level restriction technology," which causes a cultivar to produce sterile seed;
- T-GURT - or "trait-level restriction technology," which prevents a cultivar from expressing a desirable value-added trait unless treated with a specific and exclusively supplied chemical substance, while otherwise producing additional fertile seed;
DEFINING "Subsistence farming" to consist of the keeping of livestock and the production of crops by farmers seeking to feed themselves and their families, producing little surplus;
CONCERNED that the use of V-GURT techniques may greatly increase the expense of subsistence farming, and so greatly increase the economic burden of the poor, because V-GURT techniques effectively prevent seed saving and so require the purchase of new seed from exclusive producers for each new crop;
FINDING that T-GURT techniques constitute a superior technology in that they both provide the producers of GMOs with the ability to recuperate the expenses of research and development by protecting access to value-added traits, while simultaneously permitting the continued practice of seed saving, thereby keeping the cost of subsistence farming by the poor as low as possible;
HEREBY DECLARES:
1) The development and introduction of any kind of variety-level genetic use restriction technology into any kind of genetically modified organism is prohibited in all member states.
2) Member states shall not allow any injunction, claim of damages, or criminal prosecution to be brought against any person or organization engaged in the reverse engineering of GMO seed for the sole purpose of removing variety-level genetic use restriction technology.
3) No part of this resolution shall otherwise affect the legality of GMO technologies generally, nor of trait-level genetic use restriction technology specifically.
4) No part of this resolution shall prevent the General Assembly from addressing the legality or regulation of GMO technologies generally, nor trait-level genetic use restriction technologies specifically, in future resolutions.
