RiceTec took U.S. Long grain rice and crossbred it with Indian basmati rice to produce the three newly patented hybrid strains of basmati rice: texmati, jasmati, and kasmati. RiceTec has also been given permission to claim that their rice is superior to basmati, though basmati has been grown for centuries in the foothills of the Himalayas.
RiceTec has to answer also to the issue of bio piracy, since the strains of basmati rice they used were produce by the Public Breeding Institute of India. Four years ago, RiceTec Inc withdrew their application for patents, in the face of overwhelming opposition.
We talk with Bruce Hicks, spokesman of RiceTec Inc about whether RiceTec feels that their newly won patents interfere with International patents and trade. We also talk to Sophia Murphy, Director of the trade program at the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis who opposes the biopatenting of seeds (genetic patenting), as they are life forms that farmers have adapted and grown over thousands of years.
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