Message-ID: <v03007801afdee3f656e9@[207.100.25.23]> Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 13:47:03 -0400 From: Edward Hammond <mailto:hammond@RAFIUSA.ORG> Subject: Quinoa Patent Info Online To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
Hello All,After a week in New York at the UN General Assembly's Earth Summit +5 session with quinoa growers, we have just returned to the office to read the numerous posts on the quinoa patent. If anyone was expecting an immediate respose to Dr. Ward's numerous posts last week, I am sorry to disappoint. Those that have been following the discussion will be interested to hear that, among other happenings in New York, the quinoa patent was condemned by the International Indian Treaty Council in a very rare formal intervention by indigenous peoples to the world leaders gathered at the General Assembly for the Summit.
RAFI is making an effort to pull together many relevant documents on the quinoa patent and the discussion that has taken place on these lists to make available at our world wide web site. As any new developments take place, we will make updates to these pages. You are invited - and encouraged - to come by at http://www.rafi.ca/quinoa/ Whenever possible, documents are available in Spanish and English.
The initial index (to be subsequently expanded) contains:
1. Quinoa Patented (from RAFI Communique Dec. 1996) 2. The Quinoa Patent: US 5,304,718 3. Links to Duane Johnson and Sarah Ward's home pages 4. 18 June: RAFI/ANAPQUI Press Release 5. DEBATE: Letters Distributed by RAFI and Sarah Ward on the Internet 6. Scientific Opinion: "Consideraciónes tecnicas de la androesterilidad citoplasmica en quinoa" 7. Peoples' Tribunal: Submission by RAFI, ANAPQUI, and other groups. 8. Photos: ANAPQUI in New York, Quinoa Production in Bolivia
Please note that we are still working on translations and electronic versions of some documents; but expect all of the above (and possibly more) to be available within days.
I obviously strongly agree with the sentiment expressed by many people that the issues raised by the quinoa patent need broader societal debate - indeed they are the focus of RAFI's work. There are, however, more pressing concerns to be addressed: Dr. Ward has directed at least a half dozen sometimes lengthy responses to mainly academic colleagues on e-mail since 18 June. On 4 June, however, Drs. Ward and Johnson received a letter from ANAPQUI requesting they drop the patent. This morning (1 July) I spoke to the President of ANAPQUI in La Paz by telephone and he informed me that they have yet to receive any reply to their letter of a month ago.
It would be inappropriate to continue a debate here while quinoa growers remain unanswered. We invite you to visit our WWW site, will post new news there and, if there are any major developments, will post on these listservers as well.
Sincerely,
Edward Hammond