PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 1:49 PM by Luigi

Protesters want university to give up taro patents

By Associated Press.

HONOLULU (AP) _ Hawaiian activists, farmers, students and others staged a protest today to demand the University of Hawaii give up patents on several lines of Hawaiian taro plants genetically enhanced by crossbreeding. The patents require farmers who use the three varieties of taro to pay licensing fees to the university and to let officials onto their property to study the plants. Farmers may not sell the seeds. Ania Wieczorek is a spokeswoman for the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. She's said it would be up to the scientists who own the patents to revoke them. Taro is used to make poi. Some Native Hawaiians consider the taro a sacred ancestor, linking them to the soil.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.



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HONOLULU (AP) _ Hawaiian activists, farmers, students and others staged a protest today to demand the University of Hawaii give up patents on several lines of Hawaiian taro plants genetically enhanced by crossbreeding. The patents require farmers who use the three varieties of taro to pay licensing fees to the university and to let officials onto their property to study the plants. Farmers may not sell the seeds. Ania Wieczorek is a spokeswoman for the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. She's said it would be up to the scientists who own the patents to revoke them. Taro is used to make poi. Some Native Hawaiians consider the taro a sacred ancestor, linking them to the soil. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. 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