Nominated for Other (specify below)
Monday 06 March 2006
Category: Most Despicable
For imposing plant intellectual property laws on war-torn Iraq in June 2004. When the US occupying forces “transferred sovereignty” to Iraq, it imposed Order no. 84, which makes it illegal for Iraqi farmers to re-use seeds harvested from new varieties registered under the law. Iraq's newly imposed patent law opens the door to the multinational seed trade, further threatening the food sovereignty of an already-devastated country.
Focus on the Global South and GRAIN, “Iraq's new patent law: A declaration of war against farmers,” October 2004