Food Ethics Council

Intellectual property and the farming world.

How will new global rules on patents, plant variety protection and other forms of 'intellectual property' affect food and farming, particularly for people in poor countries? Are these rules useful, fair and in the public interest?
Since the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995, a set of essentially global, but relatively esoteric and obscure, legal rules on patents, plant variety protection and other forms of 'intellectual property' are affecting the future of food and farming, especially for people in low- and middle-income countries. The Food Ethics Council believes that more widespread understanding of the nature and effects of these rules on our food future is needed.
Our 2002 report, TRIPS with everything? Intellectual property and the farming world examines the issues and makes a series of recommendations.