About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

23 Biotechnology L. Rep. 1 (2004)

handle is hein.journals/bothnl23 and id is 1 raw text is: 

23 Biotechnology Law Report 1
Number 1 (February 2004)
© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.





  The Peculiar Case of Terminator Technology: Agricultural

     Biotechnology and Intellectual Property Protection at the

                  Crossroads of the Third Green Revolution




                                   CULLEN N. PENDLETON, Ph.D.*


                INTRODUCTION



W HY WOULD ANYONE DEVELOP a product at great
       expense  and then vow  never  to sell it? Even
the question seems a little odd: it is difficult to imag-
ine anyone  doing  this. Why, we  might  ask, would
they  waste  their time and  capital developing  the
technology  but then refuse to take advantage  of or
utilize it? Yet this is exactly what has happened in
the last 5 years with  regard to certain genetically
modified  (GM)   crops and such  agribusiness giants
as Monsanto.
   The GM   crops in question express what  industry
refers to somewhat  euphemistically  as a trait pro-
tection  system'  but  which  is  more  commonly
known   by the name   popularized by  its opponents:
Terminator   technology  (TT).2  Terminator  tech-
nology  is named  after the time-traveling deadly cy-
borg played  by Arnold  Schwarzenegger in the sci-
ence fiction movie  of the same  name.3
   Why   the colorful, yet  sinister name?  Like  its
namesake,   TT's function is to kill, or rather steril-
ize, the living. Terminator seed germinates and pro-
duces  a normal-appearing   plant, including  seeds.
However,   this seed is sterile and will not germi-
nate.45 The  other  products of the  plant are unaf-
fected by the Terminator trait: for example, a farmer
could harvest cotton from  Terminator  plants just as
he does from  normal  plants. Sterile seed, of course,
unlike ordinary  seed, cannot be  saved and  planted
in subsequent  seasons.




* Cullen Pendleton, Ph.D., is a third-year law student at the
University of Chicago. This article was written in memory of
Dr. Paul D. Gottlieb, Professor of Microbiology and Director
of the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas
at Austin.


   Again, the very notion of a seed company   devel-
oping  a plant that makes  sterile seeds might seem
strange  at first glance.6 Yet it is this characteristic



1 Purdue biotech experts say genetic plant sterilization tech-
nology-scorned by environmentalists-is needed, Apr. 19,
2002, Ag BioTech InfoNet (available at http://www.biotech-
info.net/sterilization.html; visited May 3, 2003).
2 ETC group responds to Purdue University's recent efforts to
promote genetic seed sterilization-Terminator technology-as
an environmental protection technology, ETC Group Website,
May  1, 2002 (available at http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?
newsid=331; visited May 2, 2003).
3 Eric Niiler: Terminator technology temporarily terminated.
Nature Biotechnol 1999;17:1054.
4 Huib de Vriend and Frans van Dam, Genetechnology and
Food: State of the Art, at 11, Consumer & Biotechnology Foun-
dation, Den Haag, The Netherlands (May 2002) (hereinafter
Genetechnology and  Food) (available at http://www.con-
subiotech.nl/pub/ZIP/ Genetechnology%20ftd%20food.doc;
visited May 3, 2003) ([T]erminator technology . .. involves a
genetic mechanism in the plant which is chemically inducible,
which causes sterility in seeds harvested by farmers.)
s An offshoot of TT involves engineering male sterility (MS) into
the plant so that pollen is not produced. These plants produce no
seed unless out-crossed to a fertile line or a fertility-restoring line.
The MS technology was patented separately subsequent to the ini-
tial TT patent (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,374, Plants with Mod-
ified Flowers, Seeds, or Embryos, issued June 16, 1998 (Assignee:
Plant Genetic Systems)). Patents by the Delta & Pine Land Com-
pany (D&PL) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sub-
sequent to the initial TT patent include claims incorporating male
sterility characteristics (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,808). For a
description of the MS system developed by Aventis CropScience
(formerly Plant Genetic Systems), see http://biosafety.org.by/
agbios/static/GENEbarnase.html. The site includes descriptions of
MS lines of canola, chicory, and corn; fertility-restorationlines have
also been created in canola. For a critique of this particular tech-
nology, see Mae-Wan Ho and Joe Cummins, Chronicle of an Eco-
logical Disaster Foretold, Institute of Science in Society Press Re-
lease, January 20, 2003 (available at http://www.biotech-info.
net/eco_disaster.html;visited May 3, 2003). A more extensive dis-
cussion of varieties of sterility technology is provided below.
6 Daniel W. Bromley, Purpose and necessity in science policy
and public opinion, 16 Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm
& Resource Issues 6 (2001).


1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most