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Cary Fowler
Heavy Burden: Promoting Public Policy through the Use of Material Transfer Agreements for Plant Genetic Resources
Introduction
Plant genetic resources – seeds and other genetic materials containing functional units of heredity of actual or potential use – are the biological foundation of agriculture, the raw material of plant breeding, and an increasingly important component in biotechnology research and product development. The conditions under which plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) may be accessed and used is therefore of critical importance to broad segments of the economy, to academic and applied researchers, to the legal profession, and to important social concerns such as achieving food security. Each year, hundreds of thousands of samples of PGRFA are distributed to researchers and breeders by genebanks and crop breeding programmes, arguably making this resource the most commonly exchanged of biological materials for research and development purposes in the academic and commercial world.
Journal of International Biotechnology Law, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 1612-6068
Volume: 2, 07/2005
Pages: 144 - 149