European Patent Office (EPO) canceled a public hearing on the controversial patent on a broccoli in October. The broccoli protected by the patent EP1069819 was derived by conventional breeding methods. The rights to the patents are being held by US company Monsanto. The company Syngenta which had appealed against the patent, has now surprisingly proposed the cancellation of the planned hearing. The EPO is following this request from industry. This means that the patent for the broccoli, which is derived by traditional breeding methods, will now be upheld with only minor modifications.
Did you know that the well-loved American fairytale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is more than just a tale of a girl with ruby slippers tripping down a yellow brick road? I loved that book when I was a kid--I remember watching my older sisters playing munchkins in school musical when I was still in kin ...
I spent a bit of time in Burma (Myanmar). In 2006 I was the Executive Chef of the historical Strand Hotel, where many deep thinkers (George Orwell, Rudyard Kipling, W. Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene, E. F. Schumacher...) wrote some of their incredible books. Maybe that is why I resonate with the id ...
For some reason, that I am still not quite sure of, I have always felt rather offended when someone called me a hippie or compared me to hippies. I recently realized that I have been in denial and have taken the first step in learning to move out of this way of life--admitting that I am, in truth, a ...
