If the companies did not have the ability to patent their genetically engineered seeds, it would be much harder for them to get an economic stranglehold on farmers and consumers. The ability to patent living organisms was only recently created by a 1980 Supreme Court decision. Until that time, living organisms were not considered patentable. Many people still do not believe that they should be patentable. When a sunflower is genetically engineered, only a minute amount of foreign material is added to it.
Food is just too important to every human being.
Our Supreme Court shouldn't be handing over monopoly control of our food supply to transnational agrochemical corporations. They can also get involved in the fight for our right to know how our food is produced, and our right to choose whether or not we want to eat genetically engineered food. She is a member of the Labor Party's Science and Technology Committee.