EP Rejection of Life Patents Welcome

[The.Greenbase@gb.greenpeace.org]

>> GREENPEACE WELCOMES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S DECISION 

 
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                    GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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>> GREENPEACE WELCOMES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S DECISION 
   TO REJECT PATENTS ON LIFE
 
BRUSSELS, March 1, 1995 (GP) Today's decision by the European
Parliament to reject proposed EU-wide legislation on patents on
life forms is a decisive step to uphold morality and to defend
nature, says Greenpeace. 
 
"Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who voted
against the EU-wide legislation have acted responsibly in
preventing the genetic engineering industry to gain monopoly
control over human genes and animals and plants, through the use
of patents(1)," said Greenpeace's EU Advisor, Louise Gale.    
For the first time in its history, the European Parliament has
used its new powers to reject once and for all proposed
legislation which could have had serious ethical,
environmental and development implications. The European
Parliament's decision to reject patents on life will mean that
any decision of the EU Council of Ministers on 6th March will be
irrelevant.
 
Greenpeace's International Genetic Engineering Coordinator,
Isabelle Meister said, "The European Parliament has
demonstrated that the issue of patents on life is so important
that they have taken control of the situation in order to
protect the interests of human kind and nature".
 
Yesterday Greenpeace hang a banner on one of the European
Parliament bridges reading "REJECT PATENTS ON LIFE!" and
distributed leaflets before being ordered away and arrested by
police.
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Contact:
Louise Gale/Isabelle Meister, Greenpeace European Unit:
Brussels - ++ 32 2 280 1400 or ++ 41 89 400 88 31
*Footage and photos of yesterday's protest available through
Greenpeace Communications: ++4471-833-0600.
 
Footnote:
(1) European Commission's proposal for a Council directive on the
legal protection of biotechnological inventions. This
proposal, published in 1988, has caused considerable
controversy in the European Parliament and amongst the Member
States for over seven years.