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SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION
behind them had cleared the path to the unfettered spread of GMO seeds worldwide. The doctrine of the WTO was simple: free trade-on terms defined by giant private agribusiness conglomerates-was to reign supreme above sovereign nation states and above the concern for human or animal health and safety. "Free market tiber Alles" was the motto. Having Your Cake and Eating it too Washington argued that only products which had been "substantially transformed" could be labelled in a given country. They then asserted under the Bush 1992 ruling that their genetically modified crops were "substantially equivalent" to ordinary plants, not "substantially transformed;' and hence, needed no label. Yet, US patent law allowed agribusiness companies at the same time to claim exclusive patent rights on their genetically modified organisms or seeds, on the argument that the introduction of a foreign DNA into the genome of a plant such as rice uniquely altered the plant or, one could say, "substantialy transformed" it. The contradictions between the "substantially equivalent" ruling of Washington on GMO products and allowing radical new patents on GM seeds to be deemed "substantially transformed" did not bother many Washington officials. Whatever argument it took to advance the agribusiness gene revolution agenda was fine by them. Niceties of logical consistency weren't high on Washington's list of priorities in promoting their gene revolution . . The legal framework for patenting plants was enshrined in WTO rules protecting Trade Related Intellectu~ Property Rights (TRIPS). Under TRIPS, all member nations of WTO were required to pass laws to protect patents (intellectual property rights) for plants. The patents would block anyone but the patent holder from making, selling or using the "invention." This little-noticed proviso in the new WTO rules opened the floodgates for US and international agribusiness to advance the Rockefeller Foundation genetic engineering strategic agenda.