Between 1970 and 2050, the Millennium Seed Bank predicts that between 10% and 15% of all plants will be lost, if only because of habitat change.

Each species has existed in a miraculous balance during the process of evolution over a tremendous period of time. Then, native species adapted to the local climate were created.

Today, native species are being lost at a rapid rate. In the background, without exaggeration, is the increasing domination of seeds by global corporations.

Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, was not much involved in seeds before 1993. Its main business was the sale of Roundup (a non-selective herbicide that kills all plants). The company was the producer of defoliant (Agent Orange) for the Vietnam War, so it just continued to produce pesticides.

A major turning point came in 1993. Monsanto succeeded in developing a genetically modified soybean that would not die when sprayed with Roundup.

Monsanto patented the soybeans in the U.S., claiming that the genetically modified seeds were intellectual property. Two years later, the WTO (an international organization created primarily to promote free trade. Its permanent secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland) established laws that are nearly identical to those in place in the U.S. for the protection of intellectual property worldwide.

It is technically possible to trace the recombined genes. This has allowed Monsanto to extend its own intellectual property rights worldwide for seeds containing its patented genes.

This is where corporate control of seeds began.

( to be continued )