The mega event, the 2nd International Rice Congress-2006 (IRC) concluded in Delhi last week with a determination to boost rice production for food and nutritional security, trade and elevating millions of the world's poor.
The scientists gathered at the conclave earmarked areas of activities like development of seeds resistant to submergence, drought and salinity through genetic enhancement, molecular breeding and transgenics. Quality seed production and storage, nutrient use efficiency, combating global climate change, conservation agriculture and restoring soil health, creating markets for rice, development and popularisation of aromatic and medicinal rice, financial and economic profitability, processing and value addition, deployment of ICT in agriculture and private-public partnership were also discussed. Farm ministers of nine Asian countries-China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, The Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam -signed an accord for multi-lateral cooperation.

The efforts to ensure food and nutritional security in rice are laudable. But rice scientists are likely to face major hurdle in moving towards their goal. Swiss biotech giant Syngenta has tightened its monopoly control over rice by seeking global patent rights over thousands of gene sequences. The rice DNA contains 37,544 genes, roughly one-fourth more than the genes in a human body. With the multinational all set to "own" the world's most important staple crop, there may be serious implications for future research.

Syngenta has filed for its rights before the European Patent Office, US Patent and Trademark Office and the World Intellectual Property Rights Organisation. Syngenta's claims are also aimed at other important food crops like wheat, corn, sorghum, rye, banana, soyabean, fruits and vegetables, besides others. The company has claimed that most of the gene sequences that it has "invented" are identical in other crops and therefore the patent rights need to be extended to these crops as well.

The scientists at the IRC were happy in reiterating that the gene sequencing and the knowledge of structural genomics have given a wonderful tool for developing new rice types. Little do they know that their task may not be an easy one, once Syngenta is accorded with patent rights.

However, director-general of the International Rice Research Institute Robert S Zeigler was vocal in saying that germplasm and research tools should not be patented, while the final product may be patented. Zeigler needs the support of global IPR experts and scientists to translate his noble intention into action.

The seed multinationals like Monsanto, Bayers and Syngenta have always been using the national research institutes and inter-governmental agencies to further its goals. The public sector national and international global research bodies have begun depending on these multinationals for funds. In the era of "economic liberalisation", most of the governments, particularly in the developing world, are withdrawing their controls and are under fiscal strain. The contribution of both the developed and developing countries to public sector research is on the decline.

A session on commerce within the IRC cautioned that global trade is likely to become complex with the commercialisation of GM rice. There would be problems of certification and labeling as consumers in some countries do not want to eat GM food. Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, while inaugurating the congress, advocated the deployment of biotechnology. He called for balancing of ethical and religious issues and did not speak on the safety aspects relating to health and environment. But a session in the congress did dwell on biosafety issues of GM crops. Zeigler and others clarified that all biotechnological applications may not lead to a GM product-some like marker assisted selection and gene pyramiding may lead to a non-GM product.

There are ample options before scientists to develop improved plant types, without taking help of transgenic technology. GM crops developed so far promise no increase in genetic yield potential and they are mostly claimed to be insect and pest resistant.

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India now holds the 12th position in the world for the number of patents filed.

In 2004, the patent office in India received around 20,000 patent filings, which included resident and non-resident patent applications, according to a report released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Japan and the US saw the highest filing of patent applications, followed by Europe, the Republic of Korea and China. These five offices accounted for 75 per cent of the patents filed in 2004.

In India, there has been a significant increase in the number of patent applications by residents. Such filings increased by 365 per cent between 1995 and 2004, while filings by non-residents increased by 105 per cent.

Interestingly, though Indians filed a large number of patents in India, they filed very few patent applications as non-residents in other countries. India also has a very low rate of resident patent applications vis-a-vis its population, which currently stands at 7 per million inhabitants.

The average number of patent applications per billion dollars of the GDP in India stands at 2.3. In contrast, the Republic of Korea and Japan have figures of 116.2 and 107.3, respectively, per billion dollars of GDP.

Overall, the number of patent applications filed worldwide has almost doubled to 1,599,000 in 2004 from 884,400 in 1985. The average annual rate of increase in patent applications has been 4.75 per cent since 1995. This is in line with the average annual growth of approximately 5.6 per cent in the world's GDP.

"The increase in the number of patent applications is not unexpected, given the general increase in economic activity in the same period," the report added.

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Researchers from India, in collaboration with Kraft Foods, have proposed a simple, cost-effective method of galactomannan esters derivatives that are "useful as functional food ingredients."

Galactomannans, like guar gum, are commercially important for the food industry and are extensively used as stabilizers, thickeners, emulsifiers and gelling agents.
Such news may be welcomed since the cost of nearly all hydrocolloids have increased in the last year due to rocketing energy, raw material and transportation costs, according to hydrocolloid information service IMR's Quarterly Review.

Corresponding author R.N. Tharanathan told FoodNavigator.com"We did this experiment at a lab scale, hence we may not be able to comment on its cost-effectiveness at a pilot scale level. Definitely our method is cost-effective in the sense we are using less expensive food grade chemicals and their removal also seems to be much easier. Also these are ecofriendly."

The new ester derivatives, reported in the journal Food Hydrocolloids (Vol. 20, pp. 1198-1205), were produced by researchers at the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore, and financially supported by Kraft Foods Global Inc.

Lead author of the study, M.R. Savitha Prashanth, reports that by esterifying galactomannans food scientists can create a new class of derivatives that can be used as emulsion stabilizers.

Traditional methods have involved reacting the polysaccharides with the respective acid anhydrides in the presence of basic catalysts such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at high temperatures. However, this method has considerable disadvantages such as degradation of the polysaccharide, only partial reaction, which together produce underisable functional properties.

The researchers have proposed a new method of preparation, and have applied for an Indian patent to protect the method, using anhydrous reaction conditions and relatively low temperature (4060 degrees Celsius). Solid sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO3) was used as the catalyst, being a milder base than NaOH and therefore reducing any pH-induced degradation reactions.

Using this method the Indian researchers were able to prepare acetate, succinate and octenylsuccinate derivatives of galactomannans.

This whole process leads to a "simple, experimental protocol for esterification of hydrocolloid gums, avoiding strong alkali and far excess of water, thus making the entire reaction sequence including drying and final recovery steps very cost effective and economical," said Savitha Prashanth.

More information can be found in Food Hydrocolloids (Vol. 20, pp. 1198-1205), published by Elsevier.

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