Patents with a sting (patent applications of the agrochemical firm AstraZeneca cover many of the developing world's staple crops).

AstraZeneca, a British agrochemical company, has come under scrutiny due to a number of patent applications which could have disastrous consequences for farmers in the Majority World. An ActionAid report points out that the company's patent applications cover more than 90 countries including 30 developing countries and many staple foods such as rice, wheat and maize. Patent applications include: genetically modified systems which `switch on' plant growth when chemicals are applied so that farmers must buy the `chemical switch' along with plant seeds; insecticide-producing plants using toxins from the deadly Australian funnelweb spider, the fat-tailed scorpion, wasps and cone snails; and plants made resistant to multiple herbicides. These new techno-crops may not just be a feature of the North-some observers estimate that by 2002 the majority of genetically modified crops will be in the South. For more information contact: ActionAid, Hamlyn House, Macdonald Road, Archway, London N19 5PG. Tel: [phone]. Fax: [phone].

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