GMOs transformed how patents are used and applied to plants, including many food crops.
A patent is a right held by an inventor that gives them exclusive commercial rights to produce and use a new technology. Before GMOs, sexually reproducing plants (including many food crops) were not eligible for patents because they were considered products of nature. However, a series of patent applications for GMOs opened the door to living organisms as products of human ingenuity.65,66,67 Under this argument, restrictive "utility" patents were awarded to GMOs. Over time, the legal framing expanded to include some non-GMO plants.
Patent law is complex and costly, which provides a distinct advantage to large corporations. Utility patents on seeds helped to consolidate power in the hands of big business.68 Independent breeders have been targeted and intimidated by patent holders who use corporate resources to fund costly legal challenges.69,70 Large companies buy or force out smaller ones.71 Today, more than half of the world's seeds are controlled by just four multinational corporations.72
Corporate control shapes the diversity and specific traits of our food crops. Corporations prioritize traits that increase profits, such as yield, uniformity or herbicide resistance, while other traits, such as taste, nutritional profile and resilience, are less attractive.73 Patented seeds are unavailable to other breeders or researchers, curtailing the development of new plant varieties.74
Consolidation in the seed industry has accompanied a startling decline in crop diversity. In the last century, more than 90% of crop varieties have been lost, contributing to an increasingly vulnerable food system at risk from extreme weather, pests and supply chain interruptions.75
As GMOs made from new genomic techniques enter the market, we face a new era of privatization in which a single company can patent and control the genetic formula and fermentation process used to create synthetic milk, protein or honey.76