Monsanto plans to patent genetically modified marijuana

Direct from Monsanto's own website link
Monsanto

Prior to Sept. 1, 1997, a corporation that was then known as Monsanto Company (Former Monsanto) operated an agricultural products business (the Ag Business), a pharmaceuticals and nutrition business (the Pharmaceuticals Business) and a chemical products business (the Chemicals Business). Former Monsanto is today known as Pharmacia. Pharmacia is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., which together with its subsidiaries operates the Pharmaceuticals Business. Today’s Monsanto includes the operations, assets and liabilities that were previously the Ag Business. Today’s Solutia comprises the operations, assets and liabilities that were previously the Chemicals Business. The following table sets forth a chronology of events that resulted in the formation of Monsanto, Pharmacia and Solutia as three separate and distinct corporations, and it provides a brief background on the relationships among these corporations.

This shows that Pfizer is now the Parent company of Monsanto's former pharmaceutical division.


This article below claims Pfizer's interest and involvement in the industry has been growing since at least 2001.

Link
Large pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis are demonstrating increasing interest in the therapeutic use of cannabinoids and their derivatives, according to a report of the Wall Street Journal on 28 February 2001. Other firms are already conducting research, such as the researchers at the Bayer AG who found that cannabinoid CB(1) receptors were upregulated in a rat model of chronic neuropathic pain (Siegling et al. 2001).

Today, the only available cannabinoids are THC (dronabinol, Marinol) and the dronabinol derivative nabilone. Individual scientists, academic labs and small drug firms are currently the main promoters of pharmaceutical research, because large drug companies have traditionally been reserved with regard to the cost and the political problems associated with marketing marijuana as medicine.

This situation appears to be changing. “We see them -- Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis -- all the time at the meetings of the society now," says Roger Pertwee, professor at the University of Aberdeen in the U.K. and secretary of the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS). "They never came in the past."

Dow chemical, Bayer crop Science, Novartis, Syngenta and Monsato (now a subsidiary of Pfizer) are 5 of the biggest companies in the GMO business today.

originally posted by: MALBOSIA

originally posted by: Margana

originally posted by: MALBOSIA

originally posted by: ImpossibilityOfReason
So then the only option of getting unmodified marijuana would be mainly drug cartels... possibly the motive?

Yup. Sounds like Monsanto is actually going to end up HELPING the illegal pot trade. With their marketing and bank roll most of the "legal use" marijuana is going to be consolidated through them and their extremely efficient research, production and marketing. But the problem is they do not understand their market, at least not the portion that prides it's ability on judging a quality crop aka. The Chronosaur.

US and Canadian marijuana markets are very different. Very different demand either/or. So is the industry itself. Despite what is written in the papers, very little of Canada's cash crop is controlled by organized crime. It has always been a ma and pa, as well as a mortgage helper industry in Canada.

I for one hope that Monsanto floods the market with cheap and impotent marijuana because I think it will revitalize the black market, where the money - I'm sorry to say - actually gets spent in the communities unlike Monsanto who sits on the cash. Like I said though, Canada and the US are very different. Our top organized crime syndicate is the Hells Angels who are still for all intents and purposes a legal club with legal membership and still a member of our communities.

Why the heck do you want to support the black market? There is nothing good about it. It should be made legal & taxed so that money goes towards things like schooling, hospitals & road maintenance. Things more important then buying expensive clothes, houses & cars.

If they do franken' it up then it'll be just as damaging for our bodies as the rest of the foods they franken' & not the healthy natural properties it has. Its supposed to be used as a medicine, not to cause cancers & then other medicines needed to treat the newly formed cancer.

It was going to roads, schools and such because it was CASH spent In the local economies and used to hire people that paid taxes. Giving the gross earnings of the marijuana market to the feds??? Might as well just piss it out the window.

British Columbia gets a Billion+ dollar CASH injection every year from the illegal marijuana trade. What are we going to get when big pharm and walmart take over? Part time jobs and no benefits? Pardon the pun.

As someone who lives in B.C, I am well aware of the statistic. Without the artificially high prices caused by prohibition, cannabis could be 90% cheaper than it is now, including taxes.

Not counting medicinal weed sales, Colorado sold nearly $19 million in their recreational weed market in the month of March, and $1.9 million of that goes straight into government coffers and towards building schools. At this pace, according to PolicyMic, Colorado will make $30 million this year in pot taxes alone.

Colorado cannabis taxes going to schools

Heed believes putting the drug under the control of government will destroy the profit margins that attract criminal elements.

"Sixty per cent of all illicit profits goes to organized crime. We are not even getting the benefit of taxation out of this particular industry here in Canada."

He says following a model similar to what has been done in Uruguay, charging $1 per gram of marijuana, could make profits from the illegal trade so low that it would drive out organized crime elements.

Kash Heed, fromer BC solicitor general, talks about legalization

Either way, it should not be in the hands of cartels & Monsanto.

a reply to: MagicWand67

I think they want to develop a strain of cannabis that is high in CBD content and then patent it.

This would be hybridization, not genetic modification. And, while hybrids can be and are patented, so what? There would be nothing stopping anyone else from developing their own such hybrid (and patenting it).

I...um...know...knew...um...sort of...some guys who did some amazing things with indica and sativa crosses. But actually, I don't know anything about it. Just some guys I know...knew.

I have been contemplating getting into this type of research but don't know where to look for a job or project, etc. It isn't even legal for medical use where I live so I doubt I will find anything around here, lol.

There is SO much still to learn about this plant. It it is still listed as a Schedule I drug which makes it difficult for companies, universities and other research centers to work with.

Wonder how Monsanto is getting around that?

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: MagicWand67

I think they want to develop a strain of cannabis that is high in CBD content and then patent it.

This would be hybridization, not genetic modification. And, while hybrids can be and are patented, so what? There would be nothing stopping anyone else from developing their own such hybrid (and patenting it).

I...um...know...knew...um...sort of...some guys who did some amazing things with indica and sativa crosses. But actually, I don't know anything about it.

I believe there are a couple of guys in Colorado that developed a strain called Charlotte's Web that is high CBD and low THC. They developed it for a little girl who was suffering from a terrible seizure disorder. She is doing remarkably well on it, too.

Charlotte Figi CNN Article

It appears that the technology for developing new strains of GMO cannabis are still new and in the research phase. The current political atmosphere in the USA regarding this research is apparently not very receptive.

Thus, the need for these large pharmaceutical companies to invest and conduct their research abroad. Two of the largest GMO seed companies Syngenta and Monsanto are heavily invested in RNA interference technology.

If it weren't for the growing evidence that GM and RNAi crops may be damaging to humans, it's possible to imagine a host of potential benefits to genetically modifying the cannabis plant. Larger, more potent, and pest-resistent grow shows are an attractive proposition, but are they worth the many risks?

RNAi technology is still in its elementary development stage and they're currently testing methods by which to administer it. A spray that contains this double-stranded RNAi technology, is thought to be the most marketable, but in Spain, injecting RNAi directly into the seed has been the focus of their extensive research. Another step before making it to the market is the question of how to regulate it for food-safety and health risks.

Developers of RNAi technology estimate that it could take 5 to 10 years to bring the technology up to code, so there is still time to help support and empower organic growers and non-GM cultivators.

Canada will soon employ a new commercial medical marijuana production system, where large-scale producers will be permitted to grow cannabis and distribute it through the mail. If you have a licence to purchase cannabis for medicinal use in Canada, tell Health Canada to you will not accept a product that has been interfered with using GM or RNAi technology.

In the United States, it could be a long while before the federal government allows any kind of research and development into GM cannabis, let alone any kind of sales or distribution for medical or recreational purposes, but things are moving quickly at the state level.

The biggest concern with cannabis and GM control now remains. While they gain a monopoly over medical marijuana, the challenge of governments who continue to wage the ostensible "War on Drugs" is being taken on by some of the Big 6.

Monsanto and Syngenta are currently investing millions of dollars into a new GM technology called RNA interference.
RNAi, as it's also known, is a method where the RNA - which is the code from a plant or animal's DNA that tells its proteins how to organize in order to create, say, what colour the plant will be - is interfered with.

In RNAi, double-stranded RNA is inserted so that this original code is obstructed; so that the pigmentation instructions don't make it to the proteins.

a reply to: lovebeck
I saw that on TV.

The guys I'm talking about had something else in mind. And it worked.

So I hear.

a reply to: Phage

I'm not sure if its the exact same thing as what the article and everyone on this thread is going on about but I know flowers from your nursery are patented or copyright or whatever. It's illegal to take your own cutting of some plants you buy from the nursery and resell them if they are a patented cultivar. Take a look at the little plastic tags on the containers or in the soil.

Someone else can still breed their own cultivar of flowers and copyright or patent them and compete fairly I guess.

Personally I don't think most users of the plant will go for GMO versions of it and will shun it. The question is if the govt decides to pass laws saying the only plant that is safe for public use is the ones that happen to be patented and under the control of groups like monsanto and their agendas. I can see that being a issue and a problem. And I wouldn't put it past the short sighted bozos in the govt.

"Monsanto plans to patent genetically modified marijuana."

Of course they do. But Pfizer may have already beaten them to it. Game on.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

The question is if the govt decides to pass laws saying the only plant that is safe for public use is the ones that happen to be patented and under the control of groups like monsanto and their agendas.

Unlikely.
For the FDA to make such an allowance it would have to specify levels of various cannibinoids rather than a particular strain of weed.

Being able to "patent" any living thing is assbackwards and all kinds of immoral

a reply to: Phage

I'm sure the succeeded in their objective.

a reply to: TKDRL

a reply to: Phage

Ya this is where I am at too, farmers have been cross breading and making different %'s for YEARS....
Walk into any collective and the proof will be right in your face, well as long as they advertise what there MJ contains

a reply to: Phage

Bahaha OT, but what movie/tv show is that?

a reply to: Phage

I was going more for the regulations argument. Where they would say something like. Only strains with high cbd/cbn content and low thc content is considered madicinal therefore all other strains except certain ones that make our list are nos illegal. Then they will go, the only farms that will be allowed to grow this plant legally are farms that grow strains on our little list. And it just so happens that the only strains on our little list that are considered medicine are owned and patented by these companies we are all on the board of. some angle like that.

heck the govt already will pull your farm subsidies if you don't go along with them and grow certain crops. Sometimes ones that must be GMO, otherwise they argue that you dont yield enough to qualify the land your growing on for subsidies.

a reply to: Phage

There would be nothing stopping anyone else from developing their own such hybrid (and patenting it).

Indeed, that is true.

Fed's patented medical Marijuana

University of Central Florida patent pending

a reply to: Margana

I highly doubt that the 60% organized crime is realistic. it is a rigged stat given by those that profit from budgets to fight organized crime. What they classify as organized crime is also a little skewed. Brokers buy the product off of ma and pa, bundle it and ship it over the boarder or out east. So ok. Organized crime may end up with the product for mass distribution if marijuana brokers are considered organized criminals. In reality they are merely middling between otherwise law abiding citizens that spend the money they got from the broker on products and services in the community and independent dealers who also spend he money on products and services. What LE considers organized to justify their budget is actually grass root organized that involves different faucets. Vancouver is Independent as far as distribution. Importers of coc aine and heroin have slugged it out on the streets over BS fueds but there is no turf here. It is all independent. Who ever told you organized crime controls the drug trade lied to you and who ever claims control over a turf can come talk to me.

a reply to: MagicWand67
The second one is, indeed, genetic modification rather than hybridization.
However, it is not specifically about cannabis and it is not about cannabinoids. It's about a GM method.

Thus, the invention has use over a broad range of plants, including, but not limited to, species from the genera Asparagus, Avena, Brassica, Citrus, Citrullus, Capsicum, Cucurbita, Daucus, Glycine, Hordeum, Lactuca, Lycopersicon, Malus, Manilot, Nicotiana, Oryza, Persea, Pisum, Pyrus, Prunus, Raphanus, Secale, Solarium, Sorghum, Triticum, Vitis, Vigna, and Zea. Also, crops such as Cannabis sativa, Papaver somniferum or Erythorxylum coca may be transformed to increase biomass or trichome production.

Source

originally posted by: lovebeck

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: MagicWand67

I think they want to develop a strain of cannabis that is high in CBD content and then patent it.

This would be hybridization, not genetic modification. And, while hybrids can be and are patented, so what? There would be nothing stopping anyone else from developing their own such hybrid (and patenting it).

I...um...know...knew...um...sort of...some guys who did some amazing things with indica and sativa crosses. But actually, I don't know anything about it.

I believe there are a couple of guys in Colorado that developed a strain called Charlotte's Web that is high CBD and low THC. They developed it for a little girl who was suffering from a terrible seizure disorder. She is doing remarkably well on it, too.

Charlotte Figi CNN Article

Charlotte's web is amazing! Here is an video of a documentary that is up & coming called "Weed the People" Weed The People, how cannabis can save cancer-srticken kids
Ricki Lake, the filmmaker, talks about why she wanted to do the documentary in an article on the same page as the video.

Around this same time, my husband was searching for alternative therapies to help his beloved grandfather fight bone cancer. He began researching cannabidiol (CBD), a powerful anti-oxidant and neuroprotectant found in the marijuana plant that is thought to have cancer-killing properties.

The universe works in mysterious ways, and one night I stumbled across a news report about a "miracle baby" whose inoperable brain tumor had been cured by cannabis oils. Within minutes of reading the story I decided to track down the cannabis physician who treated the baby in the hopes that these CBD oils would help my young friend. A week later I arrived at his office in Mendocino with my husband, Christian, and my producing partner, Abby Epstein.

CBD has long been overshadowed by its euphoric counterpart, THC. This is likely because CBD does not get you high and actually balances out the psychotropic effects of THC. Most people have no idea that we have cannabinoid receptors throughout our body and that our bodies make cannabinoids.

I don't think corporations should have anything to do with cannabis....well lots of stuff.
If Monsanto does go ahead with this, I think it could be very bad