In this article we will discuss about the definition of terminator technology.
Terminator technology has attracted strong public attention when patent (US patent No. 5,723,765) was issued to Delta and Pine land co. (Mississippi, USA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This new technology designed to preclude unauthorised seed saving by farmers.
In other words, terminator genes prevent crops from producing fertile seeds because seed will not germinate if re-planted a second time which means that farmers growing them would have to buy new seeds each year instead of saving harvested seeds to plant for next year’s crop.
Terminator technology is the biggest and most controversial subject contributed by US based companies. According to Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), this technology was dubbed as terminator or traitor technology. If technology is commercially viable, it could have far-reaching implications for farmers, commercial seed industry, socio economic and environmental implications.
The real consequence of this technology cannot be appreciated without an understanding of the science behind this scientic endeavour. Thanks to civil society organizations, farmers, scientist and governmental authorities all over the world who have waged effective anti-terminator campaign for several months. The US based Monsanto (pine land was the then sold to Monsanto) surrender suicide seeds armed with terminator gene but continue to work on other Traitor technology.
There are several major crops which usually are not grown from hybrid seeds. These include wheat, rice, soybeans, and cotton. Collection and saving of seeds normally done from these plants by farmers and may not go back to the seed company for several years to purchase a new variety.
Therefore, it would be a big economic boon to a seed company. If people, who now grow non-hybrid crops would have to buy new seed every year. This is one of the probable reasons for developing terminator technology. Generally this technology can be effectively implicated for non-hybrid crops, for example, cotton is not often sold as hybrid seed, and is thus a likely candidate for Terminator protection.
On the contrary, corn is planted as a hybrid, and thus it has some variety protection. The terminator technology cannot be implicated to hybrids because the first generation of a hybrid is genetically uniform, and when these hybrids make seeds, the second generation is extensively variable because of the shuffling of genes that occur during sexual reproduction.