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Monsanto obtains a patent for its "terminator seed."

1998

The Story of The Patenting of Life
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Terminator seeds are genetically engineered seeds that stop the plant's growth process so that second generation seeds cannot mature. This means that farmers have to continually buy new seeds each year, rather than save their seeds for future plantings.

Terminator seeds have a high hybridity rate. They often cross with other plants nearby and prevent them from generating viable seeds for second generation planting. This will wreak havoc amongst farm crops globally, and will have a grave impact on the small farms economy because of the increased cost to buy new seeds.