PowerSwitch

I just received this via facebook. It is a petition to try to stop Nestle from patenting a natural remedy that has been used for centuries (the Fennel Flower).

http://action.sumofus.org/a/nestle-nige ... /2/?sub=fb

Now...this is scandalous enough, but what I found next is even more extra-ordinary. Nestle have responded to this on their own website:

http://www.nestle.com/aboutus/ask-nestl ... lla-sativa

Nestlé is not trying to patent the fennel flower.

We made patent applications for a compound that can be extracted from Nigella sativa (also known as fennel flower, black seed and black cumin) or from other plants, to help treat or prevent food allergies.

The patent, which has not yet been approved, would not prevent the use of the fennel flower plant for any other purposes, including in traditional and natural remedies.

So, erm, they aren't trying to patent the fennel flower. As in they aren't trying to patent the flower itself. Well, doh! Why would Nestle try to patent an actual flower? What matters is the active ingredient it contains.

The real evil lies in the next bit.

"The patent, which has not yet been approved, would not prevent the use of the fennel flower plant for any other purposes, including in traditional and natural remedies. "

Which means, of course, that it would prevent the use of the fennel flower for helping to treat or prevent food allergies. In other words, they really are trying to patent a natural remedy and prevent people from using it.

This has finally convinced me to stop buying their products altogether.

Please share.

This has finally convinced me to stop buying their products altogether.

Beat you to it, haven't bought anything from nestle since uni- over twenty years now.

You are right though, this is a new low.....even for them.

Trouble is, as these mega-food corporations take over more and more brands, then boycotting them becomes more and more inconvenient and it is often hard to remember which brand you have in your sights at any one time. Our local shop only sells Nestle branded breakfast cereals, and getting the kids to eat anything for breakfast is hard enough as it is...

Even more depressing, when I was in India 15 years ago, it was like going into a 1970s timewarp with the blatant advertising by Nestle, and it's total domination in a naive and trusting market, people were proud to be able to serve Nestle processed pap.

We've not found it hard to do the nestle boycott, you quickly get sussed with what to avoid and we don't buy much processed stuff anyway. Child-wise, we found it easiest to explain why we don't like to buy a particular product and say when they're older they can choose to if they want (they looked into it themselves and also boycott nestle now).

Some people say it doesn't make any difference to nestle and I'm sure there's a lot of truth in that, but I do it for me, I would hate to give them my hard earned pennies.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/article ... _28646.cfm

http://otpglobal.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/3968/

emordnilap wrote: http://otpglobal.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/3968/

Jesus.

The NCT, Britain's largest parent support charity, has supported a boycott of nestle since the 1970's, on account of their aggressive promotion of baby formula milk, contrary to WHO guidelines.

http://www.nct.org.uk/get-involved/camp ... -formula-1

Not knowingly bought a Nestle product for many years.

You can patent naturally occurring compounds? F--k me.

Special processes to extract I can understand but not the compound itself. As bad as software patents.

cubes wrote:You can patent naturally occurring compounds?

You can try, apparently.

We are seeing a slow but steady move to commodify and patent the very building blocks of life itself. The final enslavement.

These organizations are evil and must be stopped. By any means necessary,

emordnilap wrote:
http://otpglobal.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/3968/

Peter Brabeck's a ruddy nutter. He should visit planet Earth if he has some spare time.

Geez, - 9.00 am - "this video does not exist".............

1. Choose not to buy nestle
2. Tell nestle what you are doing
3. Tell other people what you are doing and why, especially people who do buy nestle
4. Contact FoE and Greenpeace to see if this is included in any of their current campaigns/suggest they do include this in a campaign

old dog.....