Ao princípio parece ridículo, mais uma paranóia de ambientalistas. Depois ficamos a ver ao que pode chegar o capitalismo desenfreado.

Embora um pouco inflamado, o documentário aponta o âmago da questão. Da última edição da Nature Biotechnology (bolds meus):

Germany, home to the biggest swine population in Europe, is up in arms over a patent covering a marker-assisted test to breed meatier pigs. The patent covers a screening method to identify a polymorphism in the leptin receptor gene, useful for selecting animals for stockbreeding. The patent, originally filed with the EPO by Monsanto, was granted last July to Newsham Choice Genetics, the West Des Moines, Iowa-based company that in 2007 acquired Monsanto’s porcine genetics subsidiary. The gene sequences and the test kit itself, although originally included in the application, were not part of the patent granted by the European Patent Office (EPO). Several notices of opposition have been filed, mainly from nongovernmental organizations and individuals, not by competing companies. On April 15–the day before the deadline for objections–activists and farmers demonstrated outside the EPO’s Munich office, protesting about paying royalties to a US firm. “This seems like a complaint from the 18th century,” says Larry Schook, co-chairman of the Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium, which will be completing its sequencing effort by August. According to Schook, breeding companies often sell germplasm with dubious genetic merit at a premium. Marker-assisted tests will offer an actual genetic benefit rather than a proposed one. Gordon Wright, from the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys in London, speculates the company “will be aiming to enforce the patent against commercial [kit] suppliers rather than breeders.”
Nature Biotechnology 27, 496 (2009) [link]