Introduction

Whenever the impact of intellectual property rights, especially patents, on modern societies, be it developed or developing, is discussed, two topics dominate the debate: health and medicines, and the fact that the adoption of the International Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in 1994, will, eventually, oblige all World Trade Organization (WTO) Members to provide for patent protection for pharmaceuticals. Surprisingly, an equally important aspect of health, namely nutrition and food, and the TRIPS general obligation to patent food products, which before TRIPS in many countries had shared the fate of pharmaceuticals, i.e. had not been eligible for patent protection, is not even touched upon. This is the more surprising in view of the changes, which modern biotechnology brought into the food production chain, starting with improvements of the raw materials and microorganisms used in food processing and ending with new possibilities for designer products with benefits for the consumer, the farmer and the environment. This essay will address the impact which genomics is having on life-science-based industries, explain the specifics of the food production chain and the techniques involved, and analyze the perspectives, potentially resulting from these new technologies and the legal environment established under the TRIPS umbrella.