Dutch biotech firms are worried about government plans to limit patent rights on plant breeding, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday.

The paper says the firms are concerned they will lose their investments if farm minister Sharon Dijksma succeeds in her wish to break open current EU patent legislation to favour smaller plant breeders. The plan has wide backing in parliament, the paper says.

‘Fiddling around with patent law will lead to enormous legal uncertainties for hundreds of Dutch biotechfirms, whether they are working to develop biofuels, medicines or gene therapies,’ says Annemiek Verkamman, director of Hollandbio.

‘We want to prevent everyone being able to take over our inventions without contributing to the cost of the research,’ Syngenta spokesman Toon Musschoot told the paper.

EU directives

Dijksma said last month she wanted to re-open European directives on patents when the Netherlands takes over the presidency of the EU next year. In particular, she wants to allow growers to further develop new vegetable breeds without having to pay the companies which own the original patents.

The current situation, she says, threatens to lead to a concentration of power with ‘a few multinationals’ and allow them to dominate the world food markets.