You can vote as often as you want in the poll and change your vote afterwards.
I recently stumbled across this company on Krautinvest.de:
https://puregene.pureholding.ch/
I don't quite know what to think of it. What do you say? A small excerpt of their field of activity
"With the permission of the Swiss Health Authority (BAG), over 1,500 cannabis "strains" (more on that later) from all over the world were imported, cultivated, sequenced and analyzed here. According to the company, this resulted in over 6,000 unique cannabis genotypes from 25,000 individual plants by 2021; thus the project became the world's largest data acquisition for variety evaluation and character determination. According to the Puregene Field Day 2021 Handbook, “A lot of what is wrong in the cannabis industry is due to the lack of regulation of strain standards and strain denominations.”
My question: Where do the over 6,000 unique cannabis genotypes from 25,000 individual plants come from?
Further:
"Because of the Prohibition, the development of different cannabis varieties ("strains") was in the hands of "hobby breeders" for a long time and was therefore far removed from any regulatory control. Unfortunately, this has created a situation where different seeds and seedlings with the same Variety denomination on the label does not necessarily grow plants with the proclaimed characteristics of that variety. The breeds simply have not been sufficiently stabilized over several generations before being touted as a "new strain" under a new coined name. You can find out more about cannabis genetics and strain stabilization at Sensiseeds, for example. "
So everyone except SensiSeeds are "hobby breeders"? My question: Where do the over 6,000 unique cannabis genotypes from 25,000 individual plants come from?
Further:
"To be clear, 'strain' is the slang term for a group of cannabis plants that (possibly) come from the same or a similar breeding line. Scientifically, in the field of microbiology, the term strain is used to describe a taxonomic grouping of bacteria , fungi and viruses, but never in botany."
Correct, but obvious in this case. First of all, to mark the old "hobby breeders" (see below) as stupid who can not even distinguish such simple things.
"Through targeted selection for certain combinations of characteristics and their crossing, tailor-made, needs-oriented cannabis varieties can be developed in the future - and without any genetic manipulation of the genetic material (GMO). Whereas for THC-containing cannabis the criterion for selection in the past was solely the smell / taste or the best "high", important agronomic properties were simply neglected in the development of the variety. "
Wow, what for a lie that agronomic properties were simply neglected from everyone in the development!
Intellectual Property: Who Owns the genes?
Many great strains grown indoors, where they are often heavily fertilized and protected from disease with pesticides, simply don't work under organic conditions outdoors. Cannabis could be grown out in the field eco-friendly almost anywhere with no lights, irrigation and air conditioning, but to do that you first need to develop the right strains for organic outdoor cultivation per region – as has been done with all other agricultural crops and will. " Aha, let's continue with insinuations! What did the breeders specialized in outdoor actually do all the decades before Puregene? Nothing? Further: "It is common practice that certain variety testing matrices exist for (registered) crop plants, which have yet to be developed for cannabis. Such matrices contain specifications, e.g. with regard to the value for cultivation and use, agronomic characteristics such as disease resistance and distinguishing characteristics, homogeneity and consistency over the generations, as well as shape/growth and the chemical composition of a variety."
Yes, just like all breeders work, always and since forever. Just without having had the opportunity to protect their work in any way. In the prohibition decades nobody could protect their work and "sharing is caring" was common practice and always the best way to make a good phenotype available to other people in order to secure the genetics. Sharing genetics has always been part of the exchange among well-known breeders and enthusiasts! And now comes how Puregene wants to make money off the back of the people who developed and/or preserved the genetics during the Prohibition decades.
“These variety testing protocols for registered varieties are designed to protect growers and consumers from fraudulent wannabe strains (“strains”?!). For the same reason, seed quality control agencies, such as the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), also exist. For flowering cannabis, Europe established standards at the Naktuinbouw (Dutch Horticultural Inspection Service). If you buy Granny Smith, you get Granny Smith. The comparison of the analysis certificates of different medicinal cannabis batches, which have one and the same variety name but come from different countries of origin, proves: This is not (yet) the case with cannabis. According to Dr. Ruckle (CSO Puregene) currently proposes to determine the authenticity of a strain based on its genetic fingerprint. Even if one generally rejects the patenting of living beings: Anyone who does the work and invests the time and money in a clean and reproducible variety development should also have the opportunity to have the fruits of their labor protected accordingly. "
The question of patent law and cannabis variety development is somewhere at the interface between cannabis regulation, variety regulation and patent regulation, but there is not only a lack of clearly defined guidelines, but also decades of research and development that legal states such as the USA are ahead of illegal breeders in Europe . And if we're not careful, there's a trend edging into what we've already seen with regular seeds. I'm just saying Monsanto. Then it's over with "sharing is caring" in the cannabis sector, as in every sector that has been swallowed up by total commercialization. Once this clientele has figured out how they and their lawyers are legally forcing us out of business, there will be no sense of community in the scene.
Who can you trust when something like this happens? Who else can you pass genetics to without getting sued for royalties or whatever? Something like that is killed with it!
Does anyone other than these corporations and their shareholders want that, and if not, what can we do about it?
Or do I only see ghosts and the danger is not real? Do you, like me, see the danger that as a breeder you will have more trouble than benefit in the future because of the Puregene gene database? With their database, how are you supposed to create independent genetics without paying royalties to them?
Something a la Monsanto is brewing in the cannabis breeder space quietly asking us to pay for every seed sold in the future because there are genes from their database in there, or am I misunderstanding this? And if not, they make at least some of the registration costs when trying to register a variety. I write very clearly "attempted" because at some point it will become impossible to avoid the database, since almost everything is hybridized and the genes are just very distributed. From how many existing identical gene segments is it a patent infringement? As a breeder, how can you still register something there without immediately running the risk of conflicting with their gene database?
Has anyone here at Icmag had experience with Puregene and left genetics to them? Or do their genetics (over 6,000 unique cannabis genotypes from 25,000 individual plants) possibly come from confiscations by the authorities? Please share your experiences and opinions.
Closing word:
I'm sure not the only one who would hate to see the same thing happen to the cannabis sector, e.g. like the US corn sector with Monsanto. Monsanto hold all patents on GMO corn seeds and control the entire market of production and distribution. They used their money and lobbyists to influence legislation and took over the entire market. Meanwhile, Monsanto is in the process of doing the same with the cannabis market, massively buying companies and opening subsidiaries in the cannabis sector.
Hawthorne Gardening is one of those subsidiaries that was created to break into the entire US hydroponics and indoor cannabis cultivation sector without bearing the Monsanto logo. So different name but still Monsanto. And now Hawthorne Gardening is in the process of buying up all the high profile companies in the C. sector. It's really creepy. Take a look for yourself at how many companies they already own:
https://www.hawthorne-gardening.com/about/brands/
They just buy everything!
In 2021 they invested $150,000,000$ in Riv Capital (Cannabis Investments & acquisition) whose sole purpose is to acquire all successful companies. In 2022, HTG bought Canada's first dedicated cannabis research facility in British Columbia for C$16,000,000 and has already acquired a very strong presence, if not dominance, in the C sector. Of course, this puts too much pressure on small independent companies that do not have the massive amount of money available to protect their developments and patents. Everything is patented right under their noses and ends up being owned by Monsanto!
If this is not regulated as soon as possible, these big companies will buy our future from under our noses and monopolize the market. Then it is even more difficult if not impossible for small companies to gain a foothold in this sector and of course it also comes at the expense of the quality of the cannabis products.
You just have to think about all the crap these companies have screwed up, and that will of course continue in the C. sector without regulation.
One of Monsanto's concerns is genetically modified Cannabis, which they intend to patent and which is bound to provide outdoor cross-pollination. This will then lead to the unwanted spread of their GMO dirt and ruin the jobs of many small growers.
Monsanto has always put profit ahead of quality and safety, as we know. For example, they used lobbyists to ensure that really bad pesticides were allowed and why should this change in the C. sector, when everything is made possible with all their money.
And Monsanto makes farmers dependent. Patenting of seeds is eroding small-scale agriculture around the world. A farmer who is no longer allowed to retain what he needs for the new sowing from his harvest is no longer a farmer but a serf. And after just one generation, all farming knowledge imparted through experience is lost.
Cheers, tea
I recently stumbled across this company on Krautinvest.de:
https://puregene.pureholding.ch/
I don't quite know what to think of it. What do you say? A small excerpt of their field of activity
"With the permission of the Swiss Health Authority (BAG), over 1,500 cannabis "strains" (more on that later) from all over the world were imported, cultivated, sequenced and analyzed here. According to the company, this resulted in over 6,000 unique cannabis genotypes from 25,000 individual plants by 2021; thus the project became the world's largest data acquisition for variety evaluation and character determination. According to the Puregene Field Day 2021 Handbook, “A lot of what is wrong in the cannabis industry is due to the lack of regulation of strain standards and strain denominations.”
My question: Where do the over 6,000 unique cannabis genotypes from 25,000 individual plants come from?
Further:
"Because of the Prohibition, the development of different cannabis varieties ("strains") was in the hands of "hobby breeders" for a long time and was therefore far removed from any regulatory control. Unfortunately, this has created a situation where different seeds and seedlings with the same Variety denomination on the label does not necessarily grow plants with the proclaimed characteristics of that variety. The breeds simply have not been sufficiently stabilized over several generations before being touted as a "new strain" under a new coined name. You can find out more about cannabis genetics and strain stabilization at Sensiseeds, for example. "
So everyone except SensiSeeds are "hobby breeders"? My question: Where do the over 6,000 unique cannabis genotypes from 25,000 individual plants come from?
Further:
"To be clear, 'strain' is the slang term for a group of cannabis plants that (possibly) come from the same or a similar breeding line. Scientifically, in the field of microbiology, the term strain is used to describe a taxonomic grouping of bacteria , fungi and viruses, but never in botany."
Correct, but obvious in this case. First of all, to mark the old "hobby breeders" (see below) as stupid who can not even distinguish such simple things.
"Through targeted selection for certain combinations of characteristics and their crossing, tailor-made, needs-oriented cannabis varieties can be developed in the future - and without any genetic manipulation of the genetic material (GMO). Whereas for THC-containing cannabis the criterion for selection in the past was solely the smell / taste or the best "high", important agronomic properties were simply neglected in the development of the variety. "
Wow, what for a lie that agronomic properties were simply neglected from everyone in the development!
Intellectual Property: Who Owns the genes?
Many great strains grown indoors, where they are often heavily fertilized and protected from disease with pesticides, simply don't work under organic conditions outdoors. Cannabis could be grown out in the field eco-friendly almost anywhere with no lights, irrigation and air conditioning, but to do that you first need to develop the right strains for organic outdoor cultivation per region – as has been done with all other agricultural crops and will. " Aha, let's continue with insinuations! What did the breeders specialized in outdoor actually do all the decades before Puregene? Nothing? Further: "It is common practice that certain variety testing matrices exist for (registered) crop plants, which have yet to be developed for cannabis. Such matrices contain specifications, e.g. with regard to the value for cultivation and use, agronomic characteristics such as disease resistance and distinguishing characteristics, homogeneity and consistency over the generations, as well as shape/growth and the chemical composition of a variety."
Yes, just like all breeders work, always and since forever. Just without having had the opportunity to protect their work in any way. In the prohibition decades nobody could protect their work and "sharing is caring" was common practice and always the best way to make a good phenotype available to other people in order to secure the genetics. Sharing genetics has always been part of the exchange among well-known breeders and enthusiasts! And now comes how Puregene wants to make money off the back of the people who developed and/or preserved the genetics during the Prohibition decades.
“These variety testing protocols for registered varieties are designed to protect growers and consumers from fraudulent wannabe strains (“strains”?!). For the same reason, seed quality control agencies, such as the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), also exist. For flowering cannabis, Europe established standards at the Naktuinbouw (Dutch Horticultural Inspection Service). If you buy Granny Smith, you get Granny Smith. The comparison of the analysis certificates of different medicinal cannabis batches, which have one and the same variety name but come from different countries of origin, proves: This is not (yet) the case with cannabis. According to Dr. Ruckle (CSO Puregene) currently proposes to determine the authenticity of a strain based on its genetic fingerprint. Even if one generally rejects the patenting of living beings: Anyone who does the work and invests the time and money in a clean and reproducible variety development should also have the opportunity to have the fruits of their labor protected accordingly. "
The question of patent law and cannabis variety development is somewhere at the interface between cannabis regulation, variety regulation and patent regulation, but there is not only a lack of clearly defined guidelines, but also decades of research and development that legal states such as the USA are ahead of illegal breeders in Europe . And if we're not careful, there's a trend edging into what we've already seen with regular seeds. I'm just saying Monsanto. Then it's over with "sharing is caring" in the cannabis sector, as in every sector that has been swallowed up by total commercialization. Once this clientele has figured out how they and their lawyers are legally forcing us out of business, there will be no sense of community in the scene.
Who can you trust when something like this happens? Who else can you pass genetics to without getting sued for royalties or whatever? Something like that is killed with it!
Does anyone other than these corporations and their shareholders want that, and if not, what can we do about it?
Or do I only see ghosts and the danger is not real? Do you, like me, see the danger that as a breeder you will have more trouble than benefit in the future because of the Puregene gene database? With their database, how are you supposed to create independent genetics without paying royalties to them?
Something a la Monsanto is brewing in the cannabis breeder space quietly asking us to pay for every seed sold in the future because there are genes from their database in there, or am I misunderstanding this? And if not, they make at least some of the registration costs when trying to register a variety. I write very clearly "attempted" because at some point it will become impossible to avoid the database, since almost everything is hybridized and the genes are just very distributed. From how many existing identical gene segments is it a patent infringement? As a breeder, how can you still register something there without immediately running the risk of conflicting with their gene database?
Has anyone here at Icmag had experience with Puregene and left genetics to them? Or do their genetics (over 6,000 unique cannabis genotypes from 25,000 individual plants) possibly come from confiscations by the authorities? Please share your experiences and opinions.
Closing word:
I'm sure not the only one who would hate to see the same thing happen to the cannabis sector, e.g. like the US corn sector with Monsanto. Monsanto hold all patents on GMO corn seeds and control the entire market of production and distribution. They used their money and lobbyists to influence legislation and took over the entire market. Meanwhile, Monsanto is in the process of doing the same with the cannabis market, massively buying companies and opening subsidiaries in the cannabis sector.
Hawthorne Gardening is one of those subsidiaries that was created to break into the entire US hydroponics and indoor cannabis cultivation sector without bearing the Monsanto logo. So different name but still Monsanto. And now Hawthorne Gardening is in the process of buying up all the high profile companies in the C. sector. It's really creepy. Take a look for yourself at how many companies they already own:
https://www.hawthorne-gardening.com/about/brands/
They just buy everything!
In 2021 they invested $150,000,000$ in Riv Capital (Cannabis Investments & acquisition) whose sole purpose is to acquire all successful companies. In 2022, HTG bought Canada's first dedicated cannabis research facility in British Columbia for C$16,000,000 and has already acquired a very strong presence, if not dominance, in the C sector. Of course, this puts too much pressure on small independent companies that do not have the massive amount of money available to protect their developments and patents. Everything is patented right under their noses and ends up being owned by Monsanto!
If this is not regulated as soon as possible, these big companies will buy our future from under our noses and monopolize the market. Then it is even more difficult if not impossible for small companies to gain a foothold in this sector and of course it also comes at the expense of the quality of the cannabis products.
You just have to think about all the crap these companies have screwed up, and that will of course continue in the C. sector without regulation.
One of Monsanto's concerns is genetically modified Cannabis, which they intend to patent and which is bound to provide outdoor cross-pollination. This will then lead to the unwanted spread of their GMO dirt and ruin the jobs of many small growers.
Monsanto has always put profit ahead of quality and safety, as we know. For example, they used lobbyists to ensure that really bad pesticides were allowed and why should this change in the C. sector, when everything is made possible with all their money.
And Monsanto makes farmers dependent. Patenting of seeds is eroding small-scale agriculture around the world. A farmer who is no longer allowed to retain what he needs for the new sowing from his harvest is no longer a farmer but a serf. And after just one generation, all farming knowledge imparted through experience is lost.
Cheers, tea
Last edited:
Damn hippy Canucks eh.
