Nestle Wants to Patent Mother Nature: The Fennel Flower vs. Big Corporations
The Swiss food company known as Nestlé is now seeking a patent on Nigella sativa, commonly known as fennel flower, black seed or black cumin. This singular herb has been known to treat everything from fevers to skin rashes. It has been used for centuries in impoverished countries throughout Asia and the Middle East as a reliable and inexpensive herbal medicine. Nestlé wants to patent this herb to prevent food allergies.
Nestlé wouldn’t be the first company to try to patent what is freely offered by Mother Nature, nor will it be the last. Pharmaceutical companies do it all the time, and it is arguably why we don’t have wide-spread knowledge of our own medicinal birthright in the form of plants and herbs. If a corporation can’t patent something and sell it back to us, they have no interest in ‘healing’ people with it.
Companies like Nestlé would also happily patent
Similar to how Nestlé believes that water is not a human right and should be privatized, the company’s scientists can claim they ‘discovered’ fennel flower and have any right to claim ownership of it; it is quite ridiculous. Nestlé has patents pending in the European patent offices as well as Japan, China and the US (through Nestlé subsidiary companies) that have been awaiting approval since 2009.
The patent claim is based on a study published in PLOS dated July 2012, titled “Nigella Sativa seed extract alleviates symptoms of allergic diarrhea in mice involving opioid receptors.”
The authors are Swiss. While the study points out the efficacy of treating food allergies with black caraway seed extracts, it doesn’t admit that the seeds have been used for thousands of years in multiple culinary and medicinal heritages.
Related Read: 21+ Black Cumin Oil Benefits
The thymoquinone extract (active ingredient in fennel flower or black cumin) can also be gained from other plants, like Eupatorium ayapana (now Ayapana triplinervis, or water hemp, an American plant from the daisy family), Satureja montana (winter savory, a European plant from the mints family), or the Thymus genus (plants from the mints family, found in Europe, North Africa and Asia). Does Nestlé plan to patent these plant extracts as well?
It seems odd that pharmaceutical and food companies are constantly trying to debunk natural treatments, all the while trying to patent them. With natural treatment patents and human gene patenting having been available to companies, we can see quite literally, that Big Pharma and bloated corporations are trying to ‘own’ us flat out.
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It's definitionally impossible to patent a known substance, and you must know that if you claim to have any knowledge of this field. So Nestlé must be claiming to have found a novel and inventive new use. Either it has, or it hasn't. If the use is known, it hasn't, and the patent won't be granted. Not much of a story.
The story is useful as yet another reason not to buy anything from Nesstle. They are trying to own the water rights so people have to buy water from a corporation. It’s your comment and mind set that are of no use to anyone reading this article. Break yourself off a piece of a kit Kat bar you slave.
You're wrong, Rob. TODAY it is impossible for a company to patent a plant — tomorrow or a month from now, that could easily change. You see how the food industry 'invented' Bifidus regularis then patented it as a proprietary bacteria in order to market Activia. There are several naturally-occurring bacteria that turn milk into yogurt & provide health benefits for those who eat it. I could slap Jamie Lee Crutis, I'm so sick of seeing her in those Activia commercials. But have you ever seen a commercial for a yogurt-maker? You can buy one at WalMart for under $30. But the stupid sheep would rather buy yogurt made from lab-created bacteria than make their own.
… Monsanto has spent millions to prevent the labeling of GE foods for years now — & they're still willing despte the fact that 93% of Americans want their food labeled. (Think of just how incredible it is for 93% of this country to agree on ANYTHING.) The flip side of that is how multinational corps. managed to convince the EU to designate nearly all herbal remedies as the equivalent of drugs back in 2011 & legislate that herbal treatments can't be made without a license or purchased without an Rx from a "registered herbal practitioner". Who did that benefit? Nobody except the large European phytopharmaceutical companies.
… This happened with virtually no media coverage here in the states of such a monumental change in European law. It happened on the same continent where people care deeply about their food & wines, where the French still zealously claim appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) designation for their most prized foods. Yet Big Pharma was able to use its money & muscle to convince the EU leaders to usurp the right of their citizens to treat themselves with herbs & essential oils. And there were no riots in the streets when it happened.
It's only a matter of time before Nestlé or some other demonic entity convinces our lawmakers to fidn a loophole to let them patent an God-given herb and claim it as their creation. All to make us dependent on Big Pharma for hebal remedies, which they will adulterate until they're as poisonous as the drugs you were takiing them to avoid. And long as the majoprity remains sick & tried & ignorant, they won't think about rebelling against their oppressors.
These are truly The Last Days, folks. Read Your Bible, Watch & Pray
If you live in the U.S., Kit Kat is made by Hershey’s. Everywhere, though, it is a Nestle product. Sorry to disappoint.
Although, this article is incredibly useful. Did you know that, in 2010, Nestlé sold 52% of Alcon to Novartis for a cool $39.1 billion (US). This company is a powerhouse and it angers as well as concerns me to know that it is this massive. The company builds roads, farms, factories and whatever else it needs to become more dominant. It owns close to 8,000 brands.
It’s good to have so much info available regarding Nestle and their products so that I, and others, can stay away from their products.
I live in Lebanon, a Mediterranean country, and people here have been using Nigella sativa for hundreds of years, its part of what we call ‘popular medicine’ I am offended to know that Nestle would even think of patenting this naturally-occurring herb (how would they stop it from growing naturally all over Lebanon and the region?) As of now, I have decided to stop using Nestle water at my house (and all of their other 8, 000 brands;)
Nestle is also one of the prime offenders in the global baby formula scam. They give samples until the mother's milk dries up, then the family can't afford the formula, and the baby dies slowly from starvation and diarrhea (from the mom diluting the little formula she can buy). Millions of babies die of bottle baby disease yearly in developing countries. BOYCOTT THESE MONSTERS!
Nestle's saying that water is not a human right will bring some bad karma as they are going to be mighty thirsty in Hell.
Change your diet to "organics" and products unregulated or owned by these corporation and you can change the way the world eats! STOP the Nestles, Monsantos, kellogs, Pepsico's and others from dictating your meals!!!