§ Mr. VazTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement concerning the Government's policies towards proposals to legislate to allow the patenting of living beings and the implications for farming and research in this country.
§ Mr. MacleanDiscussions are continuing on the European Community proposal for a directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions. United Kingdom patent law does not permit the patenting of any variety of animal or plant or any essentially biological process; neither does the draft directive propose to do so. However, under present United Kingdom law and the proposed directive, microbiological processes (such as might be used in genetic engineering techniques) and their products can be patented. I expect farming and research in the United Kingdom to benefit from new developments in biotechnology, as it has benefited from other new technology.