前回はコロナ禍で大変なことになっている飲食業について。みんな意見はいろいろですが、安全安心に食を楽しみたい気持ちは同じです。
さて、今回はこれも安全安心な食のため、日本の農業どうなんねん⁉？と女優の柴崎コウさんはじめ、論争を巻き起こした種苗法についてです。
なんだかよくわからない人も多いと思いますが、Hoosiersには詳しい人たちもいるので、連休ど真ん中に「あっ、あれはこういうことだったのか!」と目からウロコ体験ができるかも。
提示されたマテリアルをお読みの上、奮ってご参加くださいね！

Topic 1. Tell me about your friends

Q1. Describe the most unique friends of you.

Q2. Share a story of how friends have influenced your life.

Q3. Where do you meet new people and make friends?

Topic 2. Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act

By economic globalization, outflow of Japanese high-quality agricultural products becomes a big issue. Recently, Japanese brand fruits such as “AMAOU” and “SHINE MUSCUT” were found cultivated in overseas and sold at international market at cheap price. In order to stop the leakage, Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act was revised and approved in 2020. However, the revision caused furious controversy between those for and against.

Original material for better understanding and better discussion (Made by Alexey):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i9Rg3mG1CRkA5ydxUXLoz14zB-g4rMRk/view?usp=sharing

Reference: Revision of Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act (MAFF)
https://www.maff.go.jp/j/kanbo/tizai/brand/attach/pdf/zenkoku-2.pdf

Q1. Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act in Japan was recently revised in order to strengthen plant breeder’s rights. Looking at pros and cons for revising the Act, it seems there are two types of opinions regarding plant variety protection. Which side do you support?

Type1: Plant breeders deserve to be more rewarded for their contribution to agriculture.
-Plant breeders spend a lot of money and hard work to create new plant varieties.
-We should allow plant breeders to dominate the plant variety in order to retrieve the investment.

Type2: Strengthening plant variety protection is contrary to public interest.
-Plants are originally natural resources and they are essential for survival of human beings.
-It’s unfair that some giant corporations are dominating plant varieties, threatening food security and making large profits.

Q2. One of the purposes of the revision is to limit the outflow of high-quality registered plant varieties to foreign countries. How effective will it be?

Q3. What strategy should Japan take in order to effectively protect or use the intellectual property of plants?

Japan Approves Revised Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act
https://www.asiaiplaw.com/section/news-analysis/japan-approves-revised-plant-variety-protection-and-seed-act