Just as one large science company hid the knowledge of what Roundup could do for many years, another is apparently now sitting on a widespread patent for a process which could do a lot to help feed the world, and which is the antithesis of genetic engineering.

When a scientist friend rang me to suggest I write about what this process could do for maize production (8-12 cobs per plant), it sounded much too good to be true. Since then I've read more about it, seen photos and found more corroboration on the internet, so I thought our readers would be interested too.

In 1988 two chemists working for what was then Ciba Geigy, Guido Ebner and Heinz Schurch exposed maize and wheat seeds and trout ova to an ‘electrostatic field', in other words to a high voltage field in which no current flows. The results appear to have switched on primeval growth mechanisms, resulting in maize with 12 ears per stalk, wheat which grew multiple stalks and multiple ears which was ready to harvest in four to six weeks, and giant trout which had been extinct in Europe for 130 years.

The company patented the process and then stopped the research in 1992. Why? probably because these ‘primeval cereals' require hardly any fertilizers or pesticides, and if you are a company which specialises in such things, new/old discoveries are best protected and then forgotten, which is what happened.

But recently a German author, Luc Burgin, has collaborated with the sons of the original scientists (both of whom died in 2001) to document the process, and publish a full account, with photos and details of the patent. The book is called ‘Der Urzeit-Code (The Primeval Code) - the ecological alternative to controversial genetic engineering'. While some scientists are sceptical, others are now speaking publicly about the results and the effects it could have on feeding the hungry of the world.

Daniel Ebner, son of Guido and himself a biologist, has been continuing the experiments on a private basis. He is now attempting to export the technology to Africa as part of an aid project with UN help, in order to make it available to local farmers free of charge, as an ecological alternative to the controversial GE seeds sold by the agro-multinationals.
Having recently listened to Nick Pyke, CEO of the Foundation for Arable Research, speak of the potential for New Zealand to become a world leader in providing maize seed for export, just think what we could do if each maize plant here could produce 12 kernels apiece. And guaranteed ‘primeval' and GE free.

To me this seems just another example of vested business interests putting profits before people, by hiding research which could materially assist in feeding the world with more product from the same areas of land.To read more about this go to http://www.urzeit-code.com/index.php?id=23