SEED BANKS

Science 12 June 2009:Vol. 324. no. 5933, p. 1376DOI: 10.1126/science.324_1376

Plant Breeding:
Scientists Seek Easier Access to Seed BanksElizabeth Finkel*
Free and timely access to seeds is enshrined in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which came into force in 2004. But "free and timely" is not how plant breeders describe their experience with five of the treaty's 120 signatories: China, Ethiopia, India, Iran, and Turkey. That's alarming because many seed collections are vulnerable. Last week, the treaty's governing body met in Tunis to review implementation and coax reluctant nations to open their seed banks and contribute to a "doomsday vault" on Norway's Svalbard island.