According to Greenpeace Monsanto is trying to patent not only a particular method of hog breeding, but actual herds of pigs and their offspring.

"If these patents are granted, Monsanto can legally prevent breeders and farmers from breeding pigs whose characteristics are described in the patent claims, or force them to pay royalties," commented Christoph Then, the Greenpeace researcher who first stumbled across the patent applications. "It's a first step toward the same kind of corporate control of an animal line that Monsanto is aggressively pursuing with various grain and vegetable lines," he concluded.

Of course, patenting an animal isn't such a stretch when you're already trying to grow its meat in a petri dish. Last week's Village Voice reports on the controversial subject of cultured meat here, elaborating on the Planet Ark piece that broke the story (see the July 7 ST entry on the subject).