A private company Delta & Pine Land and the American agriculture department are joint patent holders of this controversial technology. By using this technology - which is still some years away from actual commercial application - seed companies can ensure that a seed will fail to germinate after one crop has been harvested, literally forcing farmers to buy fresh seeds year after year.

The patent application number 1175/Mas/95 is currently sitting unexamined in a ``mailbox mechanism'' that wascreated as part of the World Trade Organization's minimum requirements that India was forced to create. When contacted, the US Embassy said ``they have no information on this patent application.'' Whether this application is likely to be accepted or not is a different matter and widely differing views are being put forward. R A Mashelkar, Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and a known authority on intellectual property rights feels ``there is absolutely no need to worry as enough safeguards have been put in place to ensure that terminator does not enter India.''

But Suman Sahai of the Gene Campaign, an opponent of the Patents Bill, says that once India's patent laws are fully compatible with WTO requirements, there is ``no way anyone can stop this patent being invoked in India.''