What's happening in genetics/biotechnology?
Did you know about
EXPERIMENTATION CROSSING SPECIES BOUNDARIES
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Genetic engineering experiments
that agriculture and drug companies have conducted or are conducting
include:
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Genes from the humans were put into sheep
in Aotearoa (New Zealand), in hopes that the sheep
would produce a drug to be used against emphysema. Some
people agreed to give genetic samples, but nobody consented
to having them put into sheep. (PPL Therapeutics of
Scotland, in conjunction with Selbourne Pharmaceuticals)
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In Virginia, human genes
have been introduced into cows, in order to have the cows
produce human breast milk, in a collaboration between PPL therapeutics
and infant formula companies.
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Spider genes were put into goats, so
that goats will produce silk genes in their milk. The
company doing this plans to use the silk for bullet
proof vests and anti-ballistic missile systems (Nexia
Biotechnologies of Canada)
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Snake and scorpion genes
were introduced into plants to produce virus resistant crops.
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Mice have been genetically
engineered to produce human proteins in their semen. The
plan is to later use this same technique with pigs.
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Spider venom has been
patented for use in crops by AstraZenaca, scorpion venom
has been patented by Agracetus/Monsanto, while snake venom
for use in plants has been patented by Biogen Inc. Should
venom be used in food crops? Should a corporation have a patent,
giving it an exclusive right to do this?
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Man-made copies of the flounder fish's anti-freeze
gene have been inserted into potatoes, tobacco,
and tomatoes to try to make them more resistant
to frosts.
THE FOOD YOU EAT:
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Genetically engineered Canola,
Chicory, Corn, Cotton, Flax, Papaya, Potato,
Soybean, Squash, Sugarbeet and Tomato have been
approved for human consumption in the US on the basis of voluntary
safety monitoring by the companies Source: US Department
of Agriculture Database
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In1999, 33% of US corn was genetically modified, 50% of
US soybean and 55% of US cotton. Meanwhile 62% of Canadian
canola was genetically modified. Source: GeneWatch
UK
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The US is the single largest
producer of genetically modified crops. In 1999, 72% of all genetically
modified crops grown worldwide were grown in the US, followed by Argentina
(17%) and Canada (10%) Source:GeneWatch UK
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In 1999, the area of genetically
engineered crops grown worldwide increased by 44% from the
following year. Source: GeneWatch UK.
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The Food and Drug Administration does not require safety
testing and labelling of genetically engineered foods.
This is after a controversial decision by the agency in
1992 to categorize all genetically modified foods as generally
regarded as safe (The agency is currently facing a class
action suit by an alliance of public interest groups).
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The following plants are being genetically engineered and
have been released into the environment: alfalfa, apple,
asparagus, barley, beet, belladonna, bermudagrass, carrot,
chicory, chrysanthemum, coffee, corn, cotton, cranberry,
creeping bentgrass, cucumber, eggplant, gladiolus, grape,
grapefruit, kentucky bluegrass, lettuce, melon, oat, onion,
papaya, pea, pear, peanut, pelargonium, pepper, petunia,
persimmon, perennial ryegrass, pine, pineapple, plum, poplar,
potato, rapeseed, rice, soybean, spruce, squash, strawberry,
sugarcane, sunflower, sweetgum, sweet potato, tobacco, tomato,
walnut, wheat. Source: US Department of Agriculture
database: http://www.nbiap.vt.edu/cfdocs/fieldtests1.cfm
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Companies such as Monsanto, DuPont, AstraZeneca and Novartis
are developing technologies that will make plants biologically
sterile so that farmers will not be able to save seed.
These traits have been called Terminator Technologies.
TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, OWNING LIFE, AND BIODIVERSITY
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74% of the plant-based medicines
consumed in the United States are plant medicines developed and used
by indigenous peoples. Pharmaceutical companies are going direct
to indigenous communities and traditional healers to find the plants
and traditional ways of using them, because they have a 60% greater
chance of identifying pharmaceutical potential, than when they randomly
screen plants. Source: Conservation International, website:
www.conservation.org
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Just five companies Pharmacia (Monsanto and UpJohn), Syngenta
(Novartis and AstraZeneca ag and crop divisions), Aventis
(Hoechst and Rhone Poulenc), DuPont and Dow Chemical control
68% of the global agrochemical market and 20% of all seed
trade worldwide. Source: Rural Advancement Foundation
International
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90-95% of all species that ever lived are extinct. Crop
diversity is eroding at a rate of around 2% per year. More
than 34,000 species worldwide (12.5% of all the worlds
plant life) are facing extinction. Every higher-order plant
that disappears takes at least 30 other species with it
(insects, fungi, bacteria). Livestock diversity may be eroding
at the rate of 5% yearly (6 breeds every month). The US
has lost more than 80% of its vegetable seed varieties since
1904. In just 50 years, China has lost more than 90% of
its traditional wheat varieties. Sources: Rural Advancement
Foundation International, Worldwatch Institute
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97% of all patents are held by industrialized countries.
Many of the world's major staple crops - corn, potato, soybeans,
rice and wheat - were developed in the by indigenous peoples
and rural communities. 65% of food crop varieties were developed
by Native American farmers. Sources: ActionAid UK, Traditional
Native American Farmers Association
For more info, contact:
Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB)
PO Box 72, Nixon, Nevada 89424
(775) 574-0248
www.ipcb.org
12/10/02
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