December 9th, 1997
WE DECIDE, NOT THEM<
By Jackie Giuliano
The ultimate environmental crisis is at hand as we enter an era where our disconnection
from the natural world could be complete. Cloning, genetic engineering, gene splicing, and
bioengineering now leave the realm of horror and science fiction and enter our language of
reality. The new world corporate order has achieved what it has been working on for
decades - the beginning of a way to redesign life itself. We should be afraid.
lambs floating in amniotic fluid
in a pan
in a lab
no mother in sight
no womb needed
the fear
the loneliness
the panic
no grounding in Mother Earth
no Mother
no soul?
-- Jackie Giuliano
The corporate world order of our technological, soulless age is poised to embark upon what
it perceives as the next uncharted economic frontier - the patenting of nature. On March
14, 1995, the United States National Institutes of Health took out a patent on the entire
genetic material of a Hagahai man from Papua New Guinea.
The Human Genome Diversity Project is sampling the DNA of more than 700 indigenous groups.
Samples of these people's genetic material are being taken without their permission, a
modern form of genetic slavery. This project is spending over $35 million gathering
individual blood samples, more than the gross national project of the world's 110 poorest
countries. The West has taken advantage of most of the mineral and biotic resources of
indigenous peoples, and now we are exploiting their very bodies as the ultimate resource.
Corporations worldwide are positioning themselves to cash in on the lucrative market for
life forms that have been molded and adapted for corporate production and profit. What
toll will this have on the environment? What toll will this have on our connection to the
natural world? What toll will this have on our souls?
Here am I,
myself,
but also vessel of creation.
Rhythms of the ages
stir the Womb of Woman,
my own womb -
ancient pulse in my own heartbeat,
nourishment in my own breast.
This life through me
was fathered deep
in fire-consecrated flesh,
and her, behold!
A miracle,
that what was not before
is
now!
-- Nancy Rose Meeker
Will these creations be miracles or nightmares?
The biotechnology industry has presented itself as the next best hope for American
business. The manipulation of living beings to create new forms of animals, agricultural
products, and medicines is now worth $2 billion a year in the U.S. alone. By the year
2000, it is estimated that biotech profits will soar to $50 billion.
The raw material for this economic harvest has come largely from the dwindling rainforests
in the Southern Hemisphere. Now, our very bodies are the sources for this obscene greed.
Supporters of this genetic harvesting call it "bioprospecting." Vandana Shiva,
physicist and environmental activist calls it "biopiracy," a glaring example of
how the rich and developed world robs from the poor.
Dr. Shiva has said that "until the bank (World Bank) gets the message that money
alone is not the currency of life and that the integrity of ecosystems and the integrity
of people's lives have to be put first, before the movement and the multiplication of
dollars...we will never get our values right."
There are many moral and ethical dilemmas associated with altering genetic material. A
European nonprofit organization against patenting life forms called the Genetics Resources
Action International reminds us of some of the potential problems:
- Farmers who plant genetically engineered seeds sign agreements with the company who owns
the patent that they will not save the seeds from the resulting plants. They must also pay
royalties for every generation born. These agreements apply to the farmers' descendents as
well. It becomes illegal to plant seeds, since they are the "property" of a
company.
- Genetic diversity will be greatly diminished, reducing the health and viability of
ecosystems.
- The developing world will lose access to scientific information and technology and will
see their freely donated biological resources privatized by the societies of the developed
world.
- The concept of human rights will be eroded as human beings, and parts of their bodies,
become the exclusive property of patent holders.
- Animal welfare will become a nostalgic notion of the past as patenting stimulates the
genetic engineering of animals to serve as industrial systems for the production of food
and medicine, no matter how much they suffer.
- Society's relationship to nature will be reduced to a commercial enterprise based on
exploitation and profit.
Most scientists and government officials will say that genetic manipulation is
completely harmless and has already resulted in many benefits. Yet research proves
otherwise. Recently, the transfer of Brazil nut genes to a soybean produced potentially
dangerous effects. The purpose of the manipulation was to improve the soybean's
nutritional quality by adding an amino acid. However, during research tests, some people
had an allergic reaction that was triggered when they ate the bioaltered bean. The project
was dropped.
Just what is meant by genetic manipulation? An excellent example to help us understand the
issue and the threat is the Roundup Ready soybean, "manufactured" by U.S.
chemical giant, Monsanto. These soybeans contain a gene that makes the plant resistant to
Monsanto's best selling herbicide, Roundup. More Roundup is used worldwide than any other
herbicide and Roundup Ready soybeans will result in a huge increase in use. Farmers are
told that they can now use much more Roundup on their crops because the soybean can
tolerate more. Vandana Shiva says that it is no coincidence that the patent is up soon on
Roundup and the introduction of this soybean ensures continued dependance on that chemical
well into the next century.
Some of the most frightening possibilities could come from the laboratories working on
adapting animals to factory farming. Work is currently under way to alter the brains of
chickens to remove their mothering instinct. Human growth genes have already been placed
in a pig, with horrifyingly painful results, and a pig has been given fur like a cow. I
have no doubt that ultimately we will see veal calves without legs, chickens without feet
and beaks, and other obscenities designed to increase profits and decrease the labor
needed to maintain factory farms.
We must be hyper vigilant and watch closely these developments. We must not give in to the
way the new corporate world order tries to make all technological developments appear as
if they were a natural happening and the next step in our evolution. They are not. Refuse
to buy irradiated food or any food that could possibly contain genetically manipulated
material. Insist that your elected representatives stop anyone from patenting life.
We get to decide what we want our relationship to be with the natural world. We get to
decide the future. It may not seem like it sometime, but we do.
RESOURCES
1. Visit the center for Bioethics at http://www.med.upenn.edu/~bioethic/genetics.html
2. Visit the full text of an article by Phillip Bereano about the price of biotechnology
at http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~rone/GE%20Essays/Biotech%20Price.htm
3. Learn more about the problems with genetically engineered soybeans at http://www.pmac.net/pansoy.htm
4. Visit a variety of topics about genetic engineering at http://www.pmac.net/ge.htm
5. Visit the Center for Creative Non-Cooperation for many diverse perspectives at http://krypton.mankato.msus.edu/~spirit/web/welcome.html
6. Write the President of the U.S., telling him your views. Insist that we do not have the
right to manipulate life, especially for corporate greed. You can E-mail him at http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/html/couples.html
7. Visit the Animal Rights Resource Site for much information on how we use animals at http://envirolink.org/arrs/index.html
{Jackie Giuliano can be found being vigilent in Venice, California. He is a Professor of
Environmental Studies for Antioch University, Los Angeles, and the University of Phoenix
Southern California Campuses. He is also the Educational Outreach Manager for the Ice and
Fire Preprojects, a NASA program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to send space probes to
Jupiter's moon Europa, the planet Pluto, and the Sun. Please send your thoughts, comments,
and visions to him at jackieg@jps.net} |
