Who Owns Our Genes and Those of Thousands of Crops?

[melody]

There is an institution our there that has a patent on hunam genom. Legally, they own our Genes. Therefore, they can legally claim, if they wish, that they own us.

You don't believe it? Watch these videos.

Deborah Garcia's film "The Future of Food" deals with how big corporations are taking control of our food, patenting various crop seeds and genetically modifying them. It shows how the corporatons claim the ownership of genes. It also mentions that our genes are patented. So they someday might claim they own us? as they do with the crop genes, or even human genes used in cancer research.

Parts of the film (not the whole film) is available on www.YouTube.com :

Extracts from The Future of Food

Part 1
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YvLBMXC_D0Q
Part 2
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zgWa-A3-x_Y
Part 3
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DL0nlCFTbMk
Part 4
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vWrKexPWMeU
Part 5
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pmmNXRC_GwY
Part 6
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8FFwsCr9c-4
Part 7
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8GimVJq7AmE

A full version of "The Future of Food" was previously available on Google Video but was taken dow. You can check that site to see if it has reapeared. It is about 2 hours long and very informative.

"The Future of Food" film on CD can be purchase from Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000BQ5IXM?tag=liveawesome-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=am1&creativeASIN=B000BQ5IXM&adid=09QPASC3P5E9REJPM2XN&


This is an interview with Deborah Garcia, the maker of the film "The Future of Food". The interview was produced by the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover

The Future of Food: What Every Person Should Know with Deborah Garcia
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8098965482866581381&q=The+future+of+food&total=1184&start=0num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1


This website http://www.liveawesome.com/public/442.cfm has a free MP3 download – an interview with Ms. Deborah Garcia.

[melody]

Videos with Jeffrey M. Smith - Author of "Seeds of Deception"


The Health Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods

Part 1
http://youtube.com/watch?v=94d-KVorSHM
Part 2
http://youtube.com/watch?v=710tmYMxsyY
Part 3
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ggtAzd8HMj0
Part 4
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Eyzu5NEWCTE
Part 5
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ElKHbNAETME
Part 6
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j4UmYU7cCkE


Genetically Modified Food (GMO) DANGERS

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4852099791430441066

[melody]

This article states that organic farmers actually get a higher crop yield from their soil than those who use chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Were not we all told that those chemicals were very much needed to increase crop production?

This story was distributed by Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1036065820070710

Here is the full text of that article:

WASHINGTON - Organic farming can yield up to three times as much food as conventional farming in developing countries, and holds its own against standard methods in rich countries, US researchers said on Tuesday.

They said their findings contradict arguments that organic farming -- which excludes the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides -- is not as efficient as conventional techniques.

"My hope is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can't produce enough food through organic agriculture," Ivette Perfecto, a professor at the University of Michigan's school of Natural Resources and Environment, said in a statement.

She and colleagues analyzed published studies on yields from organic farming. They looked at 293 different examples.

"Model estimates indicate that organic methods could produce enough food on a global per capita basis to sustain the current human population, and potentially an even larger population, without increasing the agricultural land base," they wrote in their report, published in the journal Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems.

"We were struck by how much food the organic farmers would produce," Perfecto said.

"Corporate interest in agriculture and the way agriculture research has been conducted in land grant institutions, with a lot of influence by the chemical companies and pesticide companies as well as fertilizer companies, all have been playing an important role in convincing the public that you need to have these inputs to produce food," she added.

Story Date: 10/7/2007

[melody]

This quotation I found on the Internet describes the film very well

"This is an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade and examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system.

Without a doubt this is one of the best documentaries I have ever viewed. It will help you understand the very real threat that ALL future generations face as a result of genetic engineering.

Your jaw will drop to the floor when you find out how Monsanto has manipulated the Supreme Court and how they are risking the very future of our civilization for their own corporate greed. Monsanto has succeeded in first patenting their own GMO seeds, and then slapping patents on a huge number of crop seeds, patenting life forms for the first time without a vote of the people or Congress. Thus letting new life forms loose on the land without long-term testing of the health effects and real government controls, especially labeling of foods.

The film questions why the U.S. government hasn't required GMO foods to undergo the rigorous testing required of medicines created by recombinant DNA technology, and why it has resisted efforts to require GMO labeling on foods, as Europe does. Suggesting an answer, the film ticks off all the government officials who have links to Monsanto, including Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft."



These are comments by Dr. Mercola

"Terminator technology may be one of the greatest threats to humanity. If it is used by Monsanto on a large-scale basis, it will likely inevitably lead to famine and starvation on a worldwide basis.  Billions of people on the planet are supported by farmers who save seeds from the crops and replant these seeds the following year.

Seeds are planted. The crop is harvested. And the seeds from the harvest are replanted the following year. Most farmers cannot afford to buy new seeds every year, so collecting and replanting seeds is a crucial part of the agricultural cycle. This is the way food has been grown successfully for thousands of years.

What is most concerning is that the traits from genetically-engineered crops can get passed on to other crops. Once the terminator seeds are released into a region, the trait of seed sterility could be passed to other non-genetically-engineered crops making most or all of the seeds in the region sterile. If that is not bad enough consider this. Phytochemicals (free-radical and anti-oxidants) are substances that plants naturally produce to protect themselves against viruses, bacteria, and fungi and to are essential for the next generation of seeds. The plant creates phytochemicals as it comes to its peak ripeness on the vine.

The foods we eat today are already lacking in these essential elements due to the fact that the majority of our foods are picked before peak ripeness for transportations means. The reason it is recommended that we eat several servings of fruits and vegetables a day is because of the health providing benefits of these phytochemicals. If the terminator seed prevents the plant from germinating the vegetable or fruit itself will not contain any of these essential nutrients and our bodies and immune systems will be left open for attack from all viruses and bacteria. We will be defenseless as plants are our only way of getting these essential nutrients."

[morning_star]

The only problem is that it is illegal to own people.

[melody]

It used to be illigal to own - claim total ownership of - a particular crop. But owning a patent for a crop seed has changed it. Laws change in time...