"When a company of merchants undertake, at their own
risk and expense, to establish a new trade with some
remote and barbarous nation, it may not be unreasonable
to incorporate them into joint stock company, and to grant
them, in case of their success, a monopoly of the trade for
a certain number of years. It is the easiest and most
natural way in which the state can recompense them for
hazarding a dangerous and expensive experiment, of
which the public is afterwards to reap the benefit. A
temporary monopoly of this kind may be vindicated upon
the same principles upon which a like monopoly of a new
machine is granted to its inventor, and that of a new book
to its author".
(A. Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. V., chap. I, p. 278, Cannan Edition)
"None of the empirical evidence at our disposal and none
of the theoretical arguments presented either confirms or
confutes the belief that the patent system has promoted
the progress of the technical arts and the productivity of
the economy …"
Fritz Machlup, Study n° 15, Subcomm. Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights fo the U.S.
Senate judiciary Comm., 1-2, 20-21, 44-45, 76-80 (1958).
Alan Murray. Protecting intellectual property will be the
key for developed nations. Wall Street Journal
Wednesday November 9, 2006
"Intellectual property, in all its myriad forms, has
become the leading product of the U.S. economy. A
recent paper by economists Robert Shapiro and Kevin
Hassett puts its total value at about $5 trillion. Unless
the gouvernments of the world can reach some
agreement on how to protect that property, the
economic future of the U.S. and other nations at the
top of the global food chain, is in doubt."
"The challenge for capitalism is figuring out how to
balance the creator's right to profit from their
creations and society's desire to spread the benefits
of those creations…
There are no clear-cut answers to these problems, and
no free-market solutions."
October 2005
In spite of worldwide protests against
Terminator, the patent is now granted
and will apply to Europe. (25/10/05)
20% of human genes are patented.
78 % U.S.
6% Europe
4% Japon
2% Canada
10% unknown
63 % private
28 "public"
10% unknown
Source : Kyle Jensen et Fiona Murray, in Science 0ctober 2005
As long as the harvested grain is next
year seed, the breeder/seedman has no
market.
As a businessman, his goal is to prevent
farmers from sowing their harvested
grain, namely to sterilize plants (and
animals) by whatever means available
(biological,
technical,
regulatory,
contractual, or legal-patents) plants and
animals.
In a profit driven society, the law of
profit runs against the law of life.
Life is wrong.
A capitalist society wages a war against
life.
But this war has to remain secret.
"Control of gene expression" (USDA and
Delta and Pine Land Co. common patent
1998)
Alias
Terminator
- the greatest technical triumph of biology
applied to agriculture of the last 150 years
- the greatest political blunder, since it
revealed the secret of agricultural genetics
BREEDING/CLONING FROM THE
ORIGINS TO SO-CALLED GMOS,
i.e., PCC, AND DOLLY
OUTLINE
Clone : population of genetically identical (or nearly
so) organisms
TWO CASES :
- ORGANISMS « BREEDING TRUE TO TYPE »
(AUTOGAMOUS PLANTS (wheat, barley, soybeans,
tomatoes, etc.)
- ORGANISMS NOT « BREEDING TRUE TO TYPE »
(allogamous plants - maize, vegetable species mammals)
Autogamous plants « breeding true to type »
- farmer reproduce such clones on their
farms
Production  Reproduction
- However, a clone being « Homogenous and Stable » - it
is a living dead- can be made proprietary. It suffice to
describe it minutiously enough to Distinguish from the
other clones.
- D. H. S. = first form of property rights on
plants (France, 1920's, 1961, UPOV system
of breeders" rights)
SPECIES
naturally not « breeding true to
type » :
Heterozygous clones
Farmers cannot reproduce such clones on their farms
Production separated from reproduction
First
Terminator !
(U.S. Heterozygous cloning invented in 1908 by George Shull,
success some 25 years later after a mobilisation of "Public
research" to develop this technique of expropriation).
But carefully mystified by geneticists and
breeders : they call these proprietary clones
"hybrid corn varieties"
A « hybrid corn variety » is the contrary of
variety, it is a clone :
- Its characteristic is not being « hybrid »,
but being proprietary, i.e., reproducible by
the breeder and the breeder only
A clone turns the farmer’s field into a selffertilisation machinery
So that corn suffers from the worst form of
inbreeding depression, because it selffertilises in the farmer’s field.
Reality :
Breeders use self-fertilisation depression to
destroy the corn plant in the farmer’s field to
gain a monopoly on reproduction
Scientific Orwellian inversion of reality :
Breeders and geneticists believe and so far,
succeeded in having almost everyone believe that
they use the reverse phenomenon of selffertilisation depression i.e., « Heterosis » to
improve maize !
GMOs are :
-
-
Clones
Chimerical
Patented
Patents = privilege on reproduction for the
"life science industry"
i.e.,
Insecticides,
pesticides,
fongicides,
gametocides + Sterilisation of life
Monsanto
TO REPORT ANY TECHNOLOGY VIOLATION, PLEASE CALL 1-888RRC-TIPS (1-888-772-8477)
Callers can choose to remain anonymous if desired
Pharmaceutical industry
Economic features
Highest returns by whatever criteria
Profit
: 16-18 % of sales
(automobile industry around 3%)
Marketing expenses : 33% of sales,
Research Expenses : 12-15 % of sales
Research is sterile (Philippe Pignarre, Le grand
secret de l'industrie pharmaceutique 2003)
Patented drugs sold anywhere from 30
to 50 times more than the same generic
drug manufactured in India or Brazil.
Constant lobbying to increase patent
protection via TRIPS of WTO
European Directive 98/44
Directive 98/44 creates a privilege for the
discovery of genes, including human genes
(article 5-2), "even if the structure of this
element is similar to that of a natural
element".
The distinction between invention and
discovery is blurred;
The patenting of genes ( means of producing
future medicines) is added to the patenting of
drugs.
The illness becomes a monopoly (patents filed
by Myriad Genetics on genes involved in
breast cancer).
In short, investors possess the disease but do
not have it, and the sick have it but do not
possess it.
The genetic theory of desease
Turning anybody in good health into a
potentially sick one
Pourrait-on
voir
un
jour
des
gouvernements, voire des firmes
pharmaceutiques, traînés devant la
Cour pénale internationale pour «crime
contre l'humanité» par abstention ou
«non-assistance à peuple en danger» ?
Ce n'est pas impossible. Le droit à
la santé des citoyens, le droit à la
vie leur est nié. Les médicaments
essentiels qui peuvent sauver une
vie sont un bien public mondial.
Reconnaître cela, c'est poser la
seule question qui vaille : un bien
public est-il brevetable ?
German Velasquez interviewé par Florent Latrive et Christian Losson, Libération
des 25 et 26 juin 2005
<I mostri esistono. Ma sono troppo pochi
per essere veramente pericolosi. Piu'
pericolosi sono (…) i funzionari disposti a
credere ed a agire senza porre domande.
Primo Levi
Alan Murray. Wall Street Journal, Wednesday November 9, 2006
Protecting intellectual property will be the key for developed nations
Intellectual property is one of the thorniest problems facing modern capitalism … But
intellectual property is different, because it isn't inherently scarce. …
The challenge for capitalism is figuring out how to balance the creator's right to profit
from their creations and society's desire to spread the benefits of those creations…
There are no clear-cut answers to these problems, and no free-market solutions.
Ultimately, governments must decide how to balance their desire to encourage
innovation against their desire to spread the benefits off the innovation. As the recent
breakdown talks in Latin American demonstrate once again, different government have
different ideas about how best to do that.
"For the U.S., and for much of the developed world, this issue has become paramount.
'Its a huge issue,' says U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. 'There is so much of
our economy that is linked to branded products, patented products, copyrights. So much
of our economy thrives on creativity.'
Intellectual property, in all its myriad forms, has become the leading product of the U.S.
economy. A recent paper by economists Robert Shapiro and Kevin Hassett puts its total
value at about $5 trillion. Unless the gouvernments of the world can reach some
agreement on how to protect that property, the economic future of the U.S. and other
nations at the top of the global food chain, is in doubt."