[extropy-chat] World map of human ES cell and nuclear transferpolicies.

[The Avantguardian]

Brett wrote:

> > Most GM is aimed at reducing the cost of producing
> it to the manufacturer
> > rather than conferring advantages to the consumer
> that the consumer
> > wants.

Ok, I will concede that most of the early GM
agriculture was aimed at reducing the production costs
to the manufacturers but wouldn't that translate into
lower prices for the consumer? Isn't it a win/win
situation? What about pest-resistant crops that reduce
the amount of toxic pesticides used on the crops? Is
that not beneficial for the consumer? And finally what
about the nutraceutical crops that they are coming out
with like "golden rice" that has beta carotene genes?
Would Brits feel the same about GM livestock? Like
chicken eggs with omega-3 fatty acids and cows that
make milk with human insulin in it? 

--- Dirk Bruere <dirk.bruere at gmail.com> wrote:
 
> Or, even more cynically, they want to patent what is
> currently several
> millenia out of patent.

Well most of the early patents in biotech were
completely ludicrous. This is mostly due to the lack
of knowledge by the lawyers that filed and judged the
patent than anything else. Most biotech consists of
taking genes that been around for millions of years
out of one organism and putting it into another
organism that has been around for millions of years.
So where do you draw the line? Think about how some
cancer patient feels when some company files a patent
on a mutated form of a gene that the company "lifted"
from one of his own cancer cells. Most scientists
don't think that the patent system is all that
sensible in regards to biotech. But if others are
getting rich by exploiting these loopholes then there
is a strong incentive to do likewise.
  

The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. . ."

- Albert Einstein, "What I Believe" (1930)


		
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