Laws are only as good as the people who make them and frequently appear somewhat contorted if there are high amounts of cash involved. The genetech laws (control, security,patents, novel food etc.) show this very good. In the Conference of Asilomar, scientists tried to create standards for the work with manipulated organisms. In the last years, the genetech lobby has managed to soften these standards in the most cases. In the early years, the scientists had to prove that genetechnology is harmless, but now the customer has to prove that gene technology is not harmless. Law has just become inverted! The genetech lobby says: Nothing has happened so far! I say: Must something happen first? Since these guys release their mutants in a faster and faster pace, eventually something will happen. Perhaps it will be something subtle, perhaps our children will curse us for this. The danger of the gene technology lies not in failure but in the area-covering success! (Riddle: If an average nuclear fission reactor explodes every 100000 years, when will one explode, if you have 1000 of them?). In each case, gene technology leads to a new form of inreversible biological pollution.
In Germany, for example, the resistance against gene technology is tough, but the gene mafia has nevertheless managed to remove some of the rights of the worried citizens. The release of mutated organisms involved a trial where the worried citizens could argue with members of the companies who wanted to release their mutants. This has changed in 1992. Now the citizens have to send their complaints via mail. I fear that the "final solution" of the government will be a situation like the situation in the United States where each release can be done completely undeclared and worse, manipulated food has the same status like normal food! Another example is the treatment of sewage and wastes from the low-risk labs. While there has been a law that forced the labs to inactivate both with high temperature, this has been declared null and void since 1995. Now the labs can pour their experimental sewages in the kitchen sink, setting free thousands of manipulated micro-organisms without even noticing it! Who should be made responsible if something happens?
The ultimate goal of these dudes is clear: the release of manipulated organisms shall become a common process. In the USA this has already happened and it is important that everyone in the world stands up and fights. The USA has been the first country with Internet censorship, too. It appears that the american Statue of Liberty is bound with chains in these days!
"Do you want another slice?"
Not only the security and control laws have been changed, the patent has been extended, too. While it won't appear to be sensible to patent living beings which can change and reproduce with no external help, exactly this is what happened. Another Monopoly for the transnational companies... This includes human genes, too. The american citizen John Moore has been an interesting example. His medic removed some of his body cells for closer examination and found out that they produce a rare proteine. He cloned these cells and got a patent for it. When Moore heard this, he asked if he has done anything new to them. "No, just reproduced them" was the answer. Moore went to court and asked why his medic can clone HIS cells and claim a patent for it. He was told that his medic has betrayed him because he asked for no permission from him, but nevertheless the patent remains still valid. Who can be the owner of patented cells, if not the owner of patented cells??? John Moore claims the whole principle of patenting human cells and genes is inhumane and demonstrates in the whole world for his laws. (Remember for the future: Don't forget to visit your lawyer before you go to your medic :)
