Nexus - 0404 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

Trade Mark Office had awarded GenPharm a third patent on the mouse 'technology'. Cell Genesys will now use its own patents to battle GenPharm. become a statistic in the international human tissue trade—in some cases even if the tissue donor simply gave blood for a blood bank. Donors' cells may be frozen and/or immortal - ized and shipped across town, across the world, or both. Genetic profile information from analysis of cells...may be created and placed in a database available to thousands. RAF''s enquiries revealed one Internet directory of tissue cul- ture-related enterprises that lists 38 companies in the US which specialise in selling cells, cell products and tools for cell cultur- ing. Some have Internet home pages where customers can peruse on-line catalogues of "normal" and/or "mutant" human tissue for sale. Human biological samples are being exchanged and used in ways that donors would not be aware of, nor would be likely to endorse. wow eeep yp wet eee ~ AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: THE SAME STORY Genetic profile information from ana 5 of cells...may be Not only is ownership of human biological materials being con- created and placed in a database available to thousands. solidated by "life sciences" companies; but the products of agri- RAFI's enquiries revealed one Internet directory of tissue cul- culture have met with the same fate. ture-related enterprises that lists 38 companies in the US which The "life sciences" company Monsanto, with 28,000 employ- specialise in selling cells, cell products and tools for cell cultur- ees, has a net worth of US$9 billion and pours US$200 million ing. Some have Internet home pages where customers can peruse per year into research. Monsanto's Robert Fraley said of their on-line catalogues of "normal" and/or "mutant" human tissue for agricultural biotechnology interests: sale. Human biological samples are being exchanged and used in ..what you're seeing is not just a consolidation of seed com - ways that donors would not be aware of, nor would be likely to panies, it's really a consolidation of the entire food chain. endorse. Through its shareholdings, acquisitions and licensing agree- ments, Monsanto has a controlling interest in the worldwide pro- | THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT duction of canola oil, soya, cotton and maize, to name a few. The aim of the Human Genome Project is to determine the Last year, the two giant pharmaceutical/chemical companies exact genetic structure of our species—the sequence of all of our Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz amalgamated in what was the largest cor- DNA. The idea for the project has been in the pipeline since the porate merger in history—even larger than the Time-Life merger. US military began studying the genetic effects of radiation on sur- The resultant new company, Novartis (whose Latin name means vivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "new skills" or "new arts"), spans the health care, nutrition and In the mid-1970s, technological developments enabled agribusiness industries. Its estimated global net worth is 58 bil- researchers to use high-speed computers to sequence or map lion Swiss francs—more than the value of most nations. Novartis' genes. Previous methods of gene-mapping relied on laborious global research expenditure for 1996 hand-made drawings of gene maps. was US$3.1 billion, while worldwide In the late 1980s, biologists realise sales revenue for 1996 was US$27 ~o. that with new technologies they could billion. Po indigenous peoples are sequence the entire human genome. A A For obvious reasons, this 'realisation' BIOPIRACY OF HUMAN currently being exploited by was supported by the US government, GENETIC MATERIAL governments and genomic military, educational institutions an Third world populations and A A biotech companies. The US govern- indigenous peoples are currently corporations seeking to ment moved quickly to merge fund- being exploited by governments and commercialise genes and other ing for various biotech projects. genomic corporations seeking to . . . The Human Genome Project was commercialise genes and other bio- biological materials. officially launched in 1991, funde: logical materials. primarily by the Department of When the US government patented Energy and the National Institutes of the cell line of a Papua New Guinean Health in the USA as well as the indigenous person, there was no documentation of his informed European Commission. consent or any approval from the Papua New Guinea government. Using high-speed computers and working with zenith nanotech- Documentation obtained by RAFI under Freedom of nology (i.e., single molecules), the human genome is now being Information legislation revealed that the patented cells from the entered onto the GenBank database at Los Alamos (weapons) Hagahai indigenous person from Papua New Guinea had potential Laboratories in New Mexico, USA—site of the Manhattan Project in the diagnosis and treatment of leukaemia and related retroviral | and more recently linked to the alleged Roswell ‘alien autopsy’ diseases. These genes are now the exclusive property of the US scenario. government. Various acts of biopiracy have been the subject of Researchers from the far corners of the globe are able to con- investigation by RAFI, which concludes: tribute information to GenBank via the Internet. Laboratories are Pieces of indigenous and remote rural peoples' very bodies offered 'incentives' to submit genomic information. Another are now, without any doubt, the potential 'intellectual motivation to submit information to GenBank is the growing property’ of corporations and governments... number of journals that will not publish genomic articles without Cells, DNA and other human biological materials are being proof that the authors have submitted their data electronically to shuttled into the intellectual property portfolios and cash boxes of | GenBank at Los Alamos. the life industries. GenBank is operated by the US Department of Energy-owned RAFI has also raised concerns about the collection, handling national laboratory but funded by the National Institutes of and exchange of human tissue samples taking place ad hoc across Health, the Department of Defense, the National Science international borders. Perhaps what is most controversial about Foundation and the Department of Energy. There is also a the patenting of genes and the use of human biological products Human Genome Center at Lawrence Berkeley and at Lawrence for profit is that it is all largely taking place in an unregulated Livermore national laboratories. market. According to RAFI: Once the first complete human DNA sequence is obtained, we An unfortunate reality currently confronts the enormous will have what has been described as the ‘biological grail'—a number of people who, for clinical and research purposes, complete record of the human genome. This will be of great use give blood or other samples of tissue. They may unwittingly to the life sciences industries because it will provide a database of ... Indigenous peoples are currently being exploited by governments and genomic corporations seeking to commercialise genes and other biological materials. JUNE - JULY 1997 NEXUS - 33