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18. Indigenous People Challenge Private Ownership International Physics, found fusarium to be "highly toxic". and Patenting of Life According to his data, the mortality rate among hospital patients here is a portion of the WTO agreement, called Trade-Related who were immune-deficient and infected by the fungus was 76 Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), that will per cent. "The mutated fungi can cause disease in a large number allow multinational corporations to apply for patents on living of crops, including tomatoes, peppers, flowers, corn and vines," creatures and life processes. However, indigenous peoples from he said. He added that the mutated genus could stay in the ground around the world believe that private ownership of life forms is for 40 years. unnatural and inappropriate. Reference On July 25, 1999, a gathering of indigenous peoples signed a * Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair, "McCaffery's Plagues: document that called for an amendment to the TRIPs agreement, New Biowar on Drugs", CounterPunch, Observer, London, June which would be put as a priority item on the agenda at the WTO 1-15, 2000 and July 2, 2000 Ministerial Conference in Seattle. The document eloquently states that all life forms and life-creating processes are sacred and 20. Disabled Most Likely to be Victims of Serious Crime should not be subject to proprietary ownership. Rew consistently finds that people with substantial disabil- Specifically targeted is Article 27.3b of TRIPs, which will deni- ities suffer from violent and other major crime at rates 4 to 10 grate and undermine rights to cultural and intellectual heritage, times higher than that of the general population. destroy plant, animal and genetic resources and even discriminate Estimates are that around five million disabled people are vic- against indigenous ways of thinking and behaving. The people tims of serious crime annually in the United States. Disabilities are very specific that the amendments to Article 27.3b should often make people easy targets for crime and abuse. clearly prohibit the patenting of plants and animals. They aim to Several studies suggest that 80-85% of criminal abuse of resi- ensure that a system is created that will protect dents in institutions is never reported to author- knowledge, innovations and practices in farm- ities. Evidence also shows that when these ing, agriculture, health and medical care and crimes are reported, there are lower rates of conserve the biodiversity of indigenous peo- ples and farmers. police follow-up, prosecutions and convictions. There is aportion of | Reference References the WTO agreement, ¢ Dan Sorensen (dsorense@dmhhq. state.ca.us), ¢ Kimberly Wilson, "Indigenous Peoples’ 4 "The Invisible Victims", Tash Newsletter, March Statement on the Trade-Related Aspects of called Trade-Related 2000, 158.96.231.221/dmhsearch/dmhquery. asp Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and the Aspects of Intellectual oon fg | Propet Rights (TRIPS), 2s en rae ae on TRIPS Article 27.3(b) on Patenting of Life", that will allow very weekday for the past 50 years, Third World Resurgence, nos. 110, 111, multinational from 8 o'clock in the morning to 11 Fall 1999 . o'clock at night, US fighter planes in corporations to apply Korea have dropped 400 to 700 bombs on 19. United States Using Dangerous Fungus to Eradicate Coca Plants in Colombia lhe United States plans to deploy, or may have already deployed, new bio- logical weapons for the war on drugs that seriously threaten both humans and the patents on living creatures and life processes. the Koon-ni range less than one mile from local villages. The targets for the bombs are islands in the beautiful Aia Bay where the people derive their livelihoods by fishing. As the A10 and F-16 US fighter aircraft swoop over the countryside, they drop depleted environment. uranium (DU) shells. The DU shells add The bioweapon is Fusarium EN-4, a radioactive contamination to the other plant fungus used in many chemical weapons developed by the toxic wastes and oil that have been accumulating near these vil- United States in 1950s and '60s. Fusarium is being redesigned to _lages for the last half-century. attack coca, cannabis and opium crops in producer countries in Throughout the years, at least 12 people have been killed and the Third World. This work is proceeding despite evidence that numerous others have been wounded. The number of cancer the fusarium, if deployed, will have profound and disastrous cases is disproportionately large and growing, and women are impacts on the humans and ecologies of the countries in which increasingly experiencing miscarriages and birth defects. Noise they are used. levels have been measured off the decibel scale. Mental health is Pathogens developed long ago at Fort Detrick, Maryland, the a serious issue, with constant tension from noise. centre for the US biowarfare program, were frozen but not Lockheed—Martin now owns the Koon-ni range. This kind of destroyed when the facility was closed by President Nixon in privatisation of the military comes as no surprise, because 50 1969. Veterans of the Soviet biological warfare effort are now years of dropping bombs and spraying bullets has been very lucra- working on this research with UN funding in order to shield the tive for arms manufacturers. United States from charges of violating the internationally negoti- For the good part of 50 years, most Koreans knew nothing ated Biological Weapons Convention. about this, but protests are growing. Peru has already banned the testing and/or deployment of the References fusarium fungus. Colombia, however, was forced to accept spray- * Karen Talbot, "US Bombing Range in South Korea: ‘Hell On ing as part of a $1.8 billion aid package that was approved by US Earth!'", Freespeech.org, September 1, 2000, www.freespeech.org Congress in July 2000. * Corporate media coverage: Christian Science Monitor, June 2, Eduardo Posada, president of the Colombian Center for 2000; New York Times, June 18, 2000 International Physics, found fusarium to be "highly toxic". According to his data, the mortality rate among hospital patients who were immune-deficient and infected by the fungus was 76 per cent. "The mutated fungi can cause disease in a large number of crops, including tomatoes, peppers, flowers, corn and vines," he said. He added that the mutated genus could stay in the ground for 40 years. Reference * Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair, "McCaffery's Plagues: New Biowar on Drugs", CounterPunch, Observer, London, June 1-15, 2000 and July 2, 2000 There is a portion of the WTO agreement, Called Trade-Related corporations to apply patents on living creatures and life processes. 18 = NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2001 Aspects of Intellectual www.nexusmagazine.com