Genetic modification is a threat to freedom in various ways.
One method is to contaminate organic crops with genetically modified foods.
Since the genetically modified foods are patented by corporations, any contaminated crops that contain these genes are in violation of the patent.
Restrictions on GM foods are being lifted and contamination is inevitalbe.
This will give large corporations and government total control over the food supply, because people will no longer be able to legally grow their own food.
This combined with the cashless control systems and national ID cards will make it impossible to survive without the consent of the government.
Further problems include forced drugging of the population through these GM foods.
In the same way that they put fluoride in the water, they can now put scorpion genes in your cabbage or anything else you can imagine.
Another method of genetic modification that is worrisome is the discovery of a gene in monkeys and humans that create compliant creatures of the subject.
Why fight a world of freedom loving people when you can genetically create a compliant population?
Like the genetic modification of plants, genetic modification of humans could also lead to a patented life form.
This new patented life form would not be completely human and thus have no human rights.
Below are a few articles to illustrate the points made here. http://exn.ca/Stories/2001/01/11/53.asp
Say hello to ANDi, the world's first
genetically modified monkey. This little rhesus monkey was created at
the Oregon Health Sciences University. He may look and act like a
regular monkey but he has some very special information tucked away
into his genetic blueprint. Dr. Gerald Schatten and Dr. Anthony Chan
lead the team at OHSU in the production of "ANDi," (inserted DNA,
spelled backwards). ANDi has been engineered to carry a foreign gene
known as GFP (green fluorescent protein which is found naturally in
jellyfish). GFP was chosen for a few reasons: its use is common, it's
safe and it is traceable for the researchers.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1313556,00.html
However, experiments conducted on rhesus monkeys have shown for the first time that animal behaviour can be permanently altered, turning the subjects from aggressive to "compliant" creatures.
The scientists did so by blocking the effects of a gene in the brain called D2, which cut off the link between the monkeys' motivation and perceived reward. Humans have an identical gene.
http://www.ebfarm.com/News/NewsStories/FDAbiotech112304.aspx
US Plans to Allow Experimental GM Crops to Contaminate Food
WASHINGTON,
DC (US) / BRUSSELS (BELGIUM), November 23, 2004 - Plans to allow
contamination of human food crops with biotech or genetically modified
(GM) experimental crops grown on 'test' sites will be published
tomorrow Wednesday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). [1]
In
sixty days from Nov. 24 the new proposal could be accepted, reducing
the legal liability on biotech companies and acting as a major
disincentive for them to control GM field tests. Contamination is
therefore likely to increase.
It is impossible to test for
the presence of experimental GM food crops in foods imported from or
processed in the US, because over two-thirds of US experimental GM
crops contain genes classified as confidential which therefore can't be
detected.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6534243/
In Minnesota, pigs are being born with human blood in their veins.
In Nevada, there are sheep whose livers and hearts are largely human.
In California, mice peer from their cages with human brain cells firing inside their skulls.
http://www.rythospital.com/clyven/
By implanting human brain cells (grown from a human embryo's stem cells) into a mouse engineered to have Alzheimer's, Dr. Keyes inadvertently made a remarkable and startling discovery: she not only cured the mouse's Alzheimer's Disease, but the animal soon developed the relative intelligence of a human being.
http://www.globalchange.com/newgenes.htm
There is no doubt that the genetic revolution will present us with the greatest moral questions in human history. Take the humanised monkey: how many human genes does a monkey have to have to win human rights? Since monkeys differ only 3% in their genes the answer is that if the right 1.6% of human genes are added, it is likely the courts would recognise that the creature was more human than animal. Thus gene technology strikes to the very heart of our humanity, raising not only philosophical and moral questions but also spiritual ones. Is it right to add human genes to a cow? How many?
http://www.organicconsumers.org/supermarket/food_activists.cfm
Genetic modification is different from traditional crossbreeding. Crossbreeding takes two of the same or very similar species and combines them to enhance ideal traits (for example, making fruit grow faster or taste sweeter). Genetic alteration may cross two unrelated species like cabbage and scorpions. In that instance, the gene that gives the scorpion its poisonous tail was inserted into cabbage DNA, whereby they could produce their own poison to kill caterpillars.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/Pharmageddon120502.cfm
On November 11, the US government ordered the biotech company, ProdiGene, to
destroy 500,000 bushels of soybeans contaminated with GM maize, engineered
to produce a drug not approved for human consumption [4]. The US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) refused to give details on the protein involved because
it is deemed "confidentual business information".
It could be one of the following [5]: the HIV glycoprotein gp120, a blood-
clotting agent (aprotinin), a digestive enzyme (trypsin), an industrial
adhesive (a fungal enzyme, laccase), vaccines for hepatitis B, vaccine for a
pig disease, transmissible gastroenteritis.
USDA records show that ProdiGene has received 85 test permits for experimental
open-air trials of pharm crops and chemical crops in at least 96 locations.
http://capwiz.com/vys/issues/alert/?alertid=6791606&type=ML
In the November 2004 Federal Register, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a "Draft Guidance for Industry: Recommendations for the Early Food Safety Evaluation of New Non-Pesticidal Proteins Produced by New Plant Varieties Intended for Food Use." While promoted as an effort to help prevent the food supply from becoming contaminated by genetically altered proteins never approved for human consumption, the new Draft Guidance for Industry will actually allow this contamination to take place.
For over 2 decades the US has promoted the biotech industry and pushed genetically modified foods on the rest of the world. In 2002 the Bush administration issued a directive that would allow unapproved experimental crops "acceptable." This directive could be implemented by USDA, FDA and EPA. Biotech and food processing companies believe this would free them from legal liability for future contamination. In fact this sets the stage for unknown genetic material entering seed and food supplies. Genetic modification is a hit or miss process that scrambles plant DNA. Most such experiments are failures. Those with obvious deformities are weeded out but the more subtle ones are missed and end up in the fields and in the food chain. There is great potential for human health and environmental impact including include allergens, nutritional deficits, toxic and sterile plants.
Under current regulations, the entire process of notifying the FDA that a biotech company is bringing out a new genetically engineered crop is voluntary. Food safety advocates want full mandatory testing.
We have made it easy for you to submit comments by sending an instant e-mail to the FDA. The comment period ends January 25
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4181197.stm 'Living' robots powered by muscle
By Roland Pease
BBC radio science unit
Tiny robots powered by living muscle have been created by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The devices were formed by "growing" rat cells on microscopic
silicon chips, the researchers report in the journal Nature Materials.
Less than a millimetre long, the miniscule robots can move themselves without any external source of power.
The work is a dramatic example of the marriage of biotechnology with the tiny world of nanotechnology.
In nanotechnology, researchers often turn to the natural world for inspiration.
But Professor Carlo Montemagno, of the University of California,
Los Angeles, turns to nature not for ideas, but for actual starting
materials.
In the past he has made rotary nano-motors out of genetically
engineered proteins. Now he has grown muscle tissue onto tiny robotic
skeletons.
Living device
Montemano's team used rat heart cells to create a tiny device that
moves on its own when the cells contract. A second device looks like a
minute pair of frog legs.
"The bones that we're using are either a plastic or they're silicon
based," he said. "So we make these really fine structures that
mechanically have hinges that allow them to move and bend.
"And then by nano-scale manipulation of the surface chemistry, the
muscle cells get the cues to say, 'Oh! I want to attach at this point
and not to attach at another point'. And so the cells assemble, then
they undergo a change, so that they actually form a muscle.
"Now you have a device that has a skeleton and muscles on it to allow it to move."
Under a microscope, you can see the tiny, two-footed "bio-bots" crawl around.
Professor Montemagno says muscles like these could be used in a
host of microscopic devices - even to drive miniature electrical
generators to power computer chips.
But when biological cells become attached to silicon - are they alive?
"They're absolutely alive," Professor Montemagno told BBC News. "I
mean the cells actually grow, multiply and assemble - they form the
structure themselves. So the device is alive."
The notion is likely to disturb many who already have concerns about nanotechnology.
But for Carlo Montemagno, a professor of engineering, it makes
sense to match the solutions that nature has already found through
billions of years of evolution to the newest challenges in
technology.
Florida scientists have grown a brain in a petri dish and taught it to fly a fighter plane.
Scientists at the university of Florida taught the 'brain', which
was grown from 25,000 neural cells extracted from a rat embryo, to
pilot an F-22 jet simulator. It was taught to control the flight path,
even in mock hurricane-strength winds.
