Genetically Modified Food Pt. 1: There’s Money in Life
Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty has changed the food world, even though he has never worked in the food industry.
Without him, Monsanto wouldn’t be as powerful or profitable. Without him, Archer Daniels Midland wouldn’t have a stranglehold on corn. Without him, countries world-wide wouldn’t have to fight for their own food supplies.
Who the heck is Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty?
A.M. Chakrabarty was a research scientist for General Electric who developed a genetically-improved microorganism designed to break down crude oil rapidly. The organism, once released into oil spills, could clean them up efficiently. G.E. applied for a patent so they could make money off of his creation.
At first General Electric was turned down. Well, that’s not exactly true. The bureau approved the process for creating the microorganism, but not the microorganism itself since they viewed it as product of nature. Convinced that such rejection had no legal basis, GE appealed to the U.S. Court of Custom and Patent Appeals (CCPA). The Court ruled three-to-two in GE’s favor. The CCPA decision prompted the Solicitor General to petition the higher courts for clarification which lead the case to the Supreme Court. Individuals and organizations for and against the case filed several briefs specifically for the Supreme Court. The case came before the court as Diamond v. Chakrabarty, since Sidney Diamond was the then Commissioner of Patents.
The end result?
In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Chakrabarty, and upheld the patent, stating:
A live, human-made micro-organism is patentable subject matter under [Title 35 U.S.C.] 101. Respondent’s micro-organism constitutes a “manufacture” or “composition of matter” within that statute.
Since this decision, the patent board has allowed for a broader interpretation of this decision, where the initial court case only dealt with a single micororganism. Since this ruling, the patent office has allowed patents on bacterias, plants, animals, and even human organs.
Where does food fit into this?
Patents are a means to claim intellectual property rights for a person, company or corporation to do with as they please. A corporation that holds the property rights to an idea will try to leverage their assets to bring forth the largest financial return on their investments.
A company in the food industry, such as Monsanto, can (and has) patented various processes, seeds and plants. They will review each patent to see which has long term money making possibilities. They will then create a plan of action to squeeze every last available profit out of these patents. This in of itself is not a bad thing… until you learn that in order to cut costs, processes such as testing and oversight have been cut in order to bring the largest return on the dollar.
It is this lack of testing and oversight which endangers us all.
Next up: The History of GM Food
