Dreams of America 2023: The Hands of the Profits

 Dreams of America 2023: The Hands of the Profits

          In thinking about patents on genetically modified crops, it reminds me of the struggles my grandfather and uncle faced on their small dairy farm when the patent storm first began many years ago. I remember them talking in angry tones about how the seed companies were squeezing the life blood out of them by making them pay high costs for seed every year, and the their neighbor farmers were also upset and in the same situation too. Many years later as I was teaching at a small community college in Northwest Iowa amid the vast fields of genetically modified corn and soy beans these same refrains were being echoed still by my students, a few who still lived on struggling small farms and most who had sought employment with the large farming corporations that had supplanted the small farmers by purchasing their land as the small farmers steadily and continually went bankrupt. Even though Resnick (2004) proclaimed he was an supporter of patents on genetic crops and that there was no threat to developed countries because the farmers in these countries all towed the line, his words echoed false praise and prophecies for the large GMO corporations and their seed slaves. This mass kill off of the small farmer by both the seed and large farming corporations inspired me to write the following few verses in 2007 (Crater, 2023):

          Dreams of America II: Johnny's Dispair [sic]

          Johnny works steady, he toils the earth,

          Bringing forth food from the place of his birth.

          Often long hours, an non-ending rite --

          His future lay 'fore him, the Heartland, his might.

          Hard work, he's told, will give him his worth.

          Dinner is lain, by Sue with good care,

          He and his family sit down for a prayer:

          "Please Lord deliver us, from our bad plight,"

          "We always are thankful and do things just right."

          The bankers still hound, to their despair [sic].

          Father before him, and Dad's father too,

          From a long line of farmers, of which now are few,

          Wheat fields and corn stalks reach far out of sight,

          Folks and their children start working first light.

          "Corporations are coming, of which we should rue."

          Mothers are worried, the kids do not stay,

          "We used to have family, it's no longer this way."

          "The Heartland is changing, our budgets are tight,"

          "Big business has robbed us like thieves in the night."

          Family run farming is passing away.

                by Rodney Alan Crater Copyright ©2007, 2023 Rodney Alan Crater

     Regarding the patenting of DNA and genes as mentioned by Specter (2013) - My thoughts trend as follows: If a person touches or is near a surface there is a chance that that person's DNA will be left on the surface. If the person does not collect the DNA before they leave the area then the person is abandoning their DNA and anyone who wants to collect it and use it can. So tell me please, what is to stop the dishwasher at the restaurants where the major stock holders, officers, and board members of the large GMO corporations eat, from collecting these persons' DNA and selling it to entrepreneurial biotechnicians who analyze and patent DNA features unique to these individuals? If someone then claimed their love child was a product of one the male members of the group the only way they could prove it would be to pay the entrepreneurial biotechnician whatever was demanded. To continue on what if any of the group previously mentioned wanted to participate in anything -- would they need permission from the entrepreneurial biotechnician since that technician technically now owns all rights to that person? The fact that any member of the group mentioned was dead or alive would be irrelevant. If such a person can be harnessed then what is to stop the legal enslavement of the entire human population? Personally I vote no to allowing the patenting of DNA except in the case where the sequence is truly a creation of the human hand and does not infringe upon the birth rights of any person.

     I now and in the past have not felt an urge to apply for a patent that would deny any person a healthier life, including a patent on genes or DNA. After all, morally could such a thing possibly be considered manslaughter or worse if the person denied were to die? There are many business models that could be sufficiently promoted to gain reasonable compensation rather than holding others hostage due to total control of an artifact. To my thinking greed is the enemy here and that which any reasonable person could conclude as adequate compensation is the moral code that should be followed. This leads me to question, if the corporations are being pressed by the shareholders to have higher profits, then who really are the guilty profiteers. 

If bird wings became patented how would the dove of freedom fly?

References

Crater, R. A. (2023). Dreams of America II: Johnny's Dispair. Retrieved on March 19, 2023, from http://rodneyspoems.blogspot.com/2007/01/

Resnik, D. B. (2004). DNA Patents and Agriculture. In Owning the Genome: A Moral Analysis of DNA Patenting. State University o New York Press.

Specter, M. (2013). Can We Patent Life? The New Yorker. Retrieved on March 19, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/can-we-patent-life