Just in case you've been in a cave for the last few years and haven't heard about this let me fill you in.
The human genome has been 'mapped.' That means that lots of DNA has been collected from humans and identified. So what? According to the Council for Responsible Genetics:
More likely, however, even broader monopolies may be given to those who have already patented genes or will do so soon. The human genome project has made clear that corporations that have already claimed genes as their own have, in fact, laid claim to a higher percentage of the entire human genome than they at first realized. Looking at the four leading private companies who patent genes, about 750 human genes have been patented by them so far and applications for about 20,000 more are pending. In the case that the pending patents are all awarded (which is unlikely, as many will prove to be redundant), those four private companies could own half of the human genome.
OK, so what? you ask.
Well, the latest thing is to spit into a cup and send it off to be analyzed at a lab---23 AND ME---so that you can find out your ancestry. It sucks at that. For instance it can tell you that you have Eastern European ancestry, maybe drop a little bomb in your life if you turn out to have had a Jewish ancestor and that surprises you for some reason. But so what? Oh, you want to know if you're going to die of heart disease at a young age? You want to know if you have a genetic disease and shouldn't breed?
Now, this post goes real well with one I did a couple of days ago--one about the Nazis. The Nazis did experiments with human beings and also were terribly concerned, obsessed, with eugenics. Eugenics was the study of race and involved identification of different racial characteristics in order to purge the world of the inferior races.
Back to today. When all of this focus on ancestry started up in the 90's I was very concerned about it. Suddenly everyone was on-line posting their family tree and researching their history. Very nice. And convenient. The Nazis had to do all of that work on their own. Now you're doing it for them.
Who owns 23 AND ME? Anne Wojcicki. Who? The wife of Sergey Brin. Who? The founder and owner of GOOGLE. Google is heavily invested in 23 AND ME. What does 23 AND ME do with your data? They keep it. Store it. Analyze it. Inventory and control. Remember? What is UN Agenda 21? It inventories and controls everything. Including you. What will they do with it? Whatever they want.
The human genome has been 'mapped.' That means that lots of DNA has been collected from humans and identified. So what? According to the Council for Responsible Genetics:
More likely, however, even broader monopolies may be given to those who have already patented genes or will do so soon. The human genome project has made clear that corporations that have already claimed genes as their own have, in fact, laid claim to a higher percentage of the entire human genome than they at first realized. Looking at the four leading private companies who patent genes, about 750 human genes have been patented by them so far and applications for about 20,000 more are pending. In the case that the pending patents are all awarded (which is unlikely, as many will prove to be redundant), those four private companies could own half of the human genome.
OK, so what? you ask.
Well, the latest thing is to spit into a cup and send it off to be analyzed at a lab---23 AND ME---so that you can find out your ancestry. It sucks at that. For instance it can tell you that you have Eastern European ancestry, maybe drop a little bomb in your life if you turn out to have had a Jewish ancestor and that surprises you for some reason. But so what? Oh, you want to know if you're going to die of heart disease at a young age? You want to know if you have a genetic disease and shouldn't breed?
Now, this post goes real well with one I did a couple of days ago--one about the Nazis. The Nazis did experiments with human beings and also were terribly concerned, obsessed, with eugenics. Eugenics was the study of race and involved identification of different racial characteristics in order to purge the world of the inferior races.
Back to today. When all of this focus on ancestry started up in the 90's I was very concerned about it. Suddenly everyone was on-line posting their family tree and researching their history. Very nice. And convenient. The Nazis had to do all of that work on their own. Now you're doing it for them.
Who owns 23 AND ME? Anne Wojcicki. Who? The wife of Sergey Brin. Who? The founder and owner of GOOGLE. Google is heavily invested in 23 AND ME. What does 23 AND ME do with your data? They keep it. Store it. Analyze it. Inventory and control. Remember? What is UN Agenda 21? It inventories and controls everything. Including you. What will they do with it? Whatever they want.
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