ETC Group News Release
Thursday, 22 July 2004
Civil society organizations (CSOs) and peoples’ movements convening at the first Americas Social Forum in Quito, Ecuador, July 25-30, are protesting J. Craig Venter’s US-government funded ocean expedition to collect and sequence microbial diversity from around the globe. Exotic microbes are the raw materials for creating new energy sources and even new life forms.
"Venter’s microbe-hunting expedition raises serious unanswered questions about sovereignty over genetic resources and resource privatization through patenting," says Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group who will attend the Social Forum. "Will the world’s microbes being collected by Venter become the raw ingredients for his research on the creation of new life forms? What role will Venter’s functionalized life forms play in nanobiotechnology, where scientists are merging living and non-living materials to create human-directed machines? The worst-case scenario is that these new life forms will form the templates for deadly bioweapons."
"Venter’s microbe-hunting expedition raises serious unanswered questions about sovereignty over genetic resources and resource privatization through patenting," says Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group who will attend the Social Forum. "Will the world’s microbes being collected by Venter become the raw ingredients for his research on the creation of new life forms? What role will Venter’s functionalized life forms play in nanobiotechnology, where scientists are merging living and non-living materials to create human-directed machines? The worst-case scenario is that these new life forms will form the templates for deadly bioweapons."
Etiquetas: Venter
0 Comentarios:
Publicar un comentario
Suscribirse a Comentarios de la entrada [Atom]
<< Página Principal