The Noble Lie

Read about the effort EFF Board Chairman Brad Templeton put into making this clip without violating the DMCA.

The ACLU announces they are filing suit against the federal government's practice of patenting human genes. According to their numbers, 20% of the human genome has already been claimed by companies as intellectual property. The particular genes in question at the moment are BRCA1 and BRCA2, genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer (and the ability to research cures using these genes).

A related issue is the patenting of pretty much every plant, animal, and other form of life, by companies like Monsanto.

Reading about HR 875 took my breath away. I raised hell on my blog, at work, to pretty much anyone who would listen. I read the bill and some of the other bills and acts it references, trying to get a handle on what all this means. Walter at Overlawyered and and Patrick at Popehat have both pointed out that the posturing and backpedaling may have already begun on this bill.

Since then, I've learned that HR 875 is just one bullet in the clip. Steve Lendman of GlobalResearch.ca posted a chronicle of food laws and GMO proliferation so thick, it put me into a state of shock and I almost gave up on trying to keep track of this stuff.

Other bills worth following:

• S 425: Food Safety and Tracking Improving Act
• HR 814: Trace Act of 2009
• HR 759: Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009