Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patents and Lobbying Down Everyone's Throat

Lawrence Lessig
Photo by Joi Ito



Summary: The impact of intellectual monopolies (such as patents), as well as lobbying by the industrial farming giants, on our diet

In the age of patent maximalism and corporate-run governments (taking away from the public and giving everything to few private hands) we are no longer allowed to even grow our own food [1]. There is a strong confrontation against the likes of Monsanto, which seek to own all of the world's food supply (animals too), putting aside the real debate over the health problems that genetically-modified crops are demonstrated to have caused (plenty of that in peer-reviewed literature). As one commenter puts it: "Most folks around here who garden grow potatoes and nobody i know uses patented varieties" (though the notion of having patents on organisms is contemptible in its own right).



"Perhaps when people's health will degrade they will finally realise that GMO and government-subsidised obesity-inducing 'foods' are a very serious issue."Agriculture is under a real, malicious, never-ending attack by the Cult of Patents and in this age of public perception manipulation [2] even our dietary choice are affected by heavy lobbying [3], as Larry Lessig helped show in his talks about fructose.

Perhaps when people's health will degrade they will finally realise that GMO and government-subsidised obesity-inducing 'foods' are a very serious issue. Sadly, as some of those people will die, there won't be many of them left to speak out.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. We Have a Right to Save Seeds. Right?
    Growing food should present no legal problems. You plant seeds, care for the plants, harvest the food, then save some seeds for the next year. Right?

    Not anymore. Big agribusinesses are enclosing the seed commons. Seed ownership has become complex, littered with regulation, copyright issues, forgery charges and corporate manipulation.


  2. Wiki-PR conducting "a concerted attack" on Wikipedia


  3. Obesity experts appalled by EU move to approve health claim for fructose
    Food firms using fructose will be able to boast of health benefits despite fruit sugar being implicated in soaring US obesity levels




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