By Johnny Liberty

Genetic Engineering and Property Rights

The science of genetic engineering raised questions about who owns the genetically manipulated materials that scientists experiment with in their laboratories, and whether the people from whom the raw materials are extracted have rights to the proceeds from the resulting commercialized products. 

This issue became particularly relevant during the massive gene-altering experiment administered to the majority of the human population without first revealing the long-germ effects.

The administration of genetically altering human DNA/RNA injections implied that the altered individual DNA became owned by the corporation that owned patents to the technology. If the mRNA is designed to replicate throughout the host body, do corporations producing the mRNA technology have claims on or now own the majority of humanity? 

Sounds preposterous, but considering legal precedent and the modus operandi of the Global Power structure, let us think about this again. The answer is not entirely clear at this time, but the following historical case may further illuminate some of the issues.

In 1984, the UC Los Angeles Medical Center developed a cell line valuable in fighting bacteria and cancer. The University filed a patent claim on the line that was commercially developed. The human from whom the cell was taken filed a lawsuit claiming that he was entitled to a share of profits. 

The California Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that a donor has no “property right” in tissue removed from his or her body. Moreover, remuneration to a donor would hinder research by restricting access to necessary raw materials, thereby interfering with the progress of science.

A patent claim was filed under the name of U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, on the cell of a Guayami woman from Panama in 1993. Her DNA was of special interest because the Guyami people carry a unique virus whose antibodies may be useful in AIDS and leukemia research. International protest and action by the Guyami General Congress and supporters led to a withdrawal of the patent claim.

The U.S. Department of Commerce filed patent claims on the DNA of indigenous people from the Solomon Islands. The government of the Solomon Islands declared the action was an invasion of sovereignty with lack of “informed consent” by the “donors”, then demanded the genetic samples be repatriated. 

The U.S. Commerce Secretary responded with a letter that read, “There is no provision for considerations related to the source of cells that may be the subject of a patent application.”

Human Genome Diversity Project

The Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) harvests cells from indigenous people worldwide. This raises troubling questions about the exploitation of indigenous people for their genetic assets. This is not organizationally related to the Human Genome Project.

The HGDP-CEPH Human Genome Diversity Cell Line Panel, is a resource of 1,063 cultured lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from 1,050 individuals in 52 world populations, banked at the Foundation Jean Dausset-CEPH in Paris.

Since initially there existed a lack of international policy governing the human genetic material market, it was suggested that certain “contracts” may offer some control to those individuals who donate genetic materials.

However, contracts, treaties and other negotiations have historically provided indigenous people little protection from property-hungry interests. 

Furthermore, the idea of ownership and property rights being extended to all facets of the natural world is a western notion of law that is contrary to the concept of stewardship inherent in the cosmologies,  traditions and cultures of indigenous people.

Vampire Project Challenged by Indigenous Alliance

A consortium of scientists, universities, governments and private interests called the Human Genome Organization (HUGO) adopted the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) in 1994 to further their objective of mapping the entire human DNA sequence.

The multinational, multi-billion dollar project focused on 772 groups of indigenous people on the assumption that they will inevitably become extinct. Called the Vampire Project, the effort consisted of researchers gathering blood, hair roots, cheek scrapings and saliva samples from living people.

The cell samples were harvested from 50 people per group. Dr. Luca Cavalli-Sforza, a principle founder of the project, said the scientific rationale for selecting 50 individuals per group is that, “One person can bleed 50 people and get on an airplane in one day.”

The invasive project was challenged by an international alliance of indigenous peoples from South, Central and North America. The “First People”, as many indigenous humans refer to themselves, resented being identified as “isolates of historic Interest” by HUGO, thus questioned, then resisted, the ethical implications of the entire plan.

Indigenous communities were not only concerned with the obvious exploitation of their body parts. They were alarmed that the consequent information could be used for “racist” agendas, even genocide and biological warfare.

The Human Genome Diversity Project was the brainchild of Dr. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, a renowned population geneticist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. He wants to reconstruct the recent history of homo sapiens via a comparison of the genomes of different human populations. Why? “Purely in the interest of science,” he contended. 

The implications of his project were reviewed by UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee (IBC) in Paris, France. The group acknowledged the validity of the project’s scientific goals, but also endorsed the criticism of indigenous peoples, whose genes were the main targets of the research. Opponents of the project feared that indigenous groups would be exploited commercially by “genetic vampires”, doing Cavalli-Sforza’s bidding.

On the contrary, Dr. Cavalli-Sforza says the project should help to combat racism because experience so far shows that physiological and psychological intra-group differences are always greater than the mean differences between groups.

Dr. Cavalli-Sforza says, ”I have become used to being called a planner of genocide and of being accused of economic interest. My main aim is to defend the project and defend science.”

Human Tissue Enterprise Linked to U.S. Military

Human genetic material is routinely exchanged between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and biological warfare medical units at the Fort Detrick near Washington D.C., according to a report by the Rural Advancement Foundation (RAFI).

Fort Detrick is infamous for its history as the U.S. military’s primary biological warfare research center and medical intelligence headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense, also home of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) unit charged with monitoring medical data gleaned from foreign populations.

Initially, thousands of human tissue samples collected from indigenous people and isolated communities around the world were evaluated by the biotechnology industry, academic researchers, and the government. 

“There appear to be no policy or protocol barriers or ethical consideration to the routine exchange of foreign human cell lines between civilian researchers in the U.S. government and their military counterparts,” said RAFI Executive Director, Pat Roy.

References:

1. Wikipedia | Human Genome Project.
2. Wikipedia | Human Genome Diversity Project; Patenting of Life and Its Implications for Indigenous Peoples, Debra Harry, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; North American News Service, Summer ‘96, p.17.
3. Human Genome Organization (HUGO).
4. Nature  (October 5, 1995); The Human Genome Diversity Project and Its Implications for Indigenous Peoples, Debra Harry, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; Abya Yala News, Spring 1995; Reviewed by Estar Holmes, Summer ‘96, p.17.
5. Edward Hammond, principal author of the communiqué, New Questions About Management and Exchange of Human Tissues at NIH/Indigenous Persons Cells Patented.

Source: Sovereign’s Handbook by Johnny Liberty (30th Anniversary Edition), Volume 1 of 3, p.254 – 257

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