(EC) Should We be Allowed to Patent Life?

Polio, one of the most dreaded diseases of the 20th century has largely been eradicated due to the discovery of the polio vaccine by a man named Jonas Salk. Hundreds of thousands of children died from this terrible disease before Salk invented this vaccine, and people lived in fear of their child being infected. But Salk’s vaccine

changed all that. Such an amazing invention, surely Salk patented it right? Wrong. When Salk was asked who owned the patent for his vaccine, he answered, “Well the people I guess. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”

Salk had a good point, after all, the life the vaccine was made of, just like the sun does not belong to any one person. It makes sense that we shouldn’t and perhaps couldn’t patent a living thing that does not really belong to us anyway right? Well that’s what I would have thought anyway, but oddly after watching Food Inc. a documentary about the production of our food, I know that we definitely should not be allowed to patent life, but for some reason some companies have been allowed to do so.

In the documentary Food Inc. we are shown just how closely linked

just about every company is that gives us the majority of our food. Everything from Beef to Soybeans is connected in some way and these companies control the way that farms and the markets are run. Though what really caught my attention in the film was the story of Monsanto. This company ruthlessly hassles farmers and forces farmers to always buy all of their seed from them. They spy on the farmers and if they catch them using seed that they have not bought from them, they will sue them for all that they own. How do they do this you ask?

Well they have patented the seed that’s how. Yes, Monsanto also the makers of Roundup made a genetically modified soybean that they then patented. They now force all farmers to buy these seeds from them. So just don’t buy those seeds right? Well the problem is that the seeds are alive. They blow around and bees cross pollinate Monsanto crops to the regular one. Now all of the genes are mixed up and Monsanto claims that the farmers are guilty of patent infringement.

Now due to this one patent, Monsanto has become almost a god of soybeans, punishing those who dare touch their creation without paying first of course. This is precisely why we should not be allowed to patent life, it allows for too much wiggle room, after all, life changes and slowly adapts. At what point is it still the original creation? This is no end to the loopholes.