April 11, 2012. Criticisms of Corporate Capitalism Too much power Not enough public oversight Short-term profit orientation Insufficient loyalty to traditional.

April 11, 2012

Criticisms of Corporate CapitalismToo much power Not enough public oversightShort-term profit orientationInsufficient loyalty to traditional local

communitiesWillingness to engage in questionable practices:

Industrial espionage, pretextingAdvertising unhealthy products, espec. to childrenCorporate responsibility PR as cover for unethical

activities

What’s Wrong with Corporate Food?Favor monoculture forms of agriculture

which undermines biodiversityFavor “high-priced, high-margin luxury items

– flowers, potted plants, beef, shrimp, cotton, coffee – for export to already overfed countries”

Favor “machine-intensive production” also called factory farms

Ruth OzekiTwo great books: All Over Creation (2004)

and My Year of Meats (1999)Web site: http://ruthozeki.comBasic premise of All Over Creation: struggle

over factory potato farms in IdahoIntro of genetically modified potatoesPurpose to reduce overuse of fertilizers and

pesticides“The terminator” – genetic modification to

prevent farmer sales of seeds of new organisms

Michael PollanThe Botany of

Desire (2002)The

Omnivore’s Dilemma (2007)

In Defense of Food (2009)

Food Rules (2009)On the Daily Show

The Slow Food MovementCarlo PetriniMcDonald’s at the

Spanish Steps in Rome

Global movement with local chapters called Convivia

Video about Slow Food in Toronto

DiversityBiodiversityEconomic DiversityCultural Diversity

Need to ask whether the preservation of economic and cultural diversity has the same moral/political standing as the preservation of biodiversity.

Threats to the Genetic Commons“…now subject to reinvention through

genetic engineering and transformed into patentable commodities.”

Who benefits from stricter intellectual property protection for new organisms?MonsantoNovartisDupontPioneer

Source: Alternatives to Globalization, pp. 113-114

Bio-Prospecting“Pharmaceutical companies are especially

eager for access and the rights to patent genetic material. Their representatives travel the globe, exploring traditional native remedies in jungles and fields. They also extract blood and scrape “buccal mucosa” from skins of native peoples wherever they can, hoping to find genes that contain natural resistance to certain maladies.”

The rosy periwinkle which grows in MadagascarIs used to treat diabetes and cancer.

Old Bio-Prospecting: The Case of Orchid HuntersThese adventurous men would

often risk their lives to earn the huge sums of money that were on offer. In their quest they had to cope with tropical diseases, swarms of insects, venomous snakes, giant spiders, wild animals, hostile tribesmen and floods. In addition, they had to contend with competition from other hunters, corruption, intrigue, spying and probably murder, too. Whoever managed to survive these perils and bring the plants back safely to Europe soon became rich and also honored, as the orchids were often named after the finder.

Source: http://www.maljonicsdreams.com/orchids/orchid_history.htm

The New Bio-Prospecting: The Case of Thermus aquaticus1966 discovery of microorganisms living in

Yellowstone’s hot springs1985 Cetus Corporation discovers new way

to duplicate genetic material via polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

PCR required high temperatures that often destroyed the enzymes created

A high-temperature tolerant enzyme was isolated from Thermus aquaticus and added to PCR to make it work betterSource: http://www.nature.nps.gov/benefitssharing/whatis.cfm

Can the New Bio-Prospecting Help to Preserve Global Cultural and Bio-diversity?Makes indigenous peoples stakeholders in

the new bio-sciencesOwn the land where new organisms are foundInvented the folk medicines that may become

patentable pharmaceuticals via bio-prospectingGives the ethnic communities in rain forests

and other remote locations a potential new source of income/wealth and an incentive to manage natural resources wisely

The Precautionary Principle“When there are threats of serious or

irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental damage.” (Alternatives to Globalization, p. 101)

The original source is the Declaration of Rio signed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.