Global Visions

Lupe Fiasco

I read this in Lupe’s Twitter feed a little while and thought it was a quote worth posting, for it raises several interesting questions - pertaining specifically to the agriculture and pharmaceutical industries. Obviously referring to the current wake of controversy bio-tech firm Monsanto has been experiencing in recent times, Lupe’s remarks are rather timely in nature - but upon doing a little bit of research, I discovered some other interesting information. Not only is there potential for modified genes to be claimed as “intellectual property”, but it is also possible for terrorism to be carried out through genetic modification, possible only by infiltration of FDA-approved corporations (such as Monsanto, which is already under investigation for exactly that). Is something such as “food terrorism” even possible in today’s already impossible-to-predict world? Apparently so, and the chance of a widespread attack appears to only be growing. This, combined with the potential for royalty collections for patented modified genes, creates a very bleak picture for the future of the food and drug industry indeed - the good thing is, the government is already investigating the aforementioned allegations towards Monsanto and other bio-tech firms. However, the unfortunate fact of the matter is the only people who know how far this corruption has perpetrated itself are the ones at the top of the “leadership food chain”, so to speak. Interesting times ahead, that is for sure.