Patents on genetically engineered crops and animals dishonor the work of creation.
By Amy Woolam Echeverria and Fr. Brendan Lovett

Patents exist on everything from paper clips to airplanes. But have you heard of patenting life? It is an obscure-sounding concept to be sure, but its implications are concrete and life-threatening for millions of people around the world.

Just as scientists, artists, engineers and others patent and copyright their work, agribusiness and pharmaceutical companies such as Monsanto and Dow in the last 25 years have found a way to patent our most basic human rights: the right to food and access to medicine.

Through biotechnology known as genetic engineering or genetically modified organisms (GMOs), these companies are able to artificially manipulate the genetic structure of things such as rice, tomatoes, potatoes, herbs, fish and corn. These modifications allow these companies to deem the product a new invention and, therefore, apply for a patent.

This might sound like the long-honored American entrepreneurial spirit at work. But has science gone too far? By their very nature, patents create a division between those who have and those who have not; those who have access to something and those who do not. But when that something becomes our food source and basic life necessity, serious reservations should emerge.

There are many concerns surrounding GMOs and the patenting of food, such as risks to human health and tampering with the delicate balance of the ecosystem. But those most vulnerable to the patenting of life are the world’s farmers and indigenous communities.

Imagine an indigenous farmer in the Philippines whose crop for centuries has been rice and who has been taught the ancient knowledge that is passed from generation to generation. The culture of this farmer and his community is intimately defined by their relationship to their crop, the harvest and the land.

Now imagine what happens to this farmer and his community when agribusiness and GMO giants such as Monsanto decide to “acquire” this farmer’s seeds and knowledge and patent it. Worse still, for the farmer to continue to cultivate his crop, he must now buy the seeds from Monsanto—essentially the same seeds that have been a family tradition for countless decades.

Unable to buy the now costly seeds, the farmer and his community are forced to abandon their traditional livelihood, forcing them into even greater depths of poverty and marginalization. This is just one scenario of how patents threaten farmers.

Keep Creation Sacred
Life, which was once considered sacred and a gift from God in almost all the religions and cultures of the world, is now perceived by some as a human invention: a collection of genes and chemicals that can be engineered, bought and sold by a patent holder. Life will only have value in so far as it generates a profitable return on investment for large companies.

Such a reductionist, mechanistic and materialistic concept of life is at variance with the tenets of all major religions and the spiritual traditions of tribal peoples. A 19th century speech, attributed to the native North American Chief Seattle, bemoaned Western arrogance that thought we could “buy or sell the sky or the warmth of the land.” For Chief Seattle, every part of the Earth was sacred. But now, too little of the Earth is considered sacred.

The first line of the Bible insists that everything was created by a living God: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth” (Genesis 1:1). The text is very clear that all living beings, including human beings, are creatures of God.

The first account of creation goes on to teach that all beings have their own inherent value. This dignity derives from the fact that they are created by God (Genesis 1:12, 19-25). In the second account of creation, the man is given the privilege of naming the animals (Genesis 2:19-20). The text recognizes that all creatures, including humans, have a common origin. They are created from the soil.

God invites the man to care for the animals with a sense of responsibility and good stewardship. While this gives humans dominion over other creatures, it is not an arrogant dominion with the right to oppress and exploit. Rather, it is supposed to be patterned on God’s own care and sovereignty, enhancing God’s creation. This is expressed in Psalm 72:4-6 where the righteous king combines concern for the poor and care for the Earth’s creatures.

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, creation is an all-encompassing activity. It is not a once-off action in the distant past by a mechanistic God who immediately abandons the world to its own devices. God is perceived as living in each of His creatures in the here and now. God holds together the web of life and leads all creation into the future (Psalm 104). Our world is evolving and has its own unique processes.

God Places Limits
Patenting is a fundamental attack on an understanding of life as interconnected, mutually dependent and a gift of God given to all creation. “Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy corn without money, and eat, and, at no cost, wine and milk” (Isaiah 55:1).

Patenting instead opts for an atomized, isolated understanding of life. It is also at variance with the Judeo-Christian conviction that freedom, openness and possibility are the hallmarks of life in God’s creation.

The Bible recognizes that humans are companions and stewards of other creations in the community of life (Genesis 2:5). In Genesis 2:15-17, God settles the man in the garden and invites him to cultivate and care for it, but God places certain limits on the man’s use of the natural world.

Yahweh God gives him this admonition: “You may eat indeed of all the trees in the garden. Nevertheless, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat, for on the day you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).

The Bible is very critical of those who, puffed up with arrogance, refuse to recognize that they depend upon God. In the story of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11), humans repudiate God’s sovereignty and attempt to storm Heaven. It would not be misrepresenting the meaning of this text to interpret any claim to own life as usurping the Divine author of life.

Amy Woolam Echeverria is the director for the U.S. Columban Justice, Peace, Integrity of Creation Office in Washington D.C. Visit the JPIC page . Columban Father Brendan Lovett was ordained in 1966 and has served as a missionary in the Philippines. He is now a fellow at the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy in Ireland.