The Corporation Page #10

to keep those

empty boxes there.

You walk out

into the street

and you hear some people

having kind of a loud conversation

about a musical act

and they are passing

headphones back and forth

and going

this is great!

Hey do you know that I heard

this CD is really hard to find

but I heard they

sell it at store X.

You hear that and

you register it

and you might kind

of pick up on that

and may be later

on you'll think

hey I wonder what the

hot act is bang

that might be in your head.

Now you get

into your office

and there's a certain brand

of water in the refrigerator.

What is that?

You take it out you drink

you slug it down it's there

not really

thinking about it.

Wow!

That's pretty good water.

Who knows?

Maybe someone placed

the water there

You kind of go out

for your lunch break

you're sitting in the park and

people are kind of out there

talking in the

park and bang

all of a sudden you

hear another message.

By the time you go to bed

you've probably received

eight or nine different

undercover messages.

People are always thinking

well oh I know

product placement.

That's when they

put stuff in movies!

Well yes kind of.

I mean that's definitely

traditional product placement.

But real life product

placement is just that:

Placing stuff in movies but

the movie's actually your life

Well take a group

of attainable

but still

inspirational people

they are not supermodels

they are kind of

people just like you

they're doing

something for us

whether they are having

a certain kind of drink

or they are using

a certain laundry detergent

whatever it may be.

They are kind of the

roach motel if you will

People are going

to come over to them

and they are

going to give them

this little piece

of brand bait.

It could be a sound bite

of knowledge or a ritual.

Consumers will get that

piece of roach bait

then they

would take it.

Oh pretty cool!

Then they go out and

spread it to their friends.

If you want to be critical

if you want to go through

your life like that

sure be critical

of every single person

that walks up to you.

But if they are showing

you something that fits

and something that works

and something that makes

your life better in some way

well then who cares.

We again

just say thanks!

Today the job of building

this nation geographically

is completed.

There are no new frontiers

within or borders.

So to what new horizons

can we look now?

Where are tomorrows

opportunities?

What's ahead for you

for your children?

The frontiers of the

future are not on any map.

They're in the test

tubes and laboratories

of the great industries.

The Chakrabarty case is one of

the great judicial moments

in world history.

And the public

was totally unaware

it was actually happening as

a process was being engaged.

General Electric

and Professor Chakrabarty

went to the patent office

with a little microbe

that eats up oil spills.

They said they had modified

this microbe in the laboratory

and therefore it

was an invention.

The patent office and

the U.S. Government

took a look at this

quote invention;

they said no way.

The patent statures don't

cover living things.

This is not an invention.

Turned down.

Then General Electric and

Doctor Chakrabarty

appealed to the U.S. Customs

Court of Appeal.

And to everyone's surprise

by a three to two decision

they overrode

the patent office.

They said this

microbe looks more

like a detergent

or a reagent

than a horse or a honeybee.

I laugh because they didn't

understand basic biology;

it looked like a

chemical to them.

Had it had an antenna or

eyes or wings or legs

it would never have crossed

their table and been patented.

Then the patent

office appealed.

And what the public

should realize now

is the patent office

was very clear

that you cant

patent life.

My organization provided

the main amicus curiae brief

if you allow the patent on

this microbe we argued

it means that without any

congressional guidance

or public discussion

corporations will own

the blueprints of life.

When they made the decision

we lost by five to four

and Chief Justice

Warren said

sure some of these

are big issues

but we think this

is a small decision.

Seven years later

the U.S. Patent office issued

a one sentence decree

you can patent anything

in the world that's alive

except a full birth

human being.

We've all been hearing

about the announcement

that we have mapped

the human genome.

But what the public

doesn't know

is now there's this great

race by genomic companies

and biotech companies

and life science companies

to find the treasure

in the map.

The treasure are

the individual genes

that make up the blueprint

of the human race.

Every time they capture

agene and isolate it

these biotech companies

they claim it as

intellectual property.

The breast cancer gene

the cystic fibrosis gene

it goes on and

on and on.

If this goes unchallenged in

the world community

within less than 10 years

a handful of global

companies will own

directly or through license

the actual genes that make up

the evolution of our species.

And they're now beginning

to patent the genomes

of every other creature

on this planet.

In the age of biology the

politics is going to sort out

between those who believe life

first has intrinsic value

and therefore we should

choose technologies

and commercial venues

that honour

the intrinsic value...

And then we're going

to have people who believe

look life is

a simple utility.

It's commercial fare

and they will line up

with the idea

to let the marketplace be

the ultimate arbiter

of all of the age

of biology.

In a world economy where

information is filtered

by global media corporations

keenly attuned to their

powerful advertisers

who will defend

the publics right to know?

And what price must be

paid to preserve our ability

to make informed choices?

What Fox Television told us

was that we were just the people

to be the investigators.

Do any stories you want

ask tough questions

and get answers.

So we thought

this is great

this is a dream job.

Fantastic.

The very first

thing they had us do

was not to research stories

but to shoot this

promo which was...

The Investigators.

Uncovering the truth

getting results

protecting you.

And they had a film

crew a smoke machine

were silhouetted...

One of the first stories

that Jane came up with

was the revelation

that most of the milk

in the state of Florida

and throughout much of the

country was adulterated

with the effects of bovine

growth hormone

with Monsanto I didn't realize

how effectively a corporation

could work to get something

on the marketplace.

The levels of coordination

they had to have.

They had to get university

professors into the fold.

They had to get

experts into the fold.

They had to get

reporters into the fold

They had to get

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