sowing the seeds of a new revolution
1. gene technology is already being used in a variety of fields--including agriculture and medicine--to fashion a bio-industrial world. after thousands of years of adapting inanimate matter to create useful things we are now modifying living material to make commercial goods.
2. the global life science companies are quickly manoeuvring to exert their influence and control over the new genetic commerce. typical of the trend is the bold decision by chemical giants such as monsanto, novartis, hoechst and dupont to spin off or sell their chemical divisions and anchor their research, development and marketing in biotech-based technologies and products.
3. at the heart of any discussion of the new genetic commerce is the issue of patenting the genetic blueprints of millions of years of evolution. the forces that control these genetic resources will exercise tremendous power over the world economy in the future.
4. multinational corporations are already scouting the continents, hoping to locate microbes, plants, animals, and humans with rare genetic traits that might have future market potential which they can patent as their new "inventions". the financial rewards of successful bio-prospecting are likely to be significant. already patents have been awarded for a genetically engineered sweet protein derived from a west african plant called thanmatin. the thaumatin plant protein is 100,000 times sweeter than sugar, making it' the sweetest substance on earth. with the market for low-calorie sweeteners nearing $1 billion a year in the us alone, thaumatin is likely to become a cash cow.
5. extending patents to life raises the important legal question of whether engineered genes, cells, tissues, organs and whole organisms, are truly human inventions or merely discoveries of nature that have been skillfully modified. in order to qualify as a patented invention in most countries, the inventor must prove that the object is novel, non-obvious, and useful.
6. but even if something fulfils these criteria, if it is a discovery of nature it is not an invention and, therefore, not patentable. for this reason, the discovery of chemical elements in the periodic table, while unique, non-obvious when first isolated and purified, and very useful, was none the less not considered patentable as they were discoveries of nature, even though some degree of human ingenuity went into isolating and classifying them.
7. the united states patent office (pto) has said, however, that the isolation and classification of a gene's properties and purposes is sufficient to claim it as an invention.
8. the prevailing logic becomes even more strained when consideration tums to patenting a cell, or a genetically modified organ, or a whole animal. is a kidney patentable simply because it has been subjected to a slight genetic modification? what about chimpanzees, who share 99 per cent of our genetic makeup? should they qualify as human inventions if researchers insert a single gene into their biological makeup? the answer from the patent office is, yes.
9. corporate efforts to turn genes into a commodity are meeting strong resistance from a growing number of non-governmental organizations and countries in the southern hemisphere, who are beginning to demand an equitable share of the fruits of the biotech revolution.
10. southern countries claim that what northern companies call "inventions" are really the pirating of their local genetic resources and the accumulated indigenous knowledge of how to use them. the companies argue that patent protection is essential if they are to risk f~nancial resources and years of research and deve 1 opment, bringing new and useful products to market.
11. it is expected that within less than eight years, nearly all 60;000 or so genes that make up the genetic blueprints of the human race will have been identified and become the intellectual property of transnational life science companies. transnational firms are also patenting human chromosomes, cells, 'tissues and organs. ppl, the company that cloned the sheep named dolly, has applied for a patent that includes cloned human embryos as intellectual property.
12. the debate over life patents is one of the most important issues yet to face humans. life patents strike at the core of our beliefs about the very nature of life and whether it is to be conceived of as having intrinsic, or mere utility value.
13. genetic activists are now beginning to argue that the world's gene pool should be maintained by international agreement as shared and open. if the genetic blueprints of millions of years of evolution are allowed to be reduced to intellectual property in the hands of governments or life science companies, future generations risk the very real possibility of "gene wars", just as past generations fought wars over fossil fuels, mineral and metals--the raw resources of the industrial age.
14. the battle to keep the earth's gene pool free from the patent office and free of commercial exploitation is going to become one of the critical struggles of the biotech age.
参考译文：新革命的开端
1．基因技术正大量应用于包括农业和医学在内的各个领域，一个生物工 业世界初具形态。千万年来，人们将无生命的东西制成有用之物；而现在， 我们将有生命的东西转化为商品。
2．全世界的生命科学公司正迅速采取行动，以期在这一新兴的基因商业 领域发挥自身的作用，并夺取控制权。典型的赶潮流者如曼珊托、诺瓦提斯， 荷企斯特和杜邦这样的化学巨头都毅然决定甩掉或出售其化学部门，而把研 究、开发和营销锁定在以生物技术为基础的技术和产品上。
3．关于新兴的基因商业争论的核心在于几百万年进化形成的基因蓝图是 否适用专利权。谁掌握这些基因资源，谁就能对未来的世界经济起到举足轻 重的作用。
4．一些多国公司已开始搜索全球各大陆，以发掘具备稀有基因特征，且 具有市场潜力的微生物、植物、动物和人种，以此作为其“发明”申请专利。 成功的生物开发有望得到丰厚的经济回报。一种生长在西非的植物叫作“索 默丁”，运用基因工程从中制造出来的甜蛋白已经获得了专利权。这种索默丁 植物蛋白的甜度要比普通糖高出10万倍，使其成为全球甜度最高的物质。低 热量增甜剂的市场单在美国就接近每年十亿美元之巨，因此索默丁即可能成 为商家们的摇钱树。
5．将专利权扩展到生命范畴触及到了一个重要的法律问题：人工基因、 细胞、组织、器官和整个生物到底是真正的人类发明呢，还是经过巧妙改造 的自然界的新发现呢?在大部分国家，要符合专利发明条件，发明者必须征 明其发明物具备新颖性、复杂性和实用性。
6．但是，即便是某物符合以上标准，如果它只是自然界的发现，就不是 发明，因而不能申请专利。因此，元素周期表中化学元素，虽然首次分离和 和提纯时是独一无二的，并非一目了然，且用途广泛，却仍然不能考虑申请 专利，因为它们只是自然界的发现，即使在分离和分类过程中体现了人的某 种创造性。
7．尽管如此，美国专利署已发话：将一种基因的特性及其存在目的进行 分离和分类之工作足可称之为发明。
8．要为一个细胞，一个通过基因改造的器官或是一个整体动物申请专利，则更难符合目前盛行的逻辑了。一个肾脏稍做基因改造就能申请专利吗?百 分之九十九基因构成同人类一模一样的猿该如何看待呢?如果研究人员给自 己的生物构成加入一个单基因，它们自己是否应算作人类发明物呢?专利署 的答复是，是的。
9．企业使基因商品化之图谋遭到南半球越来越多国家和非政府组织的极力反对，他们开始要求平等地占有生物技术革命的成果。
10．南半球国家称，北半球公司的所谓“发明”实际上只是不但掠夺了他们当地的基因资源，而且掠’夺了他们通过长期积累而形成的关于如何利用这 些资源的知识，这些企业却反驳说要给市场提供新颖实用的产品，他们需要 承担投资风险，并且需要多年探索和开发，所以，专利保护是必不可少的。
11．预计不出八年，构成人类基因蓝图的大约6万个基因将得到认定，并成为一些跨国生命科学公司的知识产品。同时，跨国公司还在对人类的染色 体、细胞、组织和器官申请专利。ppl(克隆绵羊多莉的那家公司)已经提出 一项专利申请，其中包括将克隆的人类胚胎作为知识产品。
12．生命专利权的争论是人类将要面临的最重要的问题之一。生命专利权问题触及到人类关于生命本质的一些核心观念，以及生命有其固有价值，还 是只有使用价值的问题。
13，基因工程活动家们开始主张世界基因库应由国际公约来维护，使其全 ，球共享并自由开放。如允许几百万年进化而来的基因蓝图沦为为某些政府或 生命科学公司的知识产品，将来的人类极有可能面临一场“基因大战”，就象 过去的人类为争夺化石燃料、矿藏和金属这些工业时代的原料而大动干戈一 样。
14．使地球基因库摆脱专利局的控制和商业性利用的斗争将是生物技术时代的关键战役之一。