Sadly, the grumpy pansies have been replaced by these orange zinnias. I happened to pick up one of the potting tags and discovered the phrase “Unauthorized Propagation Prohibited” printed on the back, as you can see in the image. It so happened that a tag from the pansies was still buried in the small plot; no such prohibition on it — I guess nobody is that interested in pansies. Sad little pansies.
Even though I thought briefly of posting about it, I’d decided not to … until I read this Technocrat article.
What are being called the “Gene Giants” are busily going around the world and filing patents on genes, the stuff of life. Although research is nice and improving yields and developing stress tolerances is welcome…how far can this go before it is near impossible to grow anything without owning someone for their “intellectual property rights”? Is this really a good idea long range?
—zogger, Patenting the Natural World, Technocrat
Further continuous tyrannical oppression on the continuity of life.