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Life Running Out of Control

Gene Food and Designerbabies
2004 | 95 min | Recommended min. age: 14 y

In the mid-eighties, science, with the help of genetic technology, finds the key to mastering the Earth and its creatures. Suddenly, everything seems possible! Twenty years later, we embark on a global journey to explore the progressive genetic manipulation of plants, animals and human beings:

In India, a disastrous crop of genetically modified cotton leaves many farmers facing ruin. They resort to selling a kidney – or committing suicide. In Canada, genetically modified canola seeds blow onto the fields of neighbouring organic farms, making ecological farming impossible. The Icelandic parliament sells information on the entire population’s genes to a private company that, in turn, plans to turn over the data at a profit to the pharmaceutical industry and insurance companies. A research project, described as a “vampire project”, involves taking blood, hair and saliva samples from 700 so-called threatened ethnic groups on the pretext of preventive health. The gene samples wander into the laboratories of industry where they provide the basis for developing treatments for valuable patents.

Worldwide, only a handful of scientists are defying industry, carrying out independent research into the effects of transgenic animals and plants on the environment and our health. This film meets them and hears their stories.

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