Monsanto's 21st Century Oath: Do No Harm

In preparation for his meeting with executives at Monsanto in St. Louis, MO, Reverend Nate Walker of the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia reflects upon three principles of biomedical ethics: (1) nonmaleficence, do no harm; (2) beneficence, generous acts of doing good; and (3) distributive justice, achieved through the fair, equitable and appropriate distribution of food. This sermon demonstrates how the "Grant Oath" can inspire the entire field of biotechnology to prevent harm, remove harmful conditions, and offer benefits to people, animals and the environment. Visit http://bit.ly/5DXibT for the sermon text, including footnotes, which is part II of his series on Sovereign Seeds, a public letter delivered to the CEO of Monsanto on November 1, 2009. Visit http://bit.ly/4oDHcv to listen/read this original sermon.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Monsanto
• food
• biotechnology
• nate
• walker
• unitarian
• universalist
• nathan
• philadel

[soloeinhander]

Nathan I liked what you said so much that I looked u up on google and I see your very accomplished.

[sallymabelle]

According to a recent article I read in the UU World magazine, Maureen Mazurek, Monsanto's director of human rights, said that what keps her awake at night are concerns about people who champion strictly organic food; the organic agenda, Mazurek said, was not sustainable for a growing world population - I would like to hear what the organic advocates have to say about this.

[crnel]

I think it's very cool that Monsanto is realigning its modus operandis behind good ethical principles. However, this does not address a more fundamental problem that Monsanto has abusively taken advantage of - the right to own patents on gene sequences and thereby own all life forms that they wind up in, plus their ever increasing power to sue and punish farmers who inadvertently wind up with gene tainted seeds they didn't pay for. Monsanto disallows the practice of using seed crops...(cont)

[atomicchitlin]

It's too late to save Monsanto's soul - We can improve yields right now without GM crops - Search "Path to Freedom" an urban farm in CA - search "Will Allen" "Growing Power" - search Terra Preta or BioChar - search "cold water agriculture" Vertical Farms, Hydroponics etc, etc Many many alternatives that put the power in the hands of the people

[uuplanet]

Thanks Nate. Look forward to following this. FYI this video is featured sermon on uuplanet tv now.

[19AnUUne42]

Thanks for what you have set in motion! It is exciting to know that one of the Big Guys is willing to stop and listen