What's wrong with Biotech?

Abhishek Seth, an aspiring writer, disgruntled citizen and my alter ego writes for TBI. The content is not by any length a measure of his capability as a writer. The opinions in this post are solely his own.

And yes if this offends you….well, it was meant to!

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What's wrong with Bt?
The above question should not be treated as a mere rhetoric. Think, churn your grey cells, and dust those cobwebs. Remove those self-imposed blinders of fantasy, grandeur and take a look around.

2% of those who pass with a Bt graduate degree will actually be in a position to make a difference. The unfortunate who choose to stay will further someone else’s thoughts and designs on how the world must be. In pharma companies, research institutes or as solution providers they will act as facilitators of borrowed intellect.

Which brings me to the original purpose of the majority while joining Bt, it must have been “to make a difference” or better yet “heal humanity”. Discover a new molecule to rid mankind of very bloody conceivable disease, food for all, agricultural revolution via restructured crops and so on. How many of them actually do something about it?

WHO GIVES A SHIT, RIGHT!

We want to be marketing heads, in management earning money for MNCs. That’s the truth. Even if someone gets into corporate financed research, the direction of research is seldom defined by the person at work. You just rehash protocols, make generics most of the time. Even if you come up with some novel idea, by the time it reaches manufacturing, its cost is so high that it can’t be afforded by common people.

The structure of research today is such that it necessarily is detrimental to the primary benefactor, the people. Companies have one agenda, ‘the bottom line’. If it has or cannot be met by your work, it is a failure. The validity of an idea depends on how useful it is to the people, translated it means can we make money off your back. That’s all there is to it.

Show me a corporate financed project which does not benefit the company and I’ll show you a delusional moron who refuses to wake up from his dream.

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Proponents of gene manipulation argue that we must not be averse to new technologies as it has so much potential to improve the quality of life of the masses. GM food can annihilate wide-spread hunger not only in India but also throughout the world. Less fertilizers, more productivity, more income, everyone will be happy. But they are not, are they?

Here is a question for these geneticists;

Is there a way to fully determine the risk factors of introducing such a crop in the environment?

The answer is a predictable, of course not. As the technology is in the nascent stage, there is a lot we need to know before such an assessment can be made. It can be predicted to 60% accuracy at the best. We will work at it as it comes, that is how research works.

Wait a minute, if it isn’t fully safe why is it already in our environment? There is a possibility that these crops will mutate into God knows what shit, or even worse they will give rise to super bugs with newer diseases. All hell might break loose, but it’s a part of research isn’t it.

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My pet peeve

Many scientists or researchers have this notion or rather firmly believe that a few casualties as a collateral in a research is acceptable for the “greater good”. So many lives will be saved later on.

Hey dumbass, how about enlisting your daughter or your mother in the test. Maybe the next time you calculate the therapeutic index of a drug, put them up for lethal dose studies. Let’s see your commitment to the greater cause then. Frickin hypocrites!