the new columbus: craig venter conquers
latin american genes
On July 9th 2004, the government of
Bermuda publicly expressed its concern that
their genetic resources would be
commercially exploited through two
bioprospection projects headed by Diversa
and by Dr. Craig Venter. While Diversa were
collecting a protein from a coral that is
traded as a biotechnological tool, Venter
was focusing on finding organisms in the
Sargasso Sea, which could turn carbon
dioxide into a clean source of energy. His
project has received 9 million dollars from
the US Energy Department and has collected
and de-codified more than 1800 new
spices.
Operating from Venter’s 90-ft. yacht,
the Sorcerer II, researchers have collected
samples in the territorial waters of
Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador
(Galapagos Islands), Chile and French
Polynesia, and in the case of Ecuador and
Costa Rica, without any authorization from
the national authorities.
Craig Venter is known for his role in
mapping human genes as part of the Human
Genome project, where he controversially
filed for US patents on thousands of gene
sequences from the human brain. The US
Patent office ultimately denied the
patent.
