தடுப்பூசி குறித்த சீமானின் அபாயகரமான நிலைப்பாட்டுக்கு ஒரு சவால்....

தடுப்பூசிகள் தேவையே இல்லை, மரபுவழி மருத்துவமும், சுத்தமான காற்று/நீர்/உணவும் நோய்களில்லாத வாழ்வைத்தரும் என்று திரைப்பட நடிகர் சீமான் தொலைக்காட்சி நிகழ்ச்சி ஒன்றில் சொன்னார். யாரும்  சுத்தமான காற்றும், நீரும், உணவும் வேண்டாம் என்றோ, இவற்றால் பயன் இல்லை என்றோ சொல்ல முடியாது. நம்முடைய பிரச்சனை அதுவல்ல. தடுப்பூசிகள் தேவையில்லை என்று முரண்டு பிடிக்கும் முட்டாள்தனமே நம் பிரச்சனை.

நோய்கள் கண்ணுக்குப் புலப்படாத பாக்டீரியா, வைரஸ் மற்றும் இதர நுண்ணுயிரிகளால் வருவதை அவர் மறுக்கிறாரா? நோய்கள் பலவகைப்படும். பிறவிக்கு குறைபாடுகள், சத்துப் பற்றாக்குறை, உடலில் ஏற்படும் மாற்றங்கள், பரம்பரை வியாதிகள், உணவு/வாழ்க்கை முறையினால் வரும் நோய்கள், தொற்று வியாதிகள் என்று பல உள்ளன. இதில், தடுப்பூசிகள் தொற்று நோய்களையே பெரும்பாலும் தடுக்கின்றன. இப்படி இருக்க, சீமானின் பேச்சு, வாழ்க்கைமுறையினால் வரும் நோய்களைப்போல தோற்று நோய்களையும் உணவு, உடற்பயிற்சி போன்ற வழிகளில் சரி செய்துவிடலாம் என்பது போல உள்ளது.

நாம் சற்று பின்னோக்கிப் பார்த்தால், நம் நாட்டு மரபுவழி மருத்துவங்களில்கூட பல தோற்று நோய்கள் பற்றிய குறிப்புகள் உள்ளன. இந்த நோய்கள் நவீன அறிவியல் மற்றும் செயற்கை உரம்/பூச்சிக்கொல்லி/மாசு ஆகியவை தோன்றும் முன்பே இருந்துள்ளன என்பதற்கு நம் நாட்டு மருத்துவ முறைகளான சித்த/ஆயுர்வேத நூல்களே சான்று. மேலும், வாழ்க்கைமுறை மாற்றங்களால் இன்று நம்மை அதிகம் தாக்கும் நோய்கள்கூட அன்றே இருந்துள்ளன. அவற்றின் அளவு குறைவாக இருந்தது என்பதே சரி. ஆகா, சீமான் சொல்வது சரி என்றால், எதனால் இயற்கையோடு இணைந்து வாழ்ந்த நம் முன்னோர்கள் தொற்று நோய்களுக்கு கொத்துக் கொத்தாக செத்து மடிந்தனர்?

சரி, இப்போது விஷயத்துக்கு வருவோம்... தலைப்பில் உள்ளபடி, சீமானோ, அவரது தம்பிகளோ தடுப்பூசி இல்லாமல் வெறிநாயிடம் கடிவாங்கி தங்கள் வீரத்தை நிரூபிக்க முடியுமா? வெறிநாய் கடிக்கு எந்த உணவு மருந்தாகும் சீமான் அவர்களே? உங்கள் பாரம்பரியம் பண்பாடு என்ற போலி இனஉணரவுக்கு மயங்கி, தமிழர்களின் பிள்ளைகள் நோய்கள் வந்து உயிரையே, நல்ல உடல் நலத்தையோ இழந்தால் அதற்க்கு நீங்கள் பொறுபேர்ப்பீர்களா? ஒரு சமுதாயத்தையே அறிவுக்குருடராக்குவதே உங்கள் வேலையா?

சீமான் மற்றும் அவர் தமபிகளுக்கு ஒன்றை சொல்லிக்கொள்ள விரும்புகிறேன்... ஒருவன் தன்  நம்பிக்கையினால் தான் பெற்ற பிள்ளையை நரபலி கொடுப்பது சரியா? அதுபோலவே உங்கள் போலி இணைப் பெருமிதத்தால் குழந்தைகளின் உயிரோடும் உடல்நலத்தோடும் விளையாடுவதும் தவறே! உங்கள் நம்பிக்கையும் மூட நம்பிக்கையே!

தடுப்பூசிகள் தேவையே!

தடுப்பூசிகள் தேவையே! அரசு இலவசமாக வழங்கும் எம்.ஆர். தடுப்பூசி மிகவும் பாதுகாப்பானது மற்றும் பயனுள்ளது. MR (Measles  Rubella) தடுப்பூசி இரு கொடிய நோய்களில் இருந்து உங்கள் குழந்தைகளை பாதுகாக்கும். பணக்காரர்கள் மட்டுமே பெற்று வந்த MMR ஊசி போன்ற இந்த தடுப்பூசியை இன்று நம் அரசு அனைவருக்கும் இலவசமாக்கியுள்ளது. இதற்க்கு நாம் அரசுக்கும், இதை முன்னெடுத்த எல்லோருக்கும் நன்றி சொல்ல வேண்டும். ஆனால் நடப்பது என்ன?

இன்று கையில் செல்போன் மற்றும் ஜியோ தரும் இலவச இணைய இணைப்பை வைத்துக்கொண்டு ஒரு கூட்டம் தடுப்பூசிகளுக்கு எதிராக எழுதி வருகிறது. இவர்களில் யாரும் (முறையாக மருத்துவம் பயின்ற) மருத்துவர்கள் இல்லை. இவர்களில் பெரும்பாலானோர் போலி அறிவியல் துணையோடு பிழைப்பு நடத்தும் அற்ப ஜந்துக்கள். சிலர் மத/ஆன்மீக வியாபாரிகள். இவர்கள் அனைவரும் நம் நாட்டு அரசையும் அறிவியல் மற்றும் மருத்துவ சமுதாயத்தையும் கேள்விக்குள்ளாக்குகின்றனர். யாரும் கேள்விகளுக்கு அப்பாற்பட்டவர் கிடையாது. ஆனால் கேள்வி கேட்க ஒரு தகுதியும் நியாமமும் இருக்க வேண்டும். சந்தேகம் வேறு, அவதூறு வேறு. நேற்று நான் ஒரு கடைக்குச் சென்றேன். அருகில் இருக்கும் குழந்தைகள் மருத்துவமனையில் ஒரே கூட்டம். கடைக்காரரிடம் கேட்டேன். அவன் கூறிய பதில் என்னை அதிர வைத்தது. எம். ஆர் தடுப்பூசி அறிவிப்பு வந்த நாள் முதல் இங்கு கூட்டம் அலைமோதுவதாகக் கூறினார். மக்கள் அரசை விட, மருத்துவர்களை விட, அறிவியலாளர்களை விட வாட்சாப்பையும் பேஸ்புக்கையும் நம்பும் காலத்தில் நாம் வாழ்கிறோம் என்ற சிந்தனை என்னை இப்போதும் நெருடுகிறது.

அலுவலகத்தில் அருகில் இருந்த நண்பரிடம் பேசினேன். அவர் சொல்கிறார் "எல்லா வைரஸும் நிலவேம்புக்கு சாகும். எனவே தடுப்பூசி போடா வேண்டாம்" என்று. நான் கேட்டேன், "போலயோ, பெரியம்மை போன்ற நோய்களை நிலவேம்பு அல்லது இயற்க்கை மருத்துவம் மூலம் முற்றிலும் அளித்திருக்க முடியுமா?" என்று. அவர் "கண்டிப்பாக!" என்றார். எனக்குத் தூக்கிவாரிப்போட்டது! பொறியியல் படித்து, 3ஜி, 4ஜி என்று சுத்தும் மேதைகளின் பேதைமை இப்படி! முயற்சியை விடாத நான், "வெறி நாயிடம் கடிபட்டாலும் ஊசி போடா மாடீர்களா?" என்றேன். சுதாரித்த நண்பர் "உங்கள் விதண்டாவாதம் தவறு" என்று முடித்துக்கொண்டார்.

என்ன நடக்கிறது இங்கே? இதை எழுதும் நான் கிறிஸ்தவ மிஷனரி என்றோ (என் பெயரை வைத்து), ப.ஜ.க. கட்சிக்காரர் என்றோ (மத்திய அரசு திட்டத்தை ஆதரிப்பதால்), மருந்துக் கம்பெனிகளின் ஏஜென்ட் என்றோ, ஏன், இல்லுமினாட்டி என்றோகூட முத்திரை குத்தப்படலாம். இவர்களைப் பொறுத்தவரையில் உலகத்தில் நடப்பது எல்லாம் சாதி. எல்லாம் பெரிய சூழ்ச்சியின் பகுதி. கேட்டல் "தனி ஒருவன்", "பூலோகம்" என்று ஜெயம் ரவி படங்களை மேற்கோள் காட்டுவார்கள். ஜல்லிக்கட்டு விஷயத்தில்கூட தமிழர்களின் கலாச்சார உரிமை என்ற நேரடி வாதத்தைவிட ஏ1, ஏ2 புரளிவே போராட்டம் வெடிக்க உதவியது. மீத்தேன் திட்டம், கூடங்குளம் அணுஉலை, நியூட்ரினோ ஆராய்ச்சி, ஹைட்ரோகார்பன் திட்டம் என எதை எடுத்தாலும் ஒரு அறிவியல் புறம்பான நிலைப்பாட்டை நாம் எடுப்பது சரியா? தக்க பாதுகாப்பு அம்சங்களும், நியாயமான நிபந்தனைகளுடன்கூடிய ஒப்பந்தங்களும் வேண்டும் என்று கேட்டால் பரவாயில்லை. நம்மாழ்வார் சொன்னார், செந்தமிழன் சொன்னார், ஹீலர் பாஸ்கர் சொன்னார் என்று ஏதாவது ஒன்றைப் பிடித்துக்கொண்டு நாட்டின் வளர்ச்சியை முடக்குவது சரியா?

நீங்கள் செய்யாவேண்டியது ஒன்றே! துறைசார்ந்த வல்லுநர்கள் கருத்தைக் கேளுங்கள். அதுவும் ஒருவர் இருவர் கூறுவதை மட்டும் அல்ல, பெரும்பான்மை வல்லுநர்கள் என்ன சொல்கிறார்கள் என்று பாருங்கள். அதை உங்கள் அடிப்படை அறிவைக்கொண்டு அலசி ஆராய்ந்து பாருங்கள். பின் ஒரு முடிவுக்கு வாருங்கள். தடுப்பூசி என்றால் மருத்துவர், அணுஉலை என்றால் அணு விஞ்ஞானிகள் என்று எல்லாவற்றிற்கும் படித்த வல்லுநர்கள் நிறைந்த நாடு நம் நாடு. அவர்களை விட்டு விட்டு தெருவில் போகும் குடுகுடுப்பைக்காரன் அளவுக்கே அறிவு உள்ள, பயத்தையும் பொய்களையும் மட்டுமே விற்று பிழைப்பு நடத்தும் ஆட்களை நம்பினால் நாம் எப்படி வல்லரசு ஆவோம்?

பல லட்சம் குழந்தைகளுக்குப் போடும் ஊசியில் சதி செய்யும் கேவலமான அரசும் மருத்துவர்களும் உள்ள நாடா இந்தியா? இன்னும் உங்களுக்கு இந்த நாட்டின் மீதும் இங்குள்ள அறிவியல் ஆய்வாளர்கள்மீதும் நம்பிக்கை வரவில்லையா? வர வேண்டாம்... குறைந்தபட்சம் உங்கள் குழந்தை விஷயமான தடுப்பூசியை உங்கள் பேஸ்புக்/வாட்சாப் புளுகு மூட்டைகளை ஓரம் கட்டி வைத்துவிட்டு அருகில் உள்ள மருத்துவரையோ அல்லது துறை சார்ந்த நிபினரையோ கேளுங்கள். அவர்கள் தங்கள் பிள்ளைகளுக்கும், தங்களுக்கும் இந்த ஊசியை போடுகிறார்களா என்று கேளுங்கள். அப்போதாவது உங்களுக்கு புரிந்தால் சரி. எக்காரணம் கொண்டும் உங்கள் மூட நம்பிக்கை ஒரு குழந்தையின் ஆரோக்கியத்தில் விளையாட அனுமதிக்காதீர்கள்.

I Love Cats. But...

I have already written how organizations like PeTA and Blue Cross are double-crossing the cultural/religious/personal rights of individuals and communities. These are the groups pushing to ban Jallikattu. They went to courts to get humans killed and maimed by stray dogs. They are behind the protests against Eid sacrifices. Now they have stricken again. This time members of the Nari Korava tribes are the victims of these "animal love-makers".

I myself have kept many cats and I love cats. They make adorable pets. Almost all members of  my family accept a feline pet over any other pet. I have personally rescued many kittens from drainage pits, barbed wires etc. But that should stop there. I should not behave like the so called "dog lovers" who are offended by Chinese (Yulin) Dog Meat festival, but want millions of cattle slaughtered to feed their dogs. My love for cats stops with me. I have no right to force my opinions on others. There are superstitious people who say that cat is a bad omen. Should I get offended by that too?

According to various reports from TV channels and news sites, the Blue Cross of India have taken law in to their hands and "captured" 3 Nari Korava men for "cruelty towards animals". Reason? The Nari Korava men were catching feral cats (possibly to eat, which is part of their food habits). Where this insanity will stop? Sadly, our Nari Korava brothers don't have Facebook activists who can write lengthy conspiracy theories that "PeTA is a foreign funded organization that is set to eradicate native cat breed and introduce foreign breeds" like they have done for bulls. But I have few questions on this aspect.


1. All these organizations regularly euthanize animals and they run in public money. (They forced me to pay money to take a rescued cat in, very humane indeed!) Will they publish the number of animals in and out of their facility transparently?

2. Will they also get offended if a cat eats a rat? If rat is natural food of cat, then meat is natural food of humans. They should not get offended by humans eating meat.

3. Will they also protest against eradication of flies and mosquito? Don't those insects have right to live? What about plants? What these people are feeding their animal brothers?

4. Blue Cross vaccinate dogs for rabies. Why they are not respecting the rights of rabies virus? If they consider dog life is more important than virus life then the same logic can be applied like this. "Human life is much more important than dog life".

5. Who are they to decide which stray animals can be killed and which cannot be? What is morally correct is subjective and changes with time and region. Killing dog for food may sound repulsive to some while for someone else it may be their favorite food since childhood.

6. They claim they want all animals happy. Have they conducted any survey among the animals they keep? How they are so sure that what they do is best for animals?

Some valid reasons to take action:

1. If someones pet has been captured or killed, action can be taken on that, provided the pet remained in the premises of its owner or accompanied by the owner and didn't pose a threat to anyone else. Killing a dog or any other animal in self-defense should not be a crime. This line of reasoning can be extended to plucking a flower from neighbors' garden.

2. Killing or capturing wild animals or endangered species can be counted as crime. But wait, that too includes even trees and plant life.

3. Slaughtering animals in unsuitable places can be prevented. This is purely in grounds of hygiene and for regulating slaughter. Not for anything else.

4. An economical and sustainable approach can be taken to reduce over-hunting or over-fishing or over-exploitation of resources. People who violate this can be punished.

5. No one should be punished for killing the following animals. Animals which they themselves have grown, that have been properly bought with money or other means, that are feral/stray, in self-defense, to prevent spread of diseases, to keep the environment safe and clean etc.

Some points to ponder:

1. Humans evolved from other primates just 2 lakh years back.

2. Humans domesticated cows, cats etc only within last 15,000 years. (Before that there were no such animals! Dogs were not domesticated at first and they just evolved along human hunters some 40 to 27 thousand years ago.)

3. Humans were hunter-gatherers for good part of their history. Just the most recent 5% (10 thousand years approx. out of 2 lakh years) of human history we started agriculture.

3. Without eating meat, we might not have evolved as humans.

4. Without humans domesticating, these animals will be extinct within few generations.

5. Agriculture causes more extinctions and environmental damage than sustainable hunter-gatherer cultures like those of Nari Koravas. So Blue Cross and PeTA should first try to ban agriculture.

New Source:

http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Cats-of-Tondiarpet-narrowly-escape-gypsy-soup-get-mew-lease-of-life/2016/08/17/article3583010.ece

It Works!!! Really??!

I am really fed up with the ways in which so called "educated" people act.

Incident 1:

A girl in my apartment had some viral fever and was taken to a homeopath. He said that it is typhoid and gave "medicines" (sugar pills) for three days. After 3 days, the viral fever has gone and the girl is doing fine. But her mother says that the homeopath is like god and she fell on his feet for saving her child from typhoid. The problem here is the mother and the homeopath. The homeopath cheats people with a fake system that has been banned in many countries. He also claims a normal viral fever (just on day 1) as typhoid fever without proper tests and methods. He gives some sugar pills and charges Rs. 500/- for it. The girl is prevented from seeking proper medical care. The mother becomes foot soldier for the homeopath, telling everyone in the apartment and in the neighborhood to stop taking "allopathy" medicines with side-effects and start taking homeopathy which can cure all diseases. She also claims homeopathy cures once for all. If a disease is cured by homeopathy, it will never come again in lifetime.

Incident 2:

There is a small clinic in my neighborhood. A doctor who works with a reputed hospital visits the clinic and treats people with diabetes for a nominal fee (Rs. 100/-). Just four shops afar, there is a Siddha clinic. There is a board in front of it which says, diabetes can be cured in 6 months. Now, some people are consulting both these "doctors". Some even say that they will stop the "English medicines" once Siddha medicine starts taking effect. The point here is, there is no cure for diabetes (except gastric bypass in some cases) and no legiyam or kashayam or herbal powder can cure it. Second, the unregulated Siddha medicine may contain mercury, lead or other hazardous chemicals/plant extracts. The patients who are taking both "medicines" are feeling better due to the prescribed medicines given by the doctor. But they attribute it wrongly to Siddha medicines and once they stop the prescribed medicines, their conditions start to worsen. If that Siddha practitioner in the street corner can cure diabetes, why can't he just publish it in medical journals and claim a Nobel Prize?

Incident 3:

I was in a park and saw some people walking on a floor embedded with pebbles. I have seen that area of park earlier and thought that it is for decorative purpose. But people were taking off their shoes/slippers and walking slowly on the pebbles. I was curious and asked one of them. He said, it is acupressure treatment and walking on that small patch of pebble for 15 minutes is equal to jogging for 2 hours. He also claimed various parts of foot have links to various organs of body and by stimulating them we can cure diseases. I asked what is he doing. He said that he is a retired bank manager. Most of his retired life is spent on TV and sleeping. Instead of walking an hour or so to maintain an active lifestyle, he is diverted to this fake-science. The strip of floor is so small (around 10 meters) and over-crowded. Brisk walking is out of question and these people also walk very slowly pressing every step hard on the floor to stimulate "acupressure points".

You might have seen similar incidents . And if you refuse to believe and criticize these stupidities, you will be labeled as an agent for big-pharma and corporates. And when you get a severe fever or problems like knee pain, these people will come back to you and make fun of you and ask you to concede the defeat of "science" and embrace the truth of tradition! But it is your brain that finally gives you the courage to show them the middle finger!

Why Patenting Genes Is Wrong?

When we talk about "gene patents" there are two broad categories. 1. Patents granted for naturally occurring genes. For example, patents can be obtained for gene sequence of virus, bacteria, certain gene mutation in human or other genes. Once patented, anyone who does research or uses the gene sequence containing organism in their product have to pay royalties to the patent holder. 2. Patents granted for artificially modified genes. Here it can be genetically modified cattle, crops or any other organism or even human genome. It is usually done to tone down unfavorable traits and to enhance or introduce favorable traits. Again, once patented, the company is granted an intellectual monopoly over the gene. Let us see how both cases are absurd and stupid. Only ruthless cut-throat capitalists can favor such unethical and immoral system at the cost of millions of lives.

First let me clear my opinion on genetic engineering. We need genetic engineering to survive as a species in this world.  Let me list out few of the critically important advancements in this field.

1. Human population is growing. To meet the growing demand for food, we cannot go on increasing land usage for agriculture. Land usage for agriculture is the major cause of deforestation and species extinction. Agriculture destroys entire ecosystems for growing food or other crops for us humans alone! So it is high time that we reduce and reverse land utilization. How can we do that? Genetically modified crops with better yield can help us. We can feed the growing population with lesser land if we rightly hit the genes that result in high yields.

2. Water is also a very scarce resource today. With GMO, we can have drought resistant crops which consume less water and hence better usage of water.

3. Reduction of pesticide is also a benefit of GMO crops. Crops designed to resist insects or infections need lesser pesticides and chemicals to grow and hence more eco-friendly.

4. Drug resistance of existing bacterial diseases and new infectious disease like Ebola, Zika are causing lot of deaths and disabilities around the world. Genetic Engineering can provide us with new anti-biotics and vaccines that can cure or prevent these diseases.

5. Diseases like diabetes, obesity, cancer, birth defects and lot more can be caused due to gene mutations. By identifying the specific genetic causes and working on a cure can save lot of lives.

These are few uses I can think now. But the list can be never ending. Organic farming or herbal remedies are no match to these advancements of science and hence we should support scientific advancements instead of pseudoscience mumbo-jumbos. Now let us see how patent system spoils this field with its unrealistic powers!

1. Patents on Naturally Occurring Genes

Did Isaac Newton invent gravity? Did Galileo invent heliocentricity? Did Robert Hooke invent cells? What about Vasco da Gama? Did he invent India? No! They all discovered. Discovery is finding or observing something already in existence. And nobody can claim a patent for a discovery. Genes of naturally occurring virus, bacteria and mutation that cause cancer or other diseases are not invented in any sense. They are just observed, may be for the first time. But how can people claim patents for things like SARS virus genome or mutation that causes breast cancer? Capitalist bots just repeat the same old blabber that "the company has invested money and effort to "find" the gene and anyone else who "uses" should pay them. Else without monetary benefits the system won't work!". Even Newton spent lot of time, effort and money to discover theory of gravity. Can he own a patent? Without any monetary benefit protected by patent system how people like Einstein worked further on Newtonian equations to arrive at more complicated theories like relativity? Things like getting soil from moon or catching a species from deep ocean require lot of money too. If none of them can be patented how can a naturally existing gene can be patented? We can't patent the pattern of seeds in a fruit. We can't patent the sequence of event in embryo development. Similarly no one should be allowed to patent a sequence of genetic material just because they have observed it first or filed for a patent first!

These type of patents cripple research and invention of drugs or solutions to common problems like eradication of mosquito, conservation of endangered species etc. A rich person can setup an R&D lab and mine for genomes of disease causing microbes and mutation, file for patents and act like a patent troll suing everyone who attempts to research on any of them. It is already happening today. We should not let this stay this way until a major epidemic like Ebola becomes pandemic and a corporate holding patent for the gene keeps the entire humanity for ransom!

2. Patents on Modified Genes

Genes are just sequence of organic molecules arranged in a particular pattern, just like an essay is a sequence of letter and a piece of music is a sequence of notes. So even if anyone "creates" a gene, it should not be allowed to be patented but it may be copyrighted (still it is wrong, I will come to that shortly). So if somebody claims that they have "created" a gene "from the scratch" then they can ONLY claim copyright not patent.

Now let us see why copyrighting is also not valid in case of GMOs. All the GMOs in the market today are not original works but derivative works. So, the existing genes are just like songs or literature in public domain. Anyone can create a derivative work over it. But cannot restrict others from doing a similar derivative work. When Monsanto say that they created a particular type of corn, they have worked on existing corn. The corn which Native Americans already genetically modified through selective breeding. Without Native Americans shaping the genes of corn with the chisel of selective breeding, corn, in its current form, will not be here! The wild corn would be of no use for us. Not only corn. All food crops and cattle are product of genetic engineering through selective breeding and co-evolution. Lot of money, time and effort of people for generations are involved in genetically modifying these organisms. Monsanto or any other company cannot just take these organisms and edit a gene here and there to claim that it is their own "intellectual property". What percentage of original genes have been modified, how original is the modification? Is the work is mere compilation of two existing genes? Does it involve only a trivial change like removing a bad mutation? These are some of the questions need to be answered. Also if someone can build on the collective work of people for centuries, then why not others can do the same?

These type of patents prevent high yielding, drought resistant, pest resistant and more nutritious variants of crops from reaching everyone. Even if someone tries to arrive at organisms with similar traits they are threatened with lawsuits. This also applies to researches on new anti-biotics, gene therapies and vaccines.

Not Only Genes!

As we have seen, there is no logic in granting patent to genes. The US government refused to offer patents on gene for a long time. But due to corporate lobbies and coercion, US government surrendered to their demands. But later, US Supreme Court declared that naturally occurring genes cannot be patented. But Europe allows patenting naturally occurring genes, provided they are isolated! All capitalist-run governments accept patent on modified genes (irrespective of the size, nature, triviality of the modification). Now the same is forced on smaller nations through treaties and agreements and in some cases, even through war!

Patents are awarded even for chemicals and molecules. Patent as a system itself favors monopoly. Monopoly always result in accumulation of wealth in the hands of few at the cost of hardship of many. It is high time that governments stop helping these cut-throat corporates and stop appeasing them with unethical patent laws. Instead governments can fund universities, state sponsored labs and organizations to take up the research. Just by spending less on war and weapons, each nation can contribute towards a collective research fund and required technologies can be prioritized based on impact and outcome. By this we can also have some sanity in prioritizing researches. For example, in a capitalistic free market economy, a gel used in cosmetic surgery will be "voted up with wallet" than a search for new anti-biotic. So some level of state planning and state regulation is needed. We cannot allow blind and uncontrolled competition to decide things for us. Let us stand against patent and pseudoscience as both result in crippling of intellectual progress!

Reliable Source

Introduction

What is a reliable source for any information? Anybody with an Internet connection can write anything they want. Even this blog is one such thing. I have no qualification to write on any subject with authority save for some "public static void main". But still I am writing. So if a thousand blogs say that something is correct and only few "unknown" sites say the opposite, democratically, is it not correct, because that is majority? Is truth is what we feel and experience or something that is proven beyond doubt? Is truth is what works for me and may not for you? Is there no ultimate truth that is objective instead of subjective "feelings" or "experiences"? Is that coffee is hot for me and cold for you? But is there not a thermometer that says the coffee is 67C? What if someone sounds like a genuine skeptic while questioning the caliberation of the thermometer itself? I have seen people questioning moon landing and vaccines like true skeptics. Does questioning something makes you a skeptic while questioning something else makes you an idiot?

People who believe Coco-Cola and Mentos can produce cyanide without a question suddenly start to ask millions of question if you say that it won't. People who don't even have a doubt that solar eclipse causes birth defects become "Doubting Thomases" when you say that mercury in shark is harmful for lactating mother and label you as a foreign agent who questions their native wisdom! The source for the Coke-Mentos story may be a blog written from Brazil and the source for mercury in shark is FDA's own website. It doesn't matter. Both are websites. And some even argue that it is better to trust the Brazillian blogger as he has no financial interest than the FDA site which is influenced by corporate lobby! So whom can we trust?

History of Writing

Back in the old days, people who were educated alone could read and write. And only a minority of the educated minority wrote books. Majority of the population never had a chance to read something or express their ideas to a wider audience. Hand written copies of books were costly to produce, hard to maintain and almost out of reach for the public. Some countries allowed only the rich elites to possess books. Even worse, in some other countries only those people who were born in to particular castes were allowed to read and write.

Then came the printing press which allowed mass production of books. Books became cheaper and were within the reach of public. At the same time, industrial revolution and political changes allowed majority to get education. As literacy rate grew along with the increase in number of books, we saw a boom in creativity, inventions, discoveries and critical thinking. But there was a problem. Even though almost anyone could read a book, not everyone was able to publish a book. You can have your own manuscripts on your desk. Else you can even print a copy for yourself. But hitting market was out of question.

Even today, to reach a good number of audiences, you need a publisher. And the publishers lay out certain rules and restrictions to the buyers as well as to the writers! Writers are asked to surrender the copyright to publishers. Readers are restricted from creating derivative works. Even reselling of books and photocopying are becoming "offences" in the eyes of corporate publishers. On one side, quality books are becoming costlier and costlier. Also on the other side, whoever has money can publish anything they want. The books cover, paper quality and print, everything will look exactly like an encyclopedia from a renowned university, yet the content will be no better than "Weekly World News". On the third side, rise of Internet provides costless (apart from what you pay for data) information. Again in Internet, most of the serious researches and information are pay-walled, and anyone with a connection can write anything (they don't even need the power of money!) the picture is becoming very complex.

Let me categorize them vaguely.

1. Really Good Books

These are books that are product of serious research or study or skill. They are genuine works and they can be verified scientifically. They are written by scientists and researchers who invest their time, money and effort on their fields. These books are meant to be consumed by public and increase the awareness, ignite discussions and pave way for improvements or rectification of existing ideas. But the sad facts about the books are as follows. They cost more. They are "dry" and uninteresting for general public and most people seldom know the titles of these books! Add to this the threats and violent opposition to such books which dare to question existing beliefs or status quo!

2. Bad Books that Resembles Good Books

Majority of books sold in railway stations or book fairs etc. are of this category. They have polished covers, colorful photographs, shiny paper, good quality print, cost you a fortune and authored by a famous writer/activist you often see on TV or in movie credits. They resemble the "good books" in every aspect from ISBN to Best Seller endorsements. But they are nothing more than self-help crap, new-age rap, astrology bullshit, biased history batshit or mumbo-jumbo on any subject. Go to any book shop. You can find at least a dozen of books on Homeopathy but you can't get a book that explains Homeopathy is fake! As the free market neutrality and voting-with-your-wallet democracy "naturally selects" the "fittest for survival", you have books that endorse Homeopathy, Crystal Therapy, Astrology etc. widely and cheaply available, while a good book on astro-physics or bio-chemistry is out of stock (never been in stock) or out of budget!

3. Good Sites

Enter the Internet! There are some sites which are actually continuation of international science journals and serious magazines with genuine journalism from the printing era. They have made their way in to the Internet. But most of them are pay-walled. Even some of them are not pay-walled but they are unpopular among masses. Again, these sites serve articles that are not so "interesting" to read. Even though serious efforts (like this) are taken to make books that are already in public domain freely available to people in digital format, relatively new and fresh information is blocked by subscriptions, pay per view etc. Also attempts like Facebook's Internet.org (FreeBasics) will add another layer in between people and these sites. If you have to pay Rs. 200 every month for a full-fledged Internet connection while FreeBasics comes for Rs. 0 (I won't say it is free of cost! It costs your privacy and freedom of choice), most people will choose to stick with the few sites provided by Facebook. As far as Whatsapp is working, who cares to do a data recharge?

4. The Other Sites

The rest of the Internet is nothing but the noise you hear in the market. Absolute democracy! Everyone has their say! From flat-earthers to neo-Nazi racists. All are given equal opportunity to write and spread their "message" to the world. Whatsapp messages, Youtube videos, Facebook updates and retweeted blog links can enlighten us on GM diet, while nobody cares to check what it is actually. Even some widely read news sites publish unethical articles (see example below) and distance themselves from questioning by a lame disclaimer that the opinion expressed is the writer's and not of the publisher's. Again the genuine idiocracy democracy of the Internet wins! abchomeopathy.com has Alexa rank of 72,613 and quackwatch.org has a rank of 193,968. You know what it means right? People at abchomeopathy.com are 267% correct than people at quackwatch.org. If 100 blogs say that vaccines contain poisonous chemicals and cause autism and 3 or 4 sites say vaccines are needed to prevent diseases like polio or mumps, then surely those 3 or 4 sites are run by corporate funded doctors who have no idea about vaccines while those blogs are run by highly concerned citizens who are rightly qualified in UFOlogy or Tarot reading.



This article from The Hindu (Tamil version) claims that a single Siddha medicine can cure diseases cold, diabetes, cancer and AIDS. How can a Newspaper like The Hindu publish an article like this without moral responsibility?

Screen grab from the The Hindu's article titled "தொற்றுநோய்களை விரட்டும் மகா சுதர்சன மாத்திரை"

What’s My Problem?

People are choosing what they want to believe and it is their choice and their life. How can you say what you believe is correct and what I believe is wrong? What is your problem? Do you know whatever you say is 100% correct? Nobody is 100% correct. Unless you experience it yourself, you won't believe.

These are the usual response people give when confronted that what they believe is pseudoscience or hoax.

An engineering graduate believes that a pulse check by a naturopath is equally valid as an ECG and a glass of coriander juice is equally good as angioplasty. He even said that former is better than later as it is fully natural, safe and without side-effects. You don't see a problem?

A person with pain due to gall stones ignores it and goes for acupuncture to treat the pain. He is rushed to ICU with severe jaundice. No problem yet?

A project manager enrolls his son in mid-brain activation class for a hefty sum of money against his son's wish to join Karate or Swimming. Still no problem?

An MBA gold-medalist spending Rs. 8,000 a month on red-mushroom powder and Spirulina capsules and genuinely believes that it can cure any sort of disease.  Not a problem at all!

Magnetic necklace, pyramid schemes, water therapy, energy treatment, de-tox diet, positive vibrations, vaasthu fish, snake oil, faith healing all are real. Thousands of people are saying it worked for them. So I am just trying it out. Nothing is wrong in trying that. If it fails, I may lose some money or time. But what if it works? And we should fight the "leftist conspiracy" to infect our children with evil ideas like evolution, germ theory of disease, astronomy, physics, chemistry, history, biology and English grammar (their r grammer Nazis r8? Dey cn’t evn tolrite ma Whatsapp msg!). Also we should fight the right wing corporates who are trying to kill the people by vaccination, anti-biotics, fertilizers, cellphone radiation, chem-trails, GM food etc. We should rely on our UFO masters, spirits of nature, kundalini energy, water memory, cosmic waves and organic foods to save us!

Absolutely no problem! Go ahead!

Solution?

What is the solution? Am I the expert to ask? Not so. But here is my opinion. Researches, studies and serious work of science, history and politics should be made cheap or free of cost for the public. Government and rational intellects should encourage people to read and share that information. Sharing, derivative works, collaboration etc. should be encouraged rather than being met with lawsuits in patent courts. On the other hand, people who knowingly circulate unscientific and unethical ideas, misinformation, rumors etc. should be banned and punished. Yes. I hear you crying that I am for censorship and against freedom of speech. But for your kind information, spreading misinformation about vaccine or endorsing a home-made cure for cancer is harmful. It is not freedom of speech. It has direct impact on people who are foolish enough to fall for it. Lives are lost. Damages done in irreversible ways. Yet these people are walking free on pretext of free speech! Scientific community with the help of volunteers should set up a universal review panel to review and rate sites based on the content. Again, these may result in censorship. But we should think a way to make it impartial and honest system rather than giving every retarded view an equal opportunity to corrupt the minds of public. If there are sources with 95% truth and 20% truth, both are logically partial truth. But practically they are not equally valid. It is our duty to ensure the 95% truth grows to 99.999% and 20% truth (80% false) obscured from the public. Long live democracy! Long live freedom of speech!

Sympahty for Homeopathy?

I am deeply saddened by the death of three students of SVS college. But what bothered me more is, the college taught Homeopathy. Homeopathy is proven to be a fake system of "beliefs" and unlike Siddha and Yoga there are no way to explain the working of Homeopathy. Traditional medicines like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Chinese medicine etc are all having some or other active ingredients. Again Yoga as a stretching exercise has a basis for efficacy. But Homeopathy? How can a system without any explanation of its working can be approved by government to be taught in colleges? How can people who are trained in this fake system be allowed to practice as "doctors"?

First to make some points clear, I support only science based medicines i.e. medicines that are proven effective by proper studies and trails (be it garlic or statin). Also I strongly believe that there is NO divine touch on any medical system. All the traditional systems are developed by continuous observations,experiments with whatever methods available at that time, trail and error, blind luck, guess etc. That is why unless studied, tested and proven, it is safe to exclude "traditional cures" for any problem, let alone serious problems. But my problem with Homeopathy is that it is plainly false. 100% lie. 0% true. Fake! Bullshit!

Homeopathy Principle:

Like cure like - Any substance that causes a symptom in large dose will cure diseases with the same symptoms in smaller doses.

This is the basis of Homeopathy. There is no germ theory of diseases. It doesn't deal with nutrients and their deficiencies. There are no room for hormone imbalances etc in Homeopathy. For example, this website of Homeopathy advocates says that germ theory is wrong. Compare this with Siddha. If you look at Turmeric, it is proven anti-septic (type of disease: germ induced). Siddha has clam-shell powder to treat Calcium deficiency (type of disease: nutrients deficiency). There are drugs in traditional medicines to regulate bile secretion, acidity etc (type of disease: imbalance of secretions). But Homeopathy has no such system to address any of the above said type of diseases. It again and again claims that "Like cure like".

Also Homeopathy has no equivalent to vaccination or physical exercise or surgery, which even traditional systems have! But still there are success stories for Homeopathy as people are assuming Homeopathy cured their self-limiting diseases. Some diseases come and go by themselves and some others wax and wane over the time. People wrongly assume that Homeopathy is working! Their "anecdotal evidences" are the "proofs" Homeopathy has!

When the concentration of a drug drops below a certain limit, there is literally no chance to have even a single molecule of the supposed "cure" in the medicine. But Homeopaths claim that water has "memory" to hold the effect of the cure! If so, why water has forgotten all other impurities it came in to contact before it got distilled? And the funniest part is that, they claim, the more you dilute, the more potent the cure will become!

A Typical Homeopathy Medicine (DIY):


Here I am going to explain two Homeopathy Remedies that you can do it yourself! (Disclaimer for stupid enough people: Don't take the following remedies seriously and try them on yourselves or on others! Serious harm may happen! If you have any health problem go to a properly educated doctor!)

1. Insomnia

Ask some 5 to 10 of your friends or family members. At least two or three will complain that they have problem in sleeping. So here is a quick and easy Homeopathy remedy for them! You can prepare it in the kitchen itself. All you need is some coffee powder, distilled water, clean ink filler, clean vessels and sugar pills.

We all know that coffee in higher doses hinder with sleep. So according to Homeopathy, coffee in minute doses can cure insomnia!

Step 1: So take a pinch of instant coffee powder. (Important Note: If you are a Surya fan, use Sunrise or if you are a Karthi fan, use Bru. Else use any other brand you like!) Mix it well in 5 liter water.

Step 2: Now with a clean ink filler pick one drop of the coffee solution and mix it in another 5 liter water. Now stir well. Again

Step 3: Repeat step 2 for any number of time! The more you do, the more potent the drug will become. Now take the sugar pills and spray some "cure" on them.

Call in your friend and ask him to take 5 pills. If you have done the dilution enough, he may fall in coma immediately! Does that sound funny? But before you laugh, take a look at here. They claim the same. But people are believing what they say, while laughing at me?!

2. Indigestion

Now instead of coffee, you can grind a pizza or a scoop of briyani or a piece of chicken 65 and dilute it as explained above and spray on sugar pills. That will treat indigestion. As all these foods cause indigestion in large doses, they ought to treat the same in minute doses. Good luck with that!

Conclusion:

As you can see, a system that is based upon flawed understanding of both disease and drug will not work! Then how can government allow colleges to teach Homeopathy as a medical discipline? Is it not counter-productive to other medicinal systems bundled with Homeopathy? Won't it impact their validity negatively? In my opinion, severe action should be taken against the people who are responsible for the deaths of the students. At the same time, similar action should be taken on all Homeopathy practitioners, hospitals, colleges etc. They should be shutdown and banned immediately. Who knows how many people are being mislead by this fake system and not getting proper treatment?

Learning from Children, the Way They Learn from Us

Most of us have seen children growing up. Their first word, their first kiss, the first picture they draw and so on. Especially parents and elder siblings know better about how children learn from us. It is pretty simple, yet overlooked fact. They imitate! That is one of the most beautiful gifts mother nature has given us apart from the basic animal instincts. A child doesn't learn crying or smiling or sleeping or sucking milk by imitation. So does a kitten learns climbing walls or a fish learns to swim. These things come naturally. But the complex human wisdom and progress relies upon the knowledge passed down to the next generation through imitation. Without imitation, we will be just a bunch of apes hunting and stealing food, breeding and killing others or getting killed by others.

Some people confuse copying and imitating and end up saying imitation is wrong, at least in some areas. For example, a child doing exactly what its mother or brother is doing is considered perfectly normal and encouraged, while a student writing(copying by looking in to his paper) exactly what the person sitting next to him is morally evil. So, imitating is allowed and good in one area and morally evil and bad in another. Their argument goes like this. A person can use language, established tools like wheel, fire, knife etc without worrying about patents, but when it is something new, that should be patent protected and only the "owner" of the "idea" should be able to use it (at least for some period of time, may be in years or decades). But they conveniently forget that without all other "existing" ideas, the new idea couldn't be there in the first place!

This is where they get things completely wrong. Most of the people concerned about freedom of knowledge are not against copyrights or trade secrets or trademarks (there are some who oppose copyrights too, and it is out of scope here). We oppose patents alone. Let us see how the student copying from the person next to him is different from a child imitating to learn. First, it is not a process of learning which the student is imitating the other one doing. He is just copying the exact text of his answer sheet. This is to falsely make it appear that he too had studied or memorized the same things as the other student. In legal terms these are forgeries and copyright violations. But consider this, a student finds and uses a method to quickly balance a chemical equation while in the class. His friend asks him how but he turns down to reveal him the trick. So the friend, tries hard and comes up with his own method to balance chemical equations faster. It may or may not be the same method. Does anyone have a problem here?

Now imagine, that the first student goes to his teacher and complains that the other student has "stolen" his "idea" and asks the teacher to look in to it. The teacher forces the other student to reveal his method and finds some similarities between the two methods. Finally, the teacher tells that nobody should use the shortcut methods except the first student in next 5 examinations and only the first student is allowed to skip certain steps in conventional way of balancing the equation, while all others should write every step. Is this fair? Who is at wrong here? This is exactly what is happening in the fields of science and technology as well as manufacturing and service industries.

By these patents, they are not protecting a certain unique order or pattern of procedures or words or sounds or pixels of creative works. The above mentioned things come under copyrights and trade secrets, which if invented/discovered/guessed independently, is not liable to legal threats as in case of patents. But patents lock ideas. For example, it may be acceptable to keep secret how a vaccine is manufactured (though anyone who has slightest moral responsibility won't lock down an important development like vaccines), but it is totally unacceptable to patent the idea of making a vaccine itself. It will take someone to put the vaccine under analysis and figure out a similar or different way to arrive at an idea to produce the vaccine. Nobody can just "copy" a vaccine sold on market. Also, if it is all about quality and standards, it need not be necessary that the first to make it is the best. These aspects of the vaccine can be regulated by government organizations like FDA.

Let me give you another imaginary case. Dr. Anand is working on an HIV vaccine. He finds that nano-capsules can hold deactivated HIV RNA and can give protection against HIV without any ill effects. He applies for a patent, not for the HIV vaccine but for the "idea" of "making a drugs by injecting genetic materials in nano-particles" (Yes, this is how patent names sound). Later Dr. Abdul who is working on cure for cancer finds that healthy DNA from normal cells contained in nano-crystals can trigger apoptosis (cell-death) in cancerous cells. But due to existing patents, this new drug couldn't be produced or distributed, unless Dr. Abdul enters in to an agreement with Dr. Anand to share profits or pay royalties or to sell his "idea" or even Dr. Anand can deny him permission without options. Else it will result in a lawsuit in patent courts taking years to prove that nano-capsules are different from nano-crystals or both are same and Dr. Abdul should pay huge sum of money in damages. As a last resort, Dr. Abdul can wait till the patents of Dr. Anand expire. In all cases, Dr. Abdul didn't get the due credit for his research efforts. Dr. Anand who never had anything to do with Dr. Abdul can possibly get a good share of his profits. The progress in field of nano-medicine by other researchers is delayed. Millions of people will suffer and die during these lengthy processes.

One relief, if you consider this blog worthy and if at all in future someone patents a nano-particle based vaccine or medicine, you can possibly quote this as a "prior-art" to evade that patent.I know for sure that this line of thought could have already come to millions of people around the world from school children to scientists. And I am sure that once nano-particles are common, it will not be long to have nano-medicines on the shelves. And this line of argument can be extended to any of the so called patents. Before anyone filed a particular patent, it could have come in the mind of at least one another person before. It should involve one or more existing ideas. It is all about mixing or improving ideas. Nothing exists on its own and no idea is Ex Nihilo! If that is the for ideas, there are patents on genetic materials, plants and chemicals. I really wonder how materials can be patented! And that is totally another area to dig in, I think.

Give two colours and ask people to mix, then they will end up with millions of shades. Yet no one owns any right over any particular shade. And they all have imitated the "idea" of mixing colours! The same goes with ideas. They are countless and not bound by any laws that explain how they should be mixed. Ideas are free. They can't be assigned to someone. The mere assignment of an idea to someone through patent won't make one its owner. Others still can imagine or improve the idea in their minds. Ideas can start and end in minds or can be communicated to others. You can't claim that you own an idea or you are the first to have it only because you are the first to communicate it to patent office or a corporate. If you want to lock down an idea, don't tell anyone and let it die in your mind. The moment you tell it or make it tangible in any other form, you can't lock it anymore. Ideas are same like sun. You don't burn sun faster by absorbing its heat using a solar panel or you can't save sun by reflecting back its lights using mirror.

Some may ask "Where is the advantage of being the first? What is the benefit for all the research and development involved in the process of arriving at the idea?" Here it is. Monthly salary or research grants, fame and sense of achievement and satisfaction are the rewards one gets for an idea. Apart from that nobody deserve anything. It is not like "invent once and live rich rest of your life" through royalties by patenting it. As long as we wants money we need to do actual work and work involved arriving at an idea is completed once the idea is reached. Nobody deserves a paycheck for the work done last year right? And also remember any "new idea" comes from the constant evolution of the existing ones back from the dawn of human beings or from the dawn of life or from the big bang itself! Even though your genome is unique, it can be traced back to the first life, so is your idea.

So, there is no harm in imitating anything. That is how we learned everything. That is how we teach everything. That is how we survive as a race of sentient beings. That is how even our cells multiply. If someone wants to restrict that, that is the utmost restriction against progress of knowledge. That is the most severe form of crime. That is the genocide of all our ancestors and their minds. That is the worst human right violation. People can go without food for weeks, water for days, air for minutes. But you can't force anyone from stop thinking. As Descartes put it "We think! Therefore we are!" As we have received the accumulated human wisdom of millennia with little or no cost, we are obliged to give back to humanity in the same note as we have to take care of our parents.


Freely you have received; freely give. -Matthew 10:8 (The Bible)

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. -Ecclesiastes 1:9 (The Bible)

Control over the use of one's ideas really constitutes control over other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult. -Dr. Richard Stallman, Father of Free Software Movement
 

February 23rd 2014 - Pulse Polio Immunisation Campaign

India is proudly Polio free for three years now. But the battle has just begun. With neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan still registering Polio cases, it is our duty to fight against Polio as Indian citizens. So, if you or anyone in your circle have a child below 5 years, please take them to nearest Polio vaccination centre set-up by government.

Vaccination @ a railway station

Points to note:

When? February 23rd, 2014. It is a Sunday, and no silly excuses!

Where? Nearby railway stations, bus stands, airports, primary health centers, Government hospitals, Government Schools and other places like places of worship, libraries, shopping malls. Check your local administrative office for more information.

Who? Children below age 5.

How? Take them to the center. Tell the medical staff/doctor there about your baby's current health, age, previous vaccination date and other details you feel important in this regards. They will decide whether to give vaccine or not (in some rare cases, it may be advised against giving, such as a very high fever or taking any other medication) The vaccine is offered free of cost by Indian government. So make use of it.

Trivia:

Jonas Salk - Inventor of Polio Vaccine

When Jonas Salk (inventor of Polio vaccine) was asked in a televised interview who owned the patent to the vaccine, Salk replied: "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"

Swine Flu Vaccination

There is an unwanted panic about swine flu among the public. But still, if you want to make sure your you or your beloveds will not be touched by these virus, please visit King's Institute near Guindy railway station for vaccination. This is where they provide subsidized vaccines and the vaccine's effectiveness and safety are guaranteed.

Don't buy in to advertisements like herbal cure, yoga therapy etc. There are some groups spreading false messages like this to milk some cash out of people's fear. So only go with what Government or approved medical practitioners advise. Don't take risks by listening to unauthorized sources. They may or may not work well and may have adverse effects.

So far, the disease seems not so bad. For example, in Germany, there are thousands of confirmed infections, but no deaths. I am not downplaying the risk. But don't worry much. Our tropical climate and hot weather can make the spread difficult for the virus. Let us hope for the best.