Adam Brandejs
Rob Sherwin: Rob was an immense help throughout this piece and he was my third and fourth hands near the end when I needed it. (Thanks Buddy).
Crystal Pallister: Handled the makeup on “Genpets” that added a true level of realism to the creatures.
http://www.brandejs.ca

In 1985, the US Patents and Trademarks Office (PTO) affirmed the legal precedent, ruling that genetically engineered plants, seeds and plant tissue could all be patented. Today, agricultural crops are being modified and organisms with built-in obsolescence are being sold as commodities. Life itself is quickly becoming a processed commodity in the privatization of nature. Biological engineering by large companies, outside of nature, has become a terrifying reality for my generation to contend with.

Today, we are well within the process of desensitizing an upcoming generation towards accepting bioengineering as “natural”. I see this generation slowly and systematically being desensitized towards owning and manipulating life through toys that mimic living creatures but carry no weight of responsibility with them. Individually these objects are harmless, however when analyzing the trends in consumption on a larger scale, we can see that with every new toy the envelope is pushed a little further. Bioengineered pets would not have been acceptable yesterday, but they could be today. Boundaries have been eroded.

My belief is that this is leading us even further down the path of objectifying living matter and “Genpets” is my interpretation of how such a relationship would take form as we continue to artificially separated ourselves from nature and treat it more as a ‘product’.

Any new technology can bring with it both positive and negative ramifications. Thus it is important that we be critical of both sides and ask questions every step of the way. I see how we treat the life already surrounding us, which we have no moral claim over, and I fear for any life brought into the world through the act of genetic manipulation—life that would inherently have patented DNA. It would not be far fetched to assume that any such creation would have no rights of its own and be subject to whatever treatment deemed necessary upon it. Whether by testing, or packaging, this life would be a commodity of less value than any we have today. “Genpets” is meant to ask questions about a great deal of issues by providing a tangible example of a possible future.