Everything's for sale: National Parks Service considers opening parks to
'bioprospecting'

By Geov Parrish
Created Nov 24 2006 - 8:03am

In a season when crowds are rioting over $600 video game consoles, and O.J.
Simpson could sign a deal for millions with the Murdoch empire to reenact
the "hypothetical" murder of his wife and her friend, it may seem like
absolutely everything is now for sale in our mercenary culture. And that far
too many people are buying. (Though, mercifully, not in O.J.'s case.)

The latest evidence of this comes from, of all places, one of the most
trusted and admired of federal agencies. The National Park Service (NPS) is
quietly taking public comment through December 15 on a proposal to allow
private companies to "bioprospect" in our national parks: to commercially
mine, not the mineral riches of a park, but the genetic resources of plants,
animals, and microorganisms in territories specifically set aside for
stewardship in the public trust.