Podcast Episode

Episode One Hundred And Ninety One – On Filming A Year Without God And Gene Patenting In Australia

Almost a year ago, Ryan Bell, a professor and former pastor of a Seventh-day Adventist church, announced that he would “try on” atheism and “live as if there is no God” for twelve months. The experiment has ended – and he has decided that atheism is his choice.

But what happened on the journey? For this interview, I spoke to the directors, Tim Banks and Ryan Moore, about the challenges of documenting an uncertain year of self-discovery and religious (and not-so-religious) community.

Find out more (and support the film!) at https://www.facebook.com/YearWithoutGodFilm.

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Earlier this year, cancer patenting hit the headlines in Australia – and may have ramifications world-wide. The BRCA1 gene mutation is one of two mutations known to be associated with hereditary breast cancer – actress Angelina Jolie tested positive for it and chose to have surgery rather than risk developing cancer.

The Federal Court’s decision in September that gene patenting is permitted in Australia will affect all gene patents, even though the case involved only one gene – BRCA1. A nine-judge panel in the United States Supreme Court in 2013 ruled that genes extracted from the human body were not eligible to be patented.

So what has happened in Australia to allow private companies to control human genes? Will the USA decision which came out this month influence future policy?

For this interview, I spoke to Paul Grogan, the Director of Advocacy at Australia’s Cancer Council, when the news first came out.

Theme songs are P&P by Derek K. Miller of www.penmachine.com and Leap Second by Milton Mermikides, of www.miltonmermikides.com

Please leave positive comments and reviews on iTunes and consider supporting the show via visiting Tokenskeptic.org – and I’d love to get your feedback via tokenskeptic@gmail.com.

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