Individuals and corporations increasingly own our world. New property rights now enable the private possession of life and ideas, driven by the profit motive.

Genetically engineered crops, patented computer programmes, harvesting of human cells, and the exploitation of biodiversity, molecules and atoms for private profit are just some of the issues examined in this book, making it an essential read for anybody who has wondered, "What does this mean for me?"

This fascinating collection of essays analyses this steady erosion of our human rights and destiny. Among the many examples illustrated in A Patented World? are:

An American company owns the patents on two breast cancer genes and for the next 20 years it can exclude any, but its own researchers, from testing or using the genes in search of a genetic cure for breast cancer. The company can set whatever price it chooses for the exclusive right to test for the presence of these genes. The present price of sending a tissue sample to its laboratory is US$2760.

Another is the case of a Mr Moore in America who went to court to secure the property right to cells from his own spleen. He lost the case and doctors created a billion-dollar cell line from his "naturally occurring raw material".

A Patented World? is co-published with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung.