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Philosophy in the Contemporary World, Volume 12, Number 2 (Summer 2005). 37 AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF OJIBWAY OBJECTIONS TO GENOMICS AND GENETICS RESEARCH ON WILD RICE ROBERT STREIFFER University of Wisconsin—Madison rstreiffer@wisc.edu Abstract: I analyze Ojibway objections to genomics and genetics research on wild rice. Although key academic and industry participants in this research have dismissed their objections out of hand, my analysis supports the conclusion that the objections merit serious consideration, even by those who do not share the Ojibway’s religious beliefs. Introduction When a natural resource plays an integral role in a group’s cultural and spiritual heritage, it is especially problematic to fund and do research that will predictably marginalize that group’s interests and undermine their ability to exercise authority over that resource. One way of protecting the group’s interests and authority is to treat the resource in question as a common good that belongs to the group’s common heritage. This will have implications for the obligations of those conducting, overseeing, and funding the research, and for the kinds of intellectual property claims other parties have over that resource. In this paper, I propose to explore these and related issues using a case study involving the Ojibway and genetic and genomics research on wild rice. At the 2002 conference of the National Agricultural Biotechnology Council, the White Earth Land Recovery Project organized a protest against genomics and genetics research on wild rice taking place at the University of Minnesota and at the NorCal Wild Rice Company in California.1 The protest was supported by resolutions from numerous Ojibway tribes and organizations, groups that attach tremendous economic, cultural, and spiritual importance to wild rice, or manoonmin, as it is called in their native tongue.2 The following language from the Red Cliff Band (2002) resolution was typical: BE IT RESOLVED; that the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa does hereby oppose all patenting and genetic research being conducted on Wild Rice … [and] calls on all Natural Resources agencies to protect our property rights, which include Wild Rice, from risks by outlawing the research and the potential for a contaminated gene pool of Mother Earth’s Wild Rice (not tame, sterile, or hybrids). The National Agricultural Biotechnology Council (NABC) largely ignored the protests, and did not invite the protestors or other Ojibway stakeholders to participate in the conference, despite the fact that NABC’s stated goals include: [providing] an open forum for persons with different interests and concerns to come together