Micromachine technology, which was misappropriated for use as a link to agricultural product improvement, not just in the fields of cyberbrain and prosthetic body manufacturing, was cheap and safe, made real the development of high-yield crops, and played a major role in the worldwide food supply problem. Although the use of micromachines in food products was first met with physiological revulsion, MM-rice, rice to which this technology was applied was widely used in farmland-scarce Japan, and its development and refinement due to the increased food supply demands during the war made it a positive recipient of government support. Among these, Rikuu-132 drew attention as high-yield, all-purpose rice that could withstand lack of sunlight and water and was also resistant to cold-weather damage. MM-Rice cured the world food problem. Rikuu-132, its technical term, was made by the TAR (Tohoka Autonomous Region) and when the scientist that created it, Yazawa, died, Japan filed for patent rights under orders from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. The residents of the TAR did not approve. They do not recognize Japan’s authority over them but could not get headway with the UN that did not recognize their status. Certain more radical members of the TAR resorted to terrorism to make their case known. The rise in recent years of consumer unease regarding MM agricultural products due to the general distribution of improper produce, is troubling. Awareness of consumer food safety is growing on a worldwide scale, and even abroad, movements to reorganize food safety administrations are increasing their activity. Due to climbing patent costs, the number of products that can only be dealt in by economic superpowers is climbing. Expensive patents are an evil practice, and hunger countermeasures utilizing MM produce is a rocky road. Movements calling for copylefting or patent reductions from a moral standpoint are becoming more active in many countries aboard. With calls for copylefting on the one hand, activity to preserve micromachine technology and copyrights as intellectual property rights continues unabated.
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