-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to
GENETIC CROSSROADS #15
February 21, 2001
Supporting responsible uses of human genetic technologies
Opposing the new techno-eugenics
(formerly the Techno-Eugenics Email Newsletter)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
For subscription and submission information, see end of message.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
I. EDITORS' NOTE
II. UPCOMING EVENTS
1. "Globalization and Technology" Conference, NYC, Feb
24-25
2. "Race, Biotech and Eugenics in the New Global Millennium,"
NYC, Feb 25
3. UC Berkeley Events Address Human Genetic Manipulation,
Mar 12 & 14
III. COMMENTS
1. American-Italian Team Says It Will Begin Cloning Effort
2. Biotech Industry Position on Human Cloning
3. David King on the Genome Announcement
IV. POINTERS: SAMPLING OF ARTICLES ON HUMAN CLONING AND TECHNO-EUGENICS
V. ABOUT GENETIC CROSSROADS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. EDITORS' NOTE
In just the six weeks since the last issue of Genetic Crossroads,
the
prospect of human genetic manipulation has been catapulted to
a far
higher public profile than ever before: The first transgenic primate.
Featured stories by major US magazines and television news shows
about
covert human cloning efforts. The announcement of an immminent
cloning
attempt by a pair of IVF clinic operators. New findings based
on the
human genome sequence. The "Comments" below contain
interpretations of
these events that you may not have seen elsewhere.
This is a dangerous moment, but also a time of opportunity.
Many who
have dismissed the prospect of a genetically redesigned humanity
as
fantasy will now consider it seriously. They will bring their
moral
and political values to bear, deliberatively and strategically.
As more
and more people engage the threat of a techno-eugenic future with
their
hearts and their minds, we can begin to gather and grow the collective
wisdom and strength we will need to reject it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. UPCOMING EVENTS
1. "Globalization and Technology" Conference, NYC, Sat-Sun Feb 24-25
This major conference at Hunter College features 40 speakers
and 25
workshops. Saturday night's plenary and sessions on Sunday will
address
human genetic engineering. A special session on Sunday will focus
on
the situation regarding human cloning and what needs to be done.
Sponsors: International Forum on Globalization, New York Open
Center,
International Center for Technology Assessment, Turning Point
Project,
Lapis Magazine, The Nation Institute. Schedule & logistics:
<www.ifg.org>.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. "Race, Biotech and Eugenics in the New Global Millennium," NYC, Feb 25
>From the session announcement: "It is our belief that
the nature and pace
of biotechnological developments demand attention from progressive
people
of color. Certain biotechnologies have such power to affect society
and
so little democratic input in their development, that their development
must be prudently slowed or stopped until such measures are in
place.
Most progressive people of color will recognize the eugenic implications
of these technologies. The history of racism and eugenics in the
U.S.A.
call people of color and conscience to be extremely skeptical
of what
is now euphemistically called `genetic enhancements.'"
Sunday Feb 25, 2-4 pm, Hunter College West Room 604. (Runs
concurrently
with the Globalization and Technology Conference.)
Organized by Jose Morales, PhD, Director, Public Interest Biotechnology.
Other sponsors: National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights, Black
Radical
Congress (NY Metro chapter), Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. UC Berkeley Events Address Human Genetic Manipulation, Mar 12 & 14
Mon Mar 12, 4-5 pm, "Today, Genetically Modified Food.
Tomorrow,
Genetically Modified Humans? The Case Against Cloning and Designing
Children." Sponsored by Department of Environmental Science
Policy and
Management. Speakers from the Exploratory Initiative on the New
Human
Genetic Technologies. 159 Mulford Hall, UC Berkeley.
Wed Mar 14, 3-6 pm, "Ethics, Genetic Technology, and Social
Responsibility in the 21st Century." Panelists: Charles Weiner,
Visiting Professor UC Berkeley; Paul Billings, GeneSage and Council
for Responsible Genetics; Diane Beeson, CA State University Hayward;
Marcy Darnovsky, Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic
Technologies. Townsend Center for the Humanities, Geballe Room,
220 Stephens Hall, UC Berkeley.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. COMMENTS
1. American-Italian Team Says It Will Begin Cloning Effort
Severino Antinori and Panayiotos Zavos, the Italian and US
researchers
who say they are about to begin to clone human children, will
hold a
press conference and a "scientific meeting" in Rome
on March 9. They
claim that they will then establish ethical guidelines for human
cloning,
although they have already announced their decision to go ahead.
Antinori
and Zavos argue that they are "responsible" cloners
whose work will
prevent others who may "indiscriminately" attempt to
"clone themselves."
Public sentiment is overwhelmingly opposed to human cloning,
and many
observers have pointed to the high incidence of serious abnormalities
in cloned animals. Even some supporters of human cloning have
criticized
Antinori's and Zavos' project, which they view as premature and
likely
to instigate an anti-cloning backlash.
Antinori, who has run a fertility clinic in Rome since 1985,
gained
notoriety for achieving pregnancies in women up to 62 years old,
and
for producing a baby using sperm that he had matured in material
derived from rats' testicles--a method described as "totally
unethical,
premature and scientifically dangerous." Zavos, a professor
in the
Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Kentucky, runs
an
IVF clinic that has never reported its results.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Biotech Industry Position on Human Cloning
On February 19, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)
released
a press statement containing a letter to George W. Bush that "urg[es]
him to support continuation of the current voluntary moratorium"
on
reproductive human cloning, and warns of the risk of "a public
backlash against responsible biotechnology research."
BIO is of course aware that the Bush administration has already
announced its support for existing policy on human cloning, which
is
voluntary and temporary, and applies only to federally funded
research.
BIO's announcement does not constitute serious opposition to
reproduc-
tive human cloning. What is required is national legislation that
bans
the production of human children by cloning--a provision already
enacted
as law in 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. David King on the Genome Announcement
The number of genes in the human genome sequence is utterly
irrelevant
to the question of genetic determinism. If we believe in simplistic
genetic determinism, 30,000 genes is plenty. But very few serious
scientists have, for many years, and that doesn't stop them from
genetic engineering, including engineering human beings. They
can
still manipulate the system, and within their own narrow criteria
of success, they often succeed.
So what's going on here? The medical and scientific establishments
are
terrified of a public backlash similar to what has been seen with
GE
foods. So for some time now their PR strategy has been to dismiss
naive genetic determinism. This allows them to appear liberal,
and
helps calm down people's fears.
There is a bona fide debate on the influence of genes and environment,
and scientifically the jury is still out. The answer does make
a real
difference to what we believe the genetic engineers and eugenicists
can accomplish, and therefore how scared we should be....[G]enetic
determinism as an ideology is wrong and pernicious, but that doesn't
mean that there aren't some completely straightforward, fairly
simple,
or only slightly complex genetic determinations out there.
David King is the editor of GenEthics News.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. POINTERS: SAMPLING OF ARTICLES ON HUMAN CLONING AND TECHNO-EUGENICS
Jan 12: World's First GM Monkey Brings Prospect of "GE Humans" Closer.
(date) Disastrous Step For Mankind
Tonight, the House of Lords must decide whether to approve legislation
to allow human cloning for therapeutic purposes: a decision that
may
prove momentous, not only for this country but also for the human
race.
Jan 22: Is ANDi a Miracle or a Monster?
Roger Scruton is Britain's best known writer on philosophy and
a former
professor at Birkbeck College, London, and Boston University.
"I have
this horrible vision of a future in which there are no young people
any
more, except those manufactured by the bionic geriatrics who control
things."
Jan 26: Italian, U.S. Scientists Unveil Human Cloning Effort
CHICAGO (Reuters) - An international group of reproductive experts
plans to launch a serious effort to clone humans to provide children
to infertile couples.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010126/ts/cloning_dc_1.html
Jan 28: Cloning Advances Outrace Regulators
WASHINGTON (UPI)--Rapid advances in the fields of embryology,
genomics,
and in-vitro fertilization and genetic screening have increased
chances
that a human clone will be born in the coming months. Will Washington
take regulatory aim?
Jan 29: The business of playing God
By MARTIN HUTCHINSON, UPI Business and Economics Editor
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- [L]et us set aside the ethical issues for
a moment,
and consider the potential business of playing God. How big will
it be,
and what will be its characteristics? In Part 1, I look at the
market
for cloning itself; Part 2...will examine the markets for genetic
manipulation and de novo creation of life.
Jan 30: Cloned human planned 'by 2003'
BBC News -- Panos Zavos: The world must "come to grips with
cloning."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1144000/1144694.stm
Jan 31: Human cloning plans spark uproar
Plans by doctors to clone the first human being have been blasted
by one
of the world's top experts in animal cloning, who warned of a
high risk
that the child may die prematurely or endure life as a cripple.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/story_7979.asp
Feb 2: Japan_Issues_Warning_To_Scientists_On_Human_Cloning_Project
TOKYO (AP)--Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori instructed his science
minister
Friday to take steps to prevent Japanese researchers and doctors
from
participating in an international project to clone human beings.
Feb 2: Canada Cult Aims to Clone Dead Child
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)--High-tech fertility technology will
merge with
an "X-Files" plot Sunday, February 4, when the New York
Times Magazine
devotes its cover to the Raelians, a Canada-based cult that claims
it is
well on its way to cloning the first human.
Feb 4: Australian Scientist Horrified at Human Clone Plan
Two international medical scientists are trying to lure Victoria's
top
reproductive scientist, Alan Trounson, into a taboo-busting project
aimed
at cloning the first human being. Trounson's reply: "I'm
sure they would
like anybody who would add credibility to the team to go on it.
No way.
No way!"
http://www.theage.com.au/news/2001/02/04/FFXPQ246QIC.html
Feb 5: Humans May Be Cloned `Sooner Than Anybody Thinks'
By Cheryl K. Chumley CNS Staff Writer
Feb. 6: Are We Becoming Desensitized to Idea of Cloning?
By Cheryl K. Chumley, CNS Staff Writer
Feb 7: Cloning's real cost is human dignity
By NICHOLAS TONTI-FILIPPINI
Feb 7: Quests build to clone humans
The Christian Science Monitor--Cloning humans is banned in 23
countries.
But scientists are pushing the technology forward.
Feb 8: Cloning Cult Opens Door to Brave New World
http://www.newsday.com/columnists/stories/thursday/nd8261.htm
Feb 8: Romania Bans Human Cloning
BUCHAREST (Monitorul Online) Yesterday, deputies decided to forbid
human
cloning in Romania, by passing a draft bill which ratified the
European
Convention concerning the protection of the human rights and that
of the
human being's dignity.
Feb 10: `Designer' Humans' only 30 years away
Genetically modified human beings will exist within 30 years,
an eminent
scientist predicted yesterday. Dr Francis Collins, a leader of
the project
to decode the human genome, said mankind would inevitably start
tinkering
with its genetic make-up to "take control of evolution."
Feb 10: French President Wants Ban on Human Cloning
LYONS, France -- French President Jacques Chirac criticized Britain's
decision last month to let scientists clone human embryos for
medical
research, and called for an international ban on the practice.
Therapeutic
cloning, Chirac said, "leads to the creation of embryos for
the purposes
of research and the production of cells and, in spite of the ban,
makes
reproductive cloning practically possible and leads to the risk
of
trafficking in eggs."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/2/10/103138.shtml
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
V. ABOUT GENETIC CROSSROADS (formerly Techno-Eugenics Email Newsletter)
This newsletter originated in 1999 out of the concerns of academics,
activists, and others in the San Francisco Bay Area about the
direction
of the new human genetic and reproductive technologies. It is
published
by the Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic Technologies,
a
public interest organization working to alert the public and leaders
of
civil society about the urgent need for societal oversight of
these
technologies and the dangers of the techno-eugenic vision.
We support genetic and reproductive technologies that serve
the public
interest. We oppose those--especially human germline engineering
and
human reproductive cloning--that would be likely to exacerbate
inequality,
the commercialization of reproduction, and the commodification
of human
genes and tissues.
GENETIC CROSSROADS is published approximately once a month.
Feedback,
submissions, and suggestions are welcome. Marcy Darnovsky will
moderate.
Please forward GENETIC CROSSROADS to others who may be interested.
Exploratory Initiative staff, San Francisco:
Marcy Darnovsky, Ph.D. <teel@adax.com>
Richard Hayes, M.A. <rhayes@publicmediacenter.org>
Tania Simoncelli, M.S. <tania@publicmediacenter.org>
Exploratory Initiative staff, Washington DC:
Douglas Hunt, Ph.D. <dhunt@hgtinitiative.org>
To subscribe, unsubscribe, and for all other communications:
<teel@adax.com>
To unsubscribe send the message "unsubscribe no-cal"
to <majordomo@geneticcrossroads.org>.