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Welcome to the
Techno-Eugenics Email List Newsletter
Number 4
December 26, 1999
Supporting genetic science in the public interest
Opposing the new techno-eugenics
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This is Issue Number 4 of the Techno-Eugenics Email List
newsletter, as far as we know the only on-line newsletter
focused on the politics of the new human genetic and
reproductive technologies. If you're receiving this news-
letter for the first time, please see the instructions for
subscribing and submitting items at the end of this message.
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CONTENTS
I. A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS
II. FOUR IMPORTANT EVENTS
1. January 27 California State Human Cloning Advisory
Committee
(Oakland, CA)
2. February 15-17 Symposium on Science and Ethics in Society:
The
25th Anniversary of the Asilomar Conference (Pacific Grove,
CA)
3. February 21 AAAS Human Germline Engineering Symposium
(Washington DC)
4. March 25-27 Biodevastation 4: The 4th International
Grassroots
Gathering on Genetic Engineering and the Corporate Theft
of
Our Food (Boston, MA)
III. OTHER NEWS AND POINTERS
1. Hudson Institute briefs Margaret Thatcher and others
on human
genetic engineering
2. Novartis Foundation invites Arthur Jensen to lecture on
IQ
3. "The Ethics and Politics of Germline Engineering"
workshop
materials available
IV. ABOUT THE TECHNO-EUGENICS EMAIL LIST NEWSLETTER
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I. A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS
In this last newsletter of 1999, we want to thank all of you
for the
advice and encouragement you've given, and for posting and forwarding
this newsletter to other lists, friends, and colleagues. We hope
you'll continue to do so.
The coming year could be as critical for public awareness and
citizen
organizing about the new human genetic technologies as the past
year
has been for genetically modified foods. We'll have information
in
coming issues about meetings, materials, and projects that can
help
make this happen. In the meantime, happy holidays. And thanks
again.
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II. FOUR IMPORTANT EVENTS
1. January 27 California State Human Cloning Advisory Committee
Childrens' Hospital of Northern California, 5700 Martin Luther
King
Jr. Way, Oakland, CA, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Public comments at
2:30.
Few Californians are aware that the State has appointed a Human
Cloning Advisory Committee to recommend state policy on human
cloning.
Incredibly, the committee appears to be supportive of the cloning
of
human beings as a form of reproduction. At the two meetings held
thus far, no committee members have spoken against human cloning;
the discussion seems focused on finding ways to justify it.
At the January 27 meeting, presentations will be heard from
four
invited guests:
Patricia Baird, MD, Medical Genetics Department, University
of
British Columbia
John Robertson, JD, School of Law, University of Texas
Alta Charo, JD, University of Wisconsin School of Law
James Warner, Professor of Ethical Studies, Loma Linda University
We will have more information about the California Cloning
Committee
in our next issue.
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2. February 15-17 Symposium on Science and Ethics in Society:
The 25th Anniversary of the Asilomar Conference (Pacific Grove,
CA)
Some of the most important people involved with genetic engineering
in the United States--scientists, corporate and foundation executives,
politicians, journalists, scholars and others--will gather for
a
three-day invitational meeting to assess the history and prospects
of regulatory policy in the U.S. regarding genetic engineering.
The event is being held on the 25th anniversary of the 1975
meeting
at Asilomar at which scientists imposed a short voluntary moratorium
on recombinant DNA research in order to assess safety hazards.
The
1975 Asilomar conference has been variously seen as an act of
responsible scientific leadership, as an unnecessary concession
to
exaggerated public fears, and as a tactical move to discourage
public
oversight of genetic engineering.
The Chair of the events planning committee for the 25th anniversary
meeting is Alexander Capron, codirector of the Pacific Center
for
Health Policy and Ethics at the USC Law Center. Other planning
committee members are Paul Berg, director of Stanford University's
Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine; David Baltimore,
president of the California Institute of Technology; Maxine Singer,
president of the Carnegie Institution; Dorothy Nelkin of NYU;
Daniel
Kevles of Cal Tech; and Joshua Lederberg of Rockefeller University.
Speakers include Harold Shapiro, Chair of the National Bioethics
Advisory Commission; Sheldon Krimsky of Tufts University; Rebecca
Goldburg of the Environmental Defense Fund; Troy Duster of NYU;
Harold Varmus, former NIH Director; U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy;
Nicholas Wade of the New York Times; and Gordon Conway of the
Rockefeller Foundation.
A session on "Somatic and Germline Gene Therapy,"
chaired by Inder
Verma of the Salk Institute, is described as follows:
"While research on somatic cell gene transfer for medical
reasons
(so-called `gene therapy') has been carried out for more than
a
decade, the prevailing wisdom is that germ-line therapy ought
not
to be undertaken. Is that view still valid? How can risks be
evaluated when the `experimental animal' is inevitably human?
Are such risks solely a personal matter or do potential effects
for society count as well?"
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3. February 21 AAAS Symposium: "Changing Our Genetic
Future Through
Germline Intervention" (Washington DC)
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
is
preparing a set of "recommendations" concerning human
germline
engineering, and will report on them at a symposium at the AAAS
annual meeting in Washington, DC.
The committee preparing the recommendations is heavily weighted
with
persons who are sympathetic to human germline engineering. (We'll
provide details in the next newsletter.)
The AAAS description of the report (see URL below) says, "The
final
phase of the project will be a report that discusses the issues
and
makes a series of recommendations. AAAS plans to disseminate
widely
a print form of the report, to place the text on its World Wide
Web
site, and to hold briefings for Congress, the press, the scientific
and medical communities, and the religious community in order
to
encourage wide public dialogue."
The February 21 symposium panel consists of:
Theodore Friedmann, UCSD; Director, Human Gene Therapy Program
"Technical Prospects for Human Germline Gene Transfer"
Angela N. Nunley, Howard University College of Medicine
Jill Russ, Smithsonian
Michael Blaese, Kimeragen, Inc. "Medical Rationale for Germline
Intervention"
Eric T. Juengst, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
"Framing a Bioethics Perspective on Human Germline Intervention"
Claudia Mickelson, MIT; Chair, Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee
"Regulatory Framework for Oversight of Human Germline
Interventions"
Audrey R. Chapman, AAAS and Mark S. Frankel, AAAS "Developing
Policy for Human Germline Intervention"
More information on the AAAS germline project can be found
at
<www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/projects/germline.htm>.
For more information on the AAAS annual meeting, see
<www.aaas.org/meetings/2000/huf.htm>.
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4. March 25-27 Biodevastation 4 (Boston, MA)
Organizers believe that Biodevastation 4--"The 4th International
Grassroots Gathering on Genetic Engineering and the Corporate
Theft
of Our Food"--is likely to be the largest such gathering
to date in
North America.
The teach-in portion of Biodevastation 4 will be held the weekend
immediately preceding the annual convention of the Biotechnology
Industry Organization, BIO 2000. A rally, march and nonviolent
direct action is being planned for Monday, March 27.
For more information, see <www.bckweb.com/nerage> or
contact
<nerage@sover.net>.
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III. OTHER NEWS AND POINTERS
1. Hudson Institute briefing on human genetic engineering
On December 12, the Hudson Institute hosted an elite gathering,
including former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, for a briefing
on the "long run impact of the human biotechnology revolution."
The presenter, Steven Sailer of the Human Biodiversity Institute,
suggested that "progressive pressure groups" may try
to ban human
genetic engineering but will fail; then, to prevent a crisis of
inequality, they could flip 180 degrees and try to mandate
"politically correct" human genetic engineering. He
argues that
China, with less scruples, will simply compete straight-forwardly
for superiority:
"If China uses genetic enhancements while the West either
bans them
or pursues a politically correct re-engineering of human nature,
the
inevitable result within a few generations would be Chinese economic,
and thus military, global hegemony. The weapons scientist and
evolutionary theorist Gregory Cochran points out that `We cannot
opt
out of this biological arms race any more than we could opt out
of
the nuclear arms race. Thus, those serious about either preventing
or mandating genetic engineering should start planning a pre-emptive
nuclear strike on China...soon.'"
Sailer illustrates his argument with a colorful slide of a
hydrogen
bomb explosion.
For a text of the Hudson Institute presentation, see
<www.HumanBiodiversity.org>
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2. Novartis Foundation invites eugenicist Arthur Jensen to speak
People Against Eugenics (PAE) are protesting the invitation
by the
Novartis Foundation to have eugenicist Arthur Jensen address a
scientific meeting in London on intelligence.
David King of PAE said: "It is vital that we resist the
creeping
return of eugenics. On the eve of a new millennium we are facing
two threats: the increasing acceptance of old fashioned eugenics,
like Jensen's, and the proliferation of genetic technology,
unrestrained by either law or ethics. It is time to take a stand."
For more information: People Against Eugenics, PO Box 6313,
London
N16 0DY. Phone: 44 (0)181 809 4513; fax: 44 (0)171 502 7516.
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3. "The Ethics and Politics of Germline Engineering"
workshop
materials available
Copies of the notes and other materials used at the December
5
workshop held at UC Berkeley are available from Marcy Darnovsky
at <md@adax.com>. The workshop covered the history of eugenic
politics, the "formal" ethical debate over human genetic
modification, the deeper political issues at stake, the sources
of the new techno-eugenic ideology, and more.
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IV. ABOUT THE TECHNO-EUGENICS EMAIL LIST NEWSLETTER
This newsletter stems from the work of academics, activists,
and
others in the San Francisco Bay Area who are concerned about the
direction of the new human genetic technologies.
We support technologies that serve the public interest. We
oppose
those--including human germline engineering and human cloning--that
foster inequality, discrimination, objectification, and the
commodification of human genes and tissues.
This newsletter is intended to alert and inform concerned individuals
about the new technologies and the techno-eugenic vision. For
at
least the next several months, the newsletter will be irregular
(a couple times a month), informal, and non-automated. We'd welcome
feedback, and suggestions about focus and format. A web site
will
be coming soon.
Marcy Darnovsky will moderate. Send submissions to her via
the email
address below.
Unless we hear from you, we'll keep you on this list. Please
let us
know if you don't want to receive the newsletter---we won't feel
rejected! On the other hand, feel free to forward it to others
who
may be interested, and encourage them to subscribe by reply to
Marcy.
If you're a new subscriber, let us know if you'd like to receive
back issues.
Marcy Darnovsky, Ph.D. Richard Hayes, M.A.
teel@adax.com rhayes@socrates.berkeley.edu