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Welcome to the
Techno-Eugenics Email List Newsletter
Number 8
May 10, 2000
Supporting genetic science in the public interest
Opposing the new techno-eugenics
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This is Issue Number 8 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. UPCOMING EVENTS
1. ALERT: California Human Cloning Advisory Committee
meets
in San Francisco on Monday, May 15
2. "Rethinking ELSI," Harvard University, May
15-16
3. "The New Techno-Eugenics and the Threat to Global
Equity
and Human Development," Harvard University, May
18
4. "Enhancing the Human" symposium with Gregory
Stock, Peter
Sloterdijk, Daniel Kevles, Paul Billings, Gregory Benford;
UCLA, May 21
5. "The Operable Human," Peter Sloterdijk, Harvard
University,
May 19
II. NEWS AND POINTERS REGARDING TECHNO-EUGENICS
1. "The Eugenic Temptation" by Everett Mendelsohn
2. "On the New Eugenics" by Steve Talbott
3. SOS Human Genome: Campaign to Ban Patents on Human Genes
4. Genetic Scientist Would Ban Human Germline Modification
III. ABOUT THE TECHNO-EUGENICS EMAIL LIST NEWSLETTER
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I. UPCOMING EVENTS
1. ALERT: California Human Cloning Advisory Committee meets
in San
Francisco on Monday, May 15
The California Advisory Committee on Human Cloning is meeting
next
Monday, May 15, 2000, at the Hiram Johnson Building Auditorium,
455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.
The agenda distributed by Committee Chair George Cunningham
states
that the "primary topic to be addressed at this meeting is
the use
of cloning in infertility treatment." A public comment period
is
scheduled at 2:15.
At least two of the scheduled speakers, attorney Mark Eibert
and
bioethicist Bonnie Steinbock, are on record in support of human
cloning. (See below.)
This is the fourth meeting of the Human Cloning Committee,
which has
been mandated by the California legislature to recommend whether
the
state's moratorium on human reproductive cloning should be extended
past its expiration date of 2002. Comments by a number of Committee
members, and by the majority of invited speakers, indicate that
the
Committee may be searching for ways to justify human cloning.
Were
California to allow its moratorium to expire, it would put the
state
dramatically at odds with moves to ban human cloning that are
either
in effect or in legislative process in Japan, Canada, and many
European countries.
If you are planning to attend some or all of the meeting and
would
like to coordinate with others on the Techno-Eugenics Email List,
or would like background information on the Cloning Committee,
contact Marcy Darnovsky, <teel@adax.com>.
Advisory Committee on Human Cloning Agenda, May 15, 2000
9:00 am Introductions and announcements
9:15 am Ronald Harkey, CA Dept of Health Services
9:45 am Discussion and Questions
10:00 am Mark Eibert, Attorney
10:45 am Discussion and Questions
11:15 am Richard Chetkowski, MD, Fertility Specialist
11:45 am Discussion and Questions
11:15 am Richard Chetkowski, MD, Fertility Specialist
12:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm Bonnie Steinbock, Bioethicist
1:45 am Discussion and Questions
2:15 pm Public Comments Period
4:00 pm Adjourn
To contact the Cloning Committee directly: George Cunningham,
MD;
Department of Health Services, Genetic Disease Branch, Berkeley;
phone 510-540-2552; <gcunning@dhs.ca.gov>.
NOTES ON PRESENTERS:
Mark Eibert has written about cloning in the right-wing libertarian
Reason magazine. He is on a list of "prominent people who
support
human cloning" compiled by the Human Cloning Foundation,
a nonprofit
organization that does not reveal the names of its directors or
staff.
According to the Human Cloning Foundation, Eibert is "currently
investigating the possibility of bringing a lawsuit to challenge
the constitutionality of California's" cloning moratorium.
See <www.humancloning.org>.
In his June 1998 article in Reason, "Clone Wars,"
Eibert characterizes
efforts even to regulate human cloning technology as an "unprecedented
governmental grab for power over both human reproduction and scientific
inquiry." He argues that "those who support laws to
ban cloning...are
in effect urging the passage of a new eugenics law."
See <www.reason.com/9806/col.eibert.htm>.
Bonnie Steinbock has argued that the only "important ethical
issues"
concerning human cloning "have to do with the problems of
getting...
unintended side effects." She opposes laws like the European
ones
that ban human cloning. She dismisses without comment arguments
against human germline engineering based on the drastic exacerbation
of inequality that it would almost certainly produce.
See <www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/march97/cloning_3-5.html>
and
<www1.jcu.edu/religion/lauritze/r1260/steinbock260.html>.
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2. "Rethinking ELSI," Harvard University, May 15-16
A workshop titled "Rethinking ELSI: Science and Social
Responsibility
in the Post-Genomic Age" will be held May 15-16, 2000 at
the John F.
Kennedy School of Government, Taubman Dining Room, Harvard University.
It is open to all.
The workshop "reconsiders the ethical, legal and social
implications
(ELSI) of genetics as the Human Genome Project (HGP) comes to
a close...
[T]his new area of science and technology poses novel challenges
to
existing ethical practices. In particular, post-genomic research
and
development raises issues of expertise, representation, consent,
property and identity that apply more to populations and groups
than to individuals."
Speakers include:
o Debra Harry, Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism,
"Biocolonialism: Indigenous Peoples Face a New Wave of
Colonialism
with Human Genetic Research"
o Richard Hayes, Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic
Technologies, "The Challenge of Germline Modification
to Human
Identity and Social Welfare, and What Needs to be Done."
Info: <http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/bcsia/stpp.nsf/web/rethinkingelsi>
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3. "The New Techno-Eugenics and the Threat to Global
Equity and Human
Development," Harvard University, May 18
This presentation by Richard Hayes, Exploratory Initiative
on the
New Human Genetic Technologies, will be given at the Center for
International Development, Harvard University, 1 Elliott, 4th
floor Seminar Room, Thursday, May 18, 12:00-2:00 pm.
Info: <Derya_Honca/FS/KSG@ksg.harvard.edu>
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4. "Enhancing the Human" symposium with Gregory
Stock, Peter Sloterdijk,
Daniel Kevles, Paul Billings, Gregory Benford; UCLA, May 21
A half-day symposium, co-organized by Gregory Stock's Program
on
Medicine, Technology and Society and by the Goethe-Institut, is
titled
"Enhancing the Human: Genomics, Science Fiction, and Ethics
Collide."
Stock, a leading figure in the campaign advocating human germline
engineering, will moderate and deliver the keynote, "Future
Human
Evolution: Reflections on the Challenges Ahead." For more
on Stock's
Program, see <http://research.mednet.ucla.edu/pmts/>.
Peter Sloterdijk is the post-humanist German philosopher who
has
stirred anger with his talk of "human breeding," the
"human zoo,"
"steering reproduction," and "selektion,"
a German word that connotes
Nazi death camp procedures. Sloterdijk's UCLA talk is titled
"The
Operable Human: Comments on the Ethical Dimension of Gen Technology."
For coverage of the Sloterdijk controversy, see "Anger as
Philosopher
Revives Vocabulary of Third Reich,"
<www.philosophynews.com/news/19991001_habermas_vs_sloterdijk.htm>.
Paul Billings of the Council for Responsible Genetics and GeneSage
will present "Zeus's Revenge: Myths, Moxie and Human Genetic
Enhancement." Historian of science Daniel Kevles' talk is
titled
"Brave New Biologies: The Dream of Eugenics." Physicist
and science
fiction writer Gregory Benford will speak on "Freedom and
Franchise:
The Argument Against Control."
The symposium will take place Sunday, May 21, 1 pm to 6 pm,
Room 100,
Moore Hall, UCLA. Free and open to the public. For reservations,
which are recommended, call 323-525-3388. For symposium info,
see
<www.goethe.de/uk/los/enpkonf.htm> or
<http://research.mednet.ucla.edu/pmts/Goethe-Institu.htm>.
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5. "The Operable Human," Peter Sloterdijk, Harvard University, May 19
Sloterdijk will deliver a lecture in Boston titled "The
Operable Human:
Comments on Anthropo-Technology" in which he "presents
his controversial
theses on the possibilities of genetic manipulation of human beings."
Friday, May 19, 4:15 pm, Center for European Studies, Harvard
University.
Info: 617-495-4303 (ext 0), <www.goethe.de/uk/bos/enpslote.htm>
or
<www.fas.harvard.edu/~ces>.
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II. NEWS AND POINTERS REGARDING TECHNO-EUGENICS
1. "The Eugenic Temptation" by Everett Mendelsohn
An excellent article by Harvard professor of the history of
science
Everett Mendelsohn, titled "The Eugenic Temptation: When
Ethics Lag
Behind Technology," appears in May's Harvard Alumni magazine.
Mendelsohn concludes: "The institutions of genetic, scientific,
and
technical research, and the industries of genetic application,
are
relatively well organized and generously funded. Their imperatives
are clear: push toward new knowledge and its applications. By
contrast, our ethical, social discussion is unfocused, episodic,
and
scattered. We need to harness moral thinking to genetic technique.
The need for organized, intelligent debate involving an active
public
and committed scientists has never been clearer. Solving the
"technically sweet" problems first (the phrase is from
atomic
scientists) and only then turning to deal with the moral and social
consequences has in the past proved much too costly, and will
again."
Full text: <http://www.harvard-magazine.com/issues/ma00/eugenics.html>.
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2. "On the New Eugenics" by Steve Talbott
The on-line newsletter "NetFuture: Technology and Human
Responsibility"
devoted most of its February 16 issue to techno-eugenics and the
new
human genetic technologies. In an essay titled "On the New
Eugenics,"
NetFuture editor Steve Talbott writes:
"The genetic engineers and cheerleaders...seem remarkably
confident
that they have mastered what the rest of us have not: namely,
what it
means to be human. This is odd considering that most or all of
them
would profess discomfort with the language of meaning as opposed
to
the instrumental language of science. Without hesitation they
talk
about making human beings *better*, as if this gave us an obvious
roadmap for the re-engineering task."
Current and past issues of NetFuture, and subscription information,
are available at <www.oreilly.com/~stevet/netfuture/>.
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3. SOS Human Genome: Campaign to Ban Patents on Human Genes
The April 20 issue of Nature magazine carries a news article
titled
"Politicians seek to block human gene patents in Europe."
According to the article, a new campaign called SOS Human Genome
has been launched, calling for an end to the patenting of human
genes.
German MP Wolfgang Wodarg and French MP Jean-Francois Mattei hope
the
campaign will force the European Patent Office to temporarily
stop
issuing patents on plants and animals as well as human genes.
The call for a moratorium followed a report prepared by the
two
politicians, which argues that human material should not become
private property. The report will be debated by the Council of
Europe's parliamentary full assembly in June.
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4. Genetic Scientist Would Ban Human Germline Modification
In a front-page article on the Human Genome Project in the
San
Francisco Chronicle (April 25, 2000), biotechnology reporter Tom
Abate quotes geneticist Eric Lander asserting that most scientists
"would abhor the notion of tinkering with human inheritance."
Lander states, "I would like to see a moratorium or a ban
on
[germline] modifications that would have to be repealed if there
were ever to be a compelling case to be made for it."
Lander is director of the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, one of the major research labs involved
in
the public Human Genome Project.
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III. 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@publicmediacenter.org