-Caveat Lector- >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Welcome to > GENETIC CROSSROADS #14 > > January 7, 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. NEWS AND POINTERS > 1. E Magazine Cover Story: "Designing People" > 2. French Best-Selling Novel Celebrates a Post-Human Future > 3. Disabled Peoples International Statement on Human Genetics > 4. Two New Techniques Developed for Producing "Designer Sperm" > 5. Bill Prohibiting Human Cloning Introduced in Texas > 6. Flood of Responses to Watson's Genetic Determinism > >III. UPCOMING EVENTS > 1. "A Decade of ELSI Research," January 16-18, Bethesda, MD > 2. Eduardo Kac on Transgenic Animals as Art, Jan 29, UC Berkeley > 3. UC Berkeley Classes on Biotechnology and Bioethics > 4. Public Event Features Bill Joy, February 14, San Francisco > 5. American Association for Advancement of Science, February 15-20, > San Francisco > >IV. ABOUT GENETIC CROSSROADS >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >I. EDITORS' NOTE > >Those who care about the responsible use of new genetic technologies >know that efforts to set human society on a path toward a techno-eugenic >future continue to gather momentum. Challenges to halt this momentum are >just beginning to develop. The human project is truly at a critical >crossroads--hence our new name. > >We want to encourage readers to share and post GENETIC CROSSROADS widely, >and to tell us of news and events that are important for others to know. >Let's help make 2001 the year that human society begins to re-assert >control over the future of the human species. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >II. NEWS AND POINTERS > >1. E Magazine Cover Story: "Designing People" > >The cover story of E Magazine's January 2001 issue, "Designing People" >by Sally Deneen, provides the environmental media's first in-depth >coverage of the push for human germline manipulation and the emerging >resistance to it. From the article: > >"The idea of redesigning human beings and animals to suit the primarily >commercial goals of a limited number of individuals is fundamentally at >odds with the principle of respect for nature." -- Brent Blackwelder, >president, Friends of the Earth; Robert Musil, executive director, >Physicians for Social Responsibility. > >"If people are concerned that there was such a severe backlash against >genetically modified foods, I think they haven't seen anything compared >to the backlash when we are able to alter the human genome." -- Beth >Burrows, director, Edmonds Institute. > >"[W]hat we're talking about is a very deep understanding of what it means >to be part of an intricate web of life, and why we have boundaries between >species....This is no `marginal' movement or way of thinking. The group >advocating human re-engineering includes extremely powerful, influential >and wealthy people. So don't expect them to roll over easily or soon." >-- Ignacio Chapela, professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy >and Management, University of California, Berkeley. > >The E Magazine website is <www.emagazine.com>. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >2. French Best-Selling Novel Celebrates a Post-Human Future > >The new literary-artistic embrace of the techno-eugenic vision continues >with publication in English of the 1998 French bestseller The Elementary >Particles by Michel Houellebecq (Knopf, 2000). Houellebecq offers an >unrelentingly dreary, dispiriting assessment of the possibility of >meaningful human relationships at the turn of the millenium, but holds >out the promise that genetic engineering and cloning will allow creation >of a new post-human species that transcends humanity's tragic flaws. > > >From the book (pp 262-264): "There remain some humans of the old species. >At present their extinction seems inevitable. Contrary to the doomsayers, >this extinction is taking place peaceably, despite occasional acts of >violence, which also continue to decline. It has been surprising to note >the meekness, resignation, perhaps even secret relief with which humans >have consented to their own passing." > > >From the reviews: >- "This remarkable best-seller is France's biggest literary sensation > since Francois Sagan...or since Albert Camus" -- The Economist >- "The great novel of the end of the millenium" -- Elle (France) >- "Here are ideas, here are dreams, here is a great novel" -- Le Monde >- "A tragically beautiful book that constitutes a kind of epitaph for > the hopes of the twentieth century" -- The Sunday Times > >(See reviews at <www.amazon.com> and <www.barnesandnoble.com>.) >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >3. Disabled Peoples International Statement on Human Genetics > >The European contingent of Disabled Peoples International (DPI Europe) >released a position statement in November on the new human genetics. >DPI is an international human rights organization committed to the >protection of disabled people's rights. > >The statement addresses the threats to people with disabilities posed >by developments in human genetics, including the increasing use of >prenatal screening and pre-implantation diagnosis. > >"Human genetics poses a threat to us because while cures and palliatives >are promised, what is actually being offered are genetic tests for >characteristics perceived as undesirable," the statement says. "[O]ur >perceived value and role as well as our human rights are continually >diminished by the questionable medical ideas and discriminatory >attitudes spawned by the new genetics.... > >"We repudiate the utilitarian ideology which informs much of the new >human genetics, particularly the assumption that society would be >better off without the inconvenience and expense of disabled people. >In contrast, we want to see all clinical practice based on strong >principles of justice, ethics and non-discrimination with a respect >for diversity, autonomy and fully informed choice." > >The DPI statement includes a list of 10 demands about the future of the >new human genetics. These include strict regulation of human genetic >techniques; non-directive, rights-based genetic counseling; support >for all children and celebration of human diversity; representation of >disabled peoples on all human genetics advisory and regulatory bodies; >and protection of disabled people from discrimination and violation >through medical intervention. The full text of the DPI statement can be >viewed at <http://www.dpieurope.org/htm/bioethics/dpsngfullreport.htm>. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >4. Two New Techniques Developed for Producing "Designer Sperm" > >New techniques for genetically manipulating sperm may allow scientists >to circumvent existing laws prohibiting human germline engineering and >reproductive cloning, and increase their technical capabilities. > >UK newspapers reported in December that British fertility expert Robert >Winston has obtained a patent on a technique that would allow researchers >to genetically alter the human male germline cells that develop into >sperm. Winston developed the technique in collaboration with researchers >at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the California >Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and with funds granted by the US >National Institutes of Health. According to Phillip Koeffler of Cedars- >Sinai, "This does provide the capability of making designer babies, and >it will be up to society to decide what to do with it." > >A Sunday Times report quotes Dr. David King, editor of GenEthics News >in London, predicting that the technique could create a social gulf by >conferring another advantage on the rich. "The commercial motive will >mean ethical restraints are brushed aside," he said. (Lois Rogers, >"Winston patents technique for 'designer sperm,'" Sunday Times, >12/10/00; Mary Vallis, "Gene-fixing technique can erase bad traits," >National Post, 12/11/00, <http://www.nationalpost.com/home/ >story.html?f=/stories/ 20001211/400643.html>.) > >A few weeks later, scientists in Japan announced they had grown sperm >from stem cells derived from cloned mouse embryos, and then implanted >the sperm back into the testes, where they appear normal. The researchers >said that the technique, which they plan to test on humans, will allow >infertile men to produce genetically related offspring. They believe >that they will also be able to produce eggs from "reprogrammed" cells >derived from cloned male embryos, which would allow children to be >produced with genes of two men, rather than of a man and a woman. >(Cherry Norton and Lois Rogers, "Clone scientists can grow sperm in >laboratory," Sunday Times, 12/21/00, <http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/ >news/pages/sti/2000/12/31/stifgnfar01003.html>. > >With this technique, researchers could genetically manipulate male germ >stem cells, and then screen the sperm into which they develop for defects >before using them to fertilize an egg. Even more than Winston's method, >which involves injecting the sperm precursor cells into testes for the >final stages of maturation, it could encourage those scientists who are >eager to push ahead with human germline engineering. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >5. Bill Prohibiting Human Cloning Introduced in Texas > >Republican State Senator Jane Nelson has filed a bill that would prohibit >human cloning in the state of Texas. SB 102 states that "a person may not >clone or attempt to clone a human being." Penalties for violation are >fines up to $10,000 and, where applicable, license suspension. > >The bill does not explicitly address embryo cloning, but "does not >restrict scientific research or therapies using cloning technologies >not expressly prohibited by this subchapter." If approved during the >upcoming session, the bill would take effect September 1, 2001 and >expire in September 2005. The full text can be viewed at ><http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlo/77r/billtext/SB00102I.HTM>. > >Nelson chairs the Texas Senate Health Committee, which released a report >in August 2000 recommending that all human cloning be prohibited for a >limited time in order to allow for the evaluation of the medical, ethical, >and social implications raised by the possibility of human cloning. The >report also discusses gene therapy, GMOs and xenotransplantation and >provides an overview of genetics-related legislation in other states. >The full report can be viewed at: ><http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/commit/c620/c620.htm>. > >In her statement accompanying the introduction of the bill, Nelson said, >"The policy questions surrounding the human cloning issue cut to the very >core of our existence as human beings. Personally, I believe our lives >are gifts from God, and that trying to copy a human being is unethical." >According to Nelson's staff, reactions to the bill have been positive. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >6. Flood of Responses to Watson's Genetic Determinism > >On Dec. 18, the San Francisco Chronicle printed a full page of letters >about biotech reporter Tom Abate's coverage of the outrage at James >Watson's assertions, in a lecture at UC Berkeley, that skin color is >biochemically linked to sexual activity, and thinness to ambition. In >his Dec. 11 column, Abate had called Watson's remarks "the crudest form >of genetic determinism." See <www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ >chronicle/archive/2000/12/11/BU133995.DTL>. > >The letters were drawn from more than 130 that the paper received after >copies of Abate's column and comments about it (including a note from >the editors of this newsletter) circulated via the Internet. Several >of them supported Watson, but most commended Abate for what one writer >termed "a genuine public service." See <www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ >article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/18/BU143282.DTL>. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >III. UPCOMING EVENTS > >1. "A Decade of ELSI Research," January 16-18, Bethesda, MD > >This conference, sponsored by the National Human Genome Research Institute >and the Department of Energy, is "organized around a series of plenary and >concurrent sessions exploring a wide range of ELSI issues." Many topics >relevant to the new technologies of human genetic manipulation will be >addressed. > >Sessions include a Jan. 17 4:15 pm panel titled "Genetic Enhancement," >moderated by LeRoy Walters. Presentations at this session: "Anticipating >Enhancement: Ethical, Legal and Social Issues," Maxwell Mehlman; "The >Social and Ethical Dimensions of Genetic Enhancement Technologies," David >Rothman and Sheila Rothman; "Ethical and Social Issues in Human Germline >Modification: A Retrospective View From 1990-2000," David Resnick; "The >Conceptual Challenges of Regulating Genetic Enhancement," Eric Juengst. > >For more information, including an agenda and abstracts of presentations, >see <www.tech-res.intl.com/ELSI/index.asp>. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >2. Eduardo Kac on Transgenic Animals as Art, UC Berkeley, Jan 29 > >Eduardo Kac will give a lecture titled "From Telepresence to Transgenic >Art" on January 29, 7:30 pm, at 160 Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley. Kac is >a Chicago Art Institute professor who persuaded French geneticists to >produce a rabbit that glows in the dark by injecting rabbit zygotes with >a fluorescent protein gene derived from jellyfish. Kac says he intended >the fluorescing rabbit to start a public dialogue on biotechnology. > >Kac's plan to create transgenic animals has generated controversy since >he first announced it at an Ars Electronica gathering in 1999. "It's one >thing for an artist to experiment on a canvas, but it's entirely >different to experiment on a living creature," said Ellen Ullman, author >of "Close to the Machine." Ullman pointed out that the harm isn't limited >to the modified creature. "What does it do to a society to casually create >fluorescent dogs?" she asked. (See Tom Abate, "Artist Proposes Using >Jellyfish Genes to Create Glow-in-the-Dark Dogs," SF Chronicle, 10/18/99.) > >Info on the lecture: <http://www.ieor.berkeley.edu/~goldberg/lecs/>, or >contact Ken Goldberg, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or 510-643-9670. >See also Kac's website: <http://www.ekac.org/chitrib.html>. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >3. UC Berkeley Classes on Biotechnology and Bioethics > >Visiting Professor Charles Weiner of the Massachusetts Institute of >Technology will teach two classes this spring that address genetic >engineering. "Bioethics" will meet Monday and Wednesday from 4:00-5:30 >in 141 Giannini Hall. Topics include ethical dilemmas arising from >recent advances in biotechnology, genetic engineering, healthcare, >patient's rights, and environmental cleanups. > >"Biotechnology and Society" will meet Tuesday, 6-9 pm in 139 Mulford >Hall. Topics include the recombinant DNA controversy, development of >the biotechnology industry, agricultural use of genetically engineered >organisms, university-industry links, patenting, conflicts of interest, >the human genome project, ethical problems in human gene therapy, and >the social responsibility of the scientist. > >Both courses are open to the public. Info: Department of Environmental >Science Policy and Management, 510-643-0177. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >4. Public Event Features Bill Joy, February 14, San Francisco > >Bill Joy, chief scientist of Sun Microsystems and author of the widely >cited 2000 article "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us," (Wired magazine) >will give a keynote address at a public event titled "Genomics Robotics, >and Nanotechnology: Science and Religion Converse on the Shape of the >Future." Responses from scientists, ethicists, and theologians follow. > >The free event takes place at 7:00 pm, Grace Cathedral, 1051 Taylor St., >San Francisco. Sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement >of Science; the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences; the >Episcopal Church Working Group on Science, Technology and Faith; and >Grace Cathedral. See <www.ctns.org/News/Bill_Joy/bill_joy.html>. >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >5. American Association for the Advancement of Science, February 15-20, > San Francisco > >The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will hold >its annual meeting from Thursday Feb. 15 through Tuesday Feb. 20 at the >San Francisco Hilton Hotel. Seminars and talks of interest include: > >- Shaping the Genetic Future of Man: A Framework for Policy Makers > Sunday, Feb. 18, 3:00 - 6:00 pm. >- Patenting Genes and Business Methods: Is It Time for Congress to Cut > Back Patent Protection? Monday, Feb. 19, 3:00 - 6:00 pm. >- Ethical and Policy Implications of Synthesizing "Minimal Genomes" > Tuesday, Feb. 20, 8:00 - 11:00 am. > >Other workshops address post-genomics, regulating human aging, biotech >public relations, food/agro GE, science journalism, nanotechnology, and >more. Speakers including W. French Anderson, Lori Andrews, Sheila >Jasonoff, and Bill Joy. > >For full schedule and registration info: <http://www.aaas.org/meetings> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >IV. 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. > >Marcy Darnovsky, Ph.D. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Richard Hayes, M.A. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Tania Simoncelli, M.S. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, and for all other communications: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
