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OBOS has joined with other women’s health
activists to form a coalition called Prevention First. The coalition
hopes to shift the focus of biological and medical research away
from genetics and new miracle drugs and onto true prevention. Our
initial campaign seeks to challenge and curb the so-called “direct-to-consumer”
advertising of prescription drugs, now a 2.5 billion dollar
enterprise, and to expose the profit-driven motives of
pharmaceutical companies (see " Feminists
Challenge Unethical Marketing by Prescription Drug
Companies").
We recognize the profound impact
pollution in our air, food, and water has on the health of women and
our families, and know that true prevention cannot happen without a
major shift in policies regulating the environment and public
health. Because individual health is inextricably linked to the
health of the environment, we seek to establish the Precautionary
Principle of public health as a guiding force in setting new
policies.
We've posted a description of the
activities, goals, and members of the coalition, written by
founder Barbara Brenner, Executive Director of Breast Cancer
Action.
(posted 3/14/02)
As the US Congress
considers various legislation regarding human cloning, OBOS is
asking women's health activists and others to take a close look at
the myriad of issues surrounding this debate. Current legislation
proposes banning or restricting research in two different
categories: cloning for reproduction, and "therapeutic" cloning,
where stem cells are harvested from clonal embryos for research
related only to developing medical therapies.
OBOS is concerned that cloning would
place undue health burdens on women as well as turn our eggs and
wombs into commodities. We are also concerned about the development
of germline genetic modifications (modifications that could be
passed on to future generations) and the potential resurgence of a
eugenics movement. For these reasons, we are calling for a ban on
reproductive cloning.
Therapeutic cloning raises more complex
issues. While we support most stem cell research, because of
its medical potential, we do not believe that we currently need to
create clonal embryos solely for such research. Stem cell research
can be carried out on adult stem cells, umbilical cord stem cells,
and embryonic stem cells from other sources (such as unused embryos
from IVF clinics).
Because therapeutic cloning involves the
development of powerful new technologies with profound implications
for the future of humanity, we are calling for a 5-year moratorium
on embryo cloning for research purposes. The moratorium would allow
time for a fuller discussion of the many scientific and ethical
questions raised by these new technologies.
To learn more about the position of OBOS,
please see our Statement on
Human Cloning. The statement has been signed by over 100
individuals and groups who share our
concerns. (posted 2/09/02)
Interested in finding
out more about feminist perspectives on cloning?
We've posted a critique of
human cloning by Lisa Handwerker, a board member of the National
Women's Health Network; an article on why
cloning is a women's issue by Marcy Darnovsky, excerpted from
the forthcoming book Sex, Race and Surveillance: Feminist
Perspectives from the US; and the testimony of
OBOS executive director Judy Norsigian before the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Feminists who support limits on cloning
research are finding themselves in the unusual position of being in
agreement with some anti-choice Republicans. A recent newspaper
article from the San Francisco Chronicle, Odd-couple Pairing in U.S. Cloning Debate,
examines this awkward alliance, as does the New York Times' Some for Abortion Rights Lean Right in Cloning
Fight (unfortunately available online only for a fee). OBOS's
Judy Norsigian's brief letter-to-the-editor in response to the
Times article was printed in the 1/31/02 edition; her expanded
response is posted on our website in its entirety.
Ser Mulher, a women's health organization
in Brazil, is also involved in protesting human cloning. Their
position statement, written by Dr. Alejandra Rotania, is posted here
in both Spanish
and Portuguese.
Human cloning may still be a long way
off, but some of the new technologies used in fertility treatments
raise similar concerns. Judy Norsigian of OBOS points out the risks
of one particular drug, Lupron™,
which is used to hyperstimulate women's ovaries to produce more
eggs. An article from the Seattle Times, Altruism, Money Motivate Egg Donors, explores some
of the reason women become egg donors. And in her article Designer Babies, Shannon Brownlee examines the
largely unregulated world of the fertility industry and the
potential risks posed by fertility treatments that involve genetic
engineering. She points out that we as a nation have few mechanisms
in place for controlling the pace of new technologies, ensuring the
safety of patients, or talking about the ethics of the many
experimental
treatments.
(posted 2/09/02; last revised 1/11/03)
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