Many proponents of human genetic redesign see it as one element of a more general "post-biological" project. They look forward to the day when technology will transform and reconfigure all aspects of the natural world—plants, animals, humans, and ecosystems.
Some proponents of this vision, such as James Watson of double-helix fame and Gregory Stock of UCLA , are vocally dismissive of environmentalist values. (For quotes, see [ Overview >> Key Quotes >> Advocates of Species-Altering Technologies ].)
Environmental leaders have begun speaking out on the threats posed by human cloning and inheritable genetic modification. In articles, speeches, and testimony before Congress, they cite as the basis of their concerns core environmentalist principles such as respect for nature and the precautionary principle.
Environmentalists bring to the politics of the new eugenics their long experience of the need for responsible social governance of technological innovation. The many important international environmental treaties, such as the Montreal Protocol on the Ozone Layer, might serve as models for governance of the new human genetic technologies.
It is difficult to see how a world that accepts the production of children by cloning or with redesigned genes will long be able to maintain, much less deepen, any sense of respect for the rest of the natural world.
Related Articles
Carl Pope (Sierra Club Executive Director), "Between Scylla
and Charybdis: Reproductive Freedom After September 11," Keynote
Address to the Annual Convention of the National Abortion and
Reproductive Rights Action League (November 2001)
Resources
>> Items >> "Between Scylla and Charybdis: Reproductive
Freedom After September 11"
Richard Hayes, "The Quiet Campaign for Genetically
Engineered Humans," Earth Island Journal (Vol. 16, No. 1,
Spring 2001)
Resources
>> CGS >> "The Quiet Campaign for Genetically Engineered
Humans"
The World Watch special issue, "Beyond Cloning," includes
pieces by CGS executive director Richard Hayes and associate
executive director Marcy Darnovsky. The first half of the issue can
be downloaded at: http://www.worldwatch.org/mag/ , and the complete
French translation is at http://www.delaplanete.org/articles/no_4/archive_4.html.
- Richard Hayes, "The Science and Politics of Genetically
Modified Humans"
Resources >> CGS >> "The Science and Politics of Genetically Modified Humans" - Tom Athanasiou and Marcy Darnovsky, "The Genome as
Commons"
Resources >> CGS >> "The Genome as Commons"
By environmentalist Bill McKibben:
- "Too Clever Too Fast Too Happy," The Guardian (May 3,
2003)
Resources >> Items >> "Too Clever Too Fast Too Happy" - Ralph Brave interviews Bill McKibben, "Human
beings, as currently constituted, are good enough," Salon
(April 30, 2003)
Resources >> Items >> "Human beings, as currently constituted, are good enough" - "Designer Genes," Orion (May/June 2003)
Resources >> Items >> "Designer Genes" - "Keep Us Human: If We're Truly Smart, We'll Refuse to
Foolishly Tamper with Our DNA," Los Angeles Times (April
14, 2003)
Resources >> Items >> "Keep Us Human" - "A Threat to Our Coherent Human Future," Washington Post
(January 5, 2003)
Resources >> Items >> "A Threat to Our Coherent Human Future" - Bill McKibben and Gregory Stock, “Do We Want Science to
Reinvent Human Aging?” Transcript of live debate (March 27,
2003)
Resources >> Items >> McKibben and Stock debate - Excerpts from Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered
Age (Henry Holt, 2003)
Resources >> Items >> Excerpts from Enough
Off-Site Links
Sally Deneen, "Designer People," E Magazine (Vol.
12, No. 1, January/February2001)
http://www.emagazine.com/january-february_2001/0101feat1.html
Rachel Massey, "Engineering Humans," Rachel's
Environment & Health News (March 15 and 29, 2001)
http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/index.cfm?issue_ID=1966
http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/bulletin.cfm?Issue_ID=1976
Friends of the Earth Campaign to Stop Cloning
http://www.foe.org/stopcloning/index.html
Andrew Kimbrell (ICTA Executive Director), Testimony before
the Senate Judiciary Committee on action to stop human cloning
(February 5, 2002)
http://www.icta.org/
http://www.icta.org/Testimony.doc (MS Word
document)
The Center for Ethics and Toxics (CETOS) - includes pages
on human genetic biotechnology
http://www.cetos.org/hubio.html
The Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment
(CWPE) is a multi-racial alliance of feminist activists, health
practitioners and scholars. They have been actively involved in the
critique of the use of PGD for sex selection. The committee has also
maintained a commitment to critical engagement with other genetic
and reproductive technologies.
http://www.cwpe.org/
More Information
Analysis:
Examine the social, cultural, and economic landscape
Policies:
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Technologies:
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