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A MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDING MEMBERS:
The website launch of the Alliance for Humane Biotechnology to help raise awareness about the social implications of genetic technologies has been a success! We have a thriving website and growing E-network. The eagerness with which people are seeking information from AHB puts to rest the presumption that biotechnological development is too complex to stimulate civic participation. Please contact us with your ideas on how to further AHB’s grassroots appeal.
Thank you!
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We are an alliance of scholars, students, and activists working for a biotechnology that places the health and welfare of people and the natural environment above financial interests. We network, speak, and publish on the social implications of biotechnological developments, especially those concerning human genetic manipulation. Areas of interest include reproductive and genetic technologies, human egg harvesting, cloning research, disability rights, biotech patenting, and human-animal hybrid research (chimerism).
We emphasize the common social, political, and economic conditions that give rise to human genetic engineering and the engineering of other genetically modified organisms, recognizing that human commodification and commodification of the natural environment are products of the same social processes.
We invite students, and all visitors, to check out "AHB 101" on the menu for a thumbnail sketch and recommended reading about the cultural politics of biotechnological development. Throughout the site look for the helpful AHB NOTE in red. Be sure to visit GET ACTIVE! for suggestions on how you can help work for a humane biotechnology.
Welcome!
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Founding Members
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Diane Beeson, Ph.D.
Joan Higgs
Emilia Ianeva, J.D., Ph.D.
Nicole Marchand
Frances Santiago
Ashley Silverthorn
M. L. Tina Stevens, Ph.D.
James E. Stevens, J.D. |
Advisory Board:
Elaine Draper, J.D., Ph.D.
Rosann Greenspan, Ph.D.
Patricia Jennings, Ph.D.
Abby Lippman, Ph.D.
Paul K. Longmore, Ph.D.
Jeff Lustig, Ph.D.
Margaret F. Lynch, Ph.D.
Stuart A. Newman, Ph.D.
Catherine Powell
Marsha Saxton, Ph.D.
Stephen Shmanske, Ph.D.
Casey Walker
Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D.
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| AHB NOTE: Without notifying the public, researchers at Cornell University have created the world's first genetically modified (GM) human embryos. The United States stands as a largely unregulated maverick in a global community where many other countries have prohibited human genetic modification, seeking to avoid launching an era of "designer" children and "techno-eugenics" without public awareness or input. After reading this notice from the independent watch-dog group, HumanGenetics Alert, GET ACTIVE and join others calling for a moratorium on "designer baby" technology. |
| AHB NOTE: This article reports how the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is poised to disburse vast sums for the construction of new laboratories to conduct embryonic stem cell (ESC) research at California universities. Here's what the article does not relate: 1) these new labs were planned, in part, because the Bush administration currently prohibits the federal funding of labs conducting research using ESCs derived after August 2001, 2) a Democratic presidential win in November will bring removal of such funding restrictions -- making California's construction of its new labs unnecessary, 3) California, billions of dollars in debt, is cutting back on education and other elements of vital infrastructure, 3) ESC research -- highly speculative and flush with patenting possibilities for its scientist-entrepreneurs -- requires the eggs of young women, and 4) CIRM members are seeking ways to override the previous commitment not to pay women to compromise their health by undergoing the egg harvesting procedure necessary to acquire their eggs (see: CIRM to Pay for Eggs? ). |
| AHB NOTE: There is no national prohibition of human reproductive cloning in the United States. |
| AHB NOTE: After viewing these videos GET ACTIVE! Visit the Egg Donors Project and call for a moratorium on egg harvesting for cloning research. |
AHB NOTE:
"ART" is an acronym for "assisted reproductive technology." |
AHB NOTE:
See also Newman's, "My attempt to patent a human-animal chimera," where he relates that Philip Leder, Chair of the Genetics Department, Harvard Medical School stated in 1998 that, “[t]he creation of chimeras is an outlandish undertaking. No one is trying to do it at present, certainly not involving human beings.” Such a comment contrasts starkly with Great Britain's recent green-light for creating human-animal embryos and offers a dramatic example, once again, of biotech's slippery ethical slope. |
| AHB NOTE: After reading this article Get Active! Visit the Egg Donors Project and call for a moratorium on egg harvesting for cloning research. |
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