|
GET ACTIVE!
"DESIGNER BABY" TECHNOLOGY
| 
|
"Human Genetics Alert has discovered that American scientists have created the world's first genetically modified (GM) human embryo, without notifying the public or the media. In response, HGA's Director, Dr David King called on the Government to halt its plans to legalise GM embryos in the Human Fertilisation and embryology Bill (HFE Bill), which will be debated in Parliament tomorrow. HGA and an international group of civil society organisations also called for an international moratorium on such experiments until there has been a full debate." Read More
|
Then,
paste this letter into an email and send it to them:
|
Dear
The London-based biotechnology watchdog group, Human Genetics Alert, has discovered that researchers at Cornell University -- without alerting the media or civic groups -- have created the world’s first genetically modified (GM) human embryos. I urge you to propose legislation calling for a moratorium on this highly consequential technology in order to give the public the opportunity to consider appropriate regulation of this research.
Already, scientists have patented techniques for human genetic modification (HGM). The ethically fraught prospect of creating “designer babies” and the specter of launching a new “techno-eugenics,” are too real to ignore. The Council of Europe, through its Convention on Biomedicine and Human Rights, as well as the legislatures of many countries around the world, have banned HGM technology. I feel that the United States should not, in maverick fashion, set the global community on an irreversible path that it has a right to consider, regulate, and possibly even reject.
Sincerely,
|
Short BBC documentary excerpt. Comments by Princeton University biologist
|
|