Life turns out to be far more complex than tiny strings of beads that can be endlessly shuffled about for human convenience. Organisms and their genomes are fluid and adaptable, and if things look pretty stable it's because interactions between organisms have brought us to a dynamic equilibrium ("evolution"). Instead of looking at the world as if it were made up of discrete entities (the corporate worldview), we can get a better idea of what is going on if we see life as a process, a constant swirling and exchanging of genetic information. Genetic engineering is simply dangerous and obsolete science driven by profit-hungry and power-seeking corporations.[2] It betrays a corporate culture which is shallow and insensitive, and which fosters ignorance and irresponsibility towards nature, life and the planet Earth.

15. If that is not enough for you, let's see what else the biotech corporations have on their agenda besides microbes and plants. That must mean animals, and eventually us! Not necessarily genetic engineering, but directly related in the sense that it is all driven by biotech corporations out to enclose (privatize, own) the genetic commons and industrialize reproduction and the bodily functions for cash profit.

Is it coincidence, for instance, that the Japanese people have recently been subjected to the media spectacle of multiple organ transplants following a brain death? What are we "being prepared" for? Xeno-transplants (animal organs transplanted to humans), genetic engineering of animals for pharmaceuticals and human organs? It's already happening. The commodification of the materials of human reproduction -- sperm, ova, fetuses? Genetic screening of embryos or prospective employees? Already commonplace in the USA.

16. Finally, eugenics and the cloning of humans. Won't happen? Since when was any technology limited to the obviously benign and beneficial uses? Technology has, and will continue to be, milked for all it's worth -- unless something changes. Eugenics will mean the industrial engineering and production of people with the "right stuff." Arbitrary judgements about who is to be valued and who not, and who is to be given the chance of life and who not.

And what will cloning mean? In a word "bioslavery". Living, breathing people (we're already doing it to animals) who will be owned by someone for a purpose. For companionship, to fight, to perform hazardous industrial tasks, for their organs, etc. Sounds like a great way to make a living. Sounds like a whole brave new society, too. One that we're not competent to implement medically or scientifically, and one we're not prepared for mentally, ethically, or legally. Where's the debate? Where's the information? Where's the right to choose whether we want this or not?[7,8]

17. Apparently evolution is too slow. So some people have decided to speed it up a bit, just like we've been speeding up everything else with polluting and limited fossil fuels ever since the Industrial Revolution got under way. What happens when we run out of non-renewable fuels? We return to living at the speed of solar influx. Hopefully, we'll still have our genetic heritage intact.

References

2. Mae-Wan Ho, Genetic Engineering -- Dream or Nightmare, Gateway Books, 1998

3. Vandana Shiva, The Violence of the Green Revolution, Zed Books, 1991

4. Tony Boys, "An Historical And Cultural Perspective On The World Ecological Crisis," http://www.icc.ac.jp/shion/
english/tonyb/papers/index.htm (1997)

5. Graham Harvey, The Killing of the Countryside, Vintage, 1998

6. Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey, Against the Grain, Earthscan, 1999

7. Andrew Kimbrell, The Human Body Shop, Regnery, 1997

8. Jeremy Rifkin, The Biotech Century, Tarcher/Putnam, 1998

Additional Resources

Frances M. Lappe et al, World Hunger: 12 Myths (2nd Edition), Grove Press, 1998 is a great book with a self-explanatory title.

The September/October 1998 issue of The Ecologist (Vol 28 No 5) also contains many excellent papers on GE issues.
 
 

Please feel free to send comments and questions to Tony Boys at aboys@icc.ac.jp. References are intentionally vague. More specific references can be provided by contacting Tony at the e-mail address above. Serious requests only, please.

Tony Boys teaches at Shion Junior College.