The Genetic Bill of Rights

[Guest guest]

The Genetic Bill of Rights JoAnn Guest May 31, 2005 20:17 PDT

Preamble

 

Our life and health depend upon an intricate web of relationships within

the biological and social worlds. Protection of these relationships must

inform all public policy.

 

Commercial, govermental, scientific and medical institutions promote

manipulation of genes despite profound ignorance of how such changes may

affect the web of life. Once they enter the environment, organisms with

modified genes cannot be recalled and pose novel risks to humanity and

the entire biosphere.

 

Manipulation of human genes creates new threats to the health of

individuals and their offspring, and endangers human rights, privacy and

dignity.

 

Genes, other constituents of life, and genetically modified organisms

themselves are rapidly being patented and turned into objects of

commerce. This commercialization of life is veiled behind promises to

cure disease and feed the hungry.

 

People everywhere have the right to participate in evaluating the social

and biological implications of the genetic revolution and in

democratically guiding its applications.

 

To protect our human rights and integrity and the biological integrity

of the earth, we, therefore, propose this Genetic Bill of Rights.

 

 

 

The Genetic Bill of Rights

 

 

1. All people have the right to preservation of the earth's biological

and genetic diversity.

 

2. All people have the right to a world in which living organisms cannot

be patented, including human beings, animals, plants, microorganisms and

all their parts.

 

3. All people have the right to a food supply that has not been

genetically engineered.

 

4. All indigenous peoples have the right to manage their own biological

resources, to preserve their traditional knowledge, and to protect these

from expropriation and biopiracy by scientific, corporate or government

interests.

 

5. All people have the right to protection from toxins, other

contaminants, or actions that can harm their genetic makeup and that of

their offspring.

 

6. All people have the right to protection against eugenic measures such

as forced sterilization or mandatory screeing aimed at aborting or

manipulating selected embryos or fetuses.

 

7. All people have the right to genetic privacy including the right to

prevent the taking or storing of bodily samples for genetic information

without their voluntary informed consent.

 

8. All people have the right to be free from genetic discrimination.

 

9. All people have the right to DNA tests to defend themselves in

criminal proceedings.

 

10. All people have the right to have been conceived, gestated, and born

without genetic manipulation.

 

http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/home/home_a.html

 

 

© 2000 Council for Responsible Genetics

. May Be Reproduced Without Permission

Only in its Entirety Including This Copyright Notice.

 

Council for Responsible Genetics

5 Upland Road, Suite 3

Cambridge, MA 02140

(617) 868-0870

Email: cr-

Web: www.gene-watch.org

 

Board of Directors of the Council

for Responsible Genetics:

 

Claire Nader, PhD - Chair

Martha Herbert, MD, PhD - Vice Chair

Colin Gracey, DMin - Treasurer

Paul Billings, MD, PhD

Philip L. Bereano, JD

Debra Harry, MA

Ruth Hubbard, PhD

Jonathan King, PhD

Sheldon Krimsky, PhD

Stuart Newman, PhD

Devon Peña, PhD

Doreen Stabinsky, PhD

_________________

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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