GMW: Biodemocracy 2005 - A personal account by Pete Shanks

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GMW: Biodemocracy 2005 - A personal account by Pete Shanks

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:26:11 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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Thanks to Pete Shanks for a great report on his time at the counter

events to the big BIO convention in Philadelphia last week.

 

Some of the events Pete refers to should be available, at least in

part, as audio via Philly Inde Media - phillyimc.org. *BUT* this

particular

site seems to be down for the moment - details of audio available at

these urls:

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5394

http://biotech.indymedia.org/

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Biodemocracy 2005

Philadelphia, June 18–21

 

A personal account by Pete Shanks

 

Pete Shanks is the author of Human Genetic Engineering: A Guide for

Activists, Skeptics, and the Very Perplexed (Nation Books, 2005;

http://www.wordsontheweb.com). In Philadelphia he also represented the

Center for Genetics and Society (CGS;

http://www.genetics-and-society.org/) for whom he often does contract

work, but nothing in this report should be construed as representing the

views of CGS. It's edited from an even longer, and more unruly,

account, which he'll send to anyone who asks nicely.

 

Summary

 

This was essentially a three-day Teach-In, held at two locations in

Philadelphia to counterbalance the (much larger) annual convention of the

Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). It was preceded by a

Festival in a Park and followed by a public demonstration and march,

which

unfortunately drew national headlines only because a policeman suffered a

heart attack.

 

I attended almost the whole thing, arriving the night before it started

and leaving during the final demonstration. The panels and workshops

were of very high quality -- many of the speakers stayed for the whole

weekend, which helped -- and the discussions were excellent. What follows

is mostly a heavily annotated version of the program (see

http://www.biodev.org/ for more details, speaker bios, etc) with notes

of varying quality for the events I attended. There were almost always

several things happening at once, so inevitably I missed many, aside

from the few instances where I, ah, networked off-site...

 

As a counterbalance to BIO, it has to be said that it was not as

effective as one would like. The city was full of signs welcoming BIO

" with

every molecule in our state, " not to mention that the railroad station

had a huge poster from a law firm promising that your intellectual

property was safe with them. The Philadelphia Inquirer seemed to think

that

BIO 2005 was big news, with its 18,000 delegates from all over the

world, and the demonstrators were not really, unless of course they

planned

on holding the city to ransom by blocking the streets. Oh dear.

 

As an inspiration, however, I found the Teach-In wonderful. I learned a

little science, a fair amount about the Latin American experience, and

above all networked widely with a lot of lovely people. The principal

locations were Clark Park (Saturday daytime), the Friends Center

(Saturday and Sunday) and the Ethical Society (Sunday and Monday), not

forgetting the streets (principally on Sunday and Tuesday).

 

 

 

Saturday, June 18th 10 AM – 2 PM

Reclaim the Commons Festival/Farmers Speak Out in Clark Park, featuring

Green Circus, displays, kids' activities, etc.

Scheduled speakers included: Percy Schmeiser (Canadian farmer) & #8232;Ignacio

Chapela (University of California) & #8232;Shepherd Ogden (Rodale Research

Institute) & #8232;Nelson Carrasquillo (Comite de Apoyo de Trabajadores

Agricultures) & #8232;Lisa Mosca (Pennypack Farm CSA).

 

The event was as you might expect -- fun, varied, a pleasant day in the

park. I caught the second half of Ignacio's improvised speech, which

focused on the amount that biotech companies have lost (an estimated $40

billion of about $200 billion invested so far) and the extent that this

is public money being thrown down a private drain (my metaphor).

 

 

 

Saturday afternoon at the Friends Center

2 - 3:45 PM Communities resisting GMOs

3 - 5 PM The Health Care Crisis and the Pharmaceutical Industry

4 - 6 PM Sustainable agriculture roundtable

Saturday afternoon workshops:

2 - 3:30 pm :: Playing God With Genes? Interfaith Perspectives on

Biotechnology included Rabbi Larry Troster and Sha'ifa Ma

Rabbi Troster stressed both holiness and environmental justice, and

expressed concern about corporate control of such a sacred activity as

eating. He was quite exercised about the concept of " dominion " and

insisted that this modern (i.e. 17th-century) interpretation of the

Bible was

incorrect and had been shown to be wrong many times over the last

thirty years.

Shai'fa Ma, who cited and may come from a West African tradition (I am

not sure) exuded calm and tended to speak in generalities. When asked

about communicating with pro-biotech folks, she talked about sharing

their heart. I acknowledged the politics of consciousness, but expressed

concern that if we do not act we may be too late. Rabbi Troster strongly

agreed -- he seemed deliberately to contradict Ma -- and called for

" prophetic voices " which might actually be a point of contact between the

two of them.

 

Buddhist, Muslim and other traditions were mentioned but not

exhaustively discussed. Several pagans were present and expressed general

identification with the Earth and deep distrust about interventions on a

genetic level.

 

 

3:40 - 5 pm :: A Silent Forest: The Threat of Genetically Engineered

Trees & #8232;Anne Peterman and Orin Langelle (Global Justice Ecology

Project) & #8232;Ricarda Steinbrecher (EcoNexus, UK)

There were 28 present, when I counted at 4:15. I missed the opening,

which was a shame. Anne (whose presentation I basically missed) seemed

very competent. Orin was that, and also amusing: Brian Tokar " made me

write a chapter for his book " so he called someone and was told

" Congratulations! You are now one of the five people in the world

concerned about

this issue. " Ricarda stressed that multi-generational testing for trees

takes a long, long time, and they are not waiting.

 

GM trees are rapidly coming to Chile and Brazil, and China is the

biggest immediate concern. In their case, it is not exactly dollars

that are

behind it, more the techno-fix approach to the problem of

desertification; it's also the case that global warming is being used

as an excuse

for GM trees, which may (therefore) get World Bank subsidy. In fact Orin

ended the workshop with a superb rant that connected Wolfowitz, big

oil, Iraq, and pretty much everything that is wrong with the world,

all in

one great ball.

 

Patrick Moore (he co-founded Greenpeace, you know) was there, and put

in his two cents, first saying we all ought to be at the BIO Biotech 101

Introduction going on simultaneously, then that he thought GM crops had

promise but he had his doubts about GM trees. He tried to " correct "

some statements about lignin and Kyoto etc, but Ricarda cut him down to

size very sweetly.

 

Saturday evening (Friends Center)

7 - 9:30 PM The Future of Food

Special film showing with filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia, and & #8232;Ignacio

Chapela, Percy Schmeiser

According to Deborah, she has already sold 15,000 copies! DVDs are $20,

or $15 for quantity & /or activists. It has already been shown all over

the world, or at least in many countries, and is just opening in New

York City. (I guess that means that New Yorkers will now admit its

existence.)

 

& #8232;Sunday morning events

10 AM - 2 PM: & #8232;Code Pink Training with Medea Benjamin

11 AM - 1 PM: & #8232;Genetic Engineering Action Network organizing meeting

& #8232;Sunday afternoon June 19th at the Friends Center

2 - 3:45 PM Medical biotechnology: Cure or catastrophe?

George Annas (Global Lawyers & Physicians, Council for Responsible

Genetics) & #8232;Evelyne Shuster (University of Pennsylvania) & #8232;Pete Shanks

(Center

for Genetics & Society) & #8232;Michael Susko (Citizens for Responsible Care

and Research) Rajani Bhatia (Committee on Women, Population, and the

Environment

I focused on the tendency of biotech enthusiasts to ridicule or

minimize critical commentary, and to stress the rosy future rather

than the

depressing present. I introduced the concept of biomedical

exceptionalism, and tied this in with gene therapy (Michael) and

indeed fertility

treatments and the sale of related things (Evelyne & Rajani) and also the

hopes invested in ESCs, which led us neatly to George.

George's title was " Democracy and the Need for Global Regulation of

Embryonic Stem Cell Research " (he's in favor of both). He was clear,

coherent, and made an interesting point about the UN vote earlier this

year,

that the majority in favor of banning all cloning actually represented

only one-third of the global population, though the majority to ban

reproductive cloning was and is overwhelming.

 

Evelyne's title was " Toxic Ethics and the World of Medically Assisted

Reproduction. " I billed her as a philosopher (amongst other things) and

that's basically how she was, calm, quiet, rational. Rajani extended

Evelyne's analysis into the practical realm of " the consumerization of

reproduction and existing pressures to perfect and commodify our

children, " including sex selection.

 

Mike focused on patients rights, adverse-event reporting etc, noting

that in some ways human research subjects can have less protection than

animals do. He mentioned the Gelsinger tragedy, relatively briefly.

(Ricarda, from the floor, by my invitation, said a bit more about the

science of gene therapy in response to a question.) He also managed to

end

with a call for democratic oversight that, as I noted, directly

paralleled George's opening, which was rather neat since he had not

been there

for the opening.

 

The most significant thing in the Q & A, I thought, was a strong reaction

to my description of Lee Silver's genetic aristocracy/speciation pitch.

There was a definite sense of jaws dropping, and specific applause to

the idea that when they say this is an extrapolation of current trends I

rather agree but my conclusion is that we'd better change current

society. (I was delighted to hear George muttering " that's right " as I

said

this.)

 

4 - 6 PM Biotechnology in the Global South (Worship Room)

Anuradha Mittal (Oakland Institute) & #8232;Javiera Rulli (Grupo Reflexión

Rural, Argentina).

& #8232;Sunday afternoon workshops at the Friends Center

2 - 3:30 :: GMOs in Latin America & #8232;Ignacio Chapela (University of

California) & #8232;Carmelo Ruiz (Puerto Rican journalist) & #8232;Javiera Rulli

(Grupo

Reflexión Rural, Argentina)

2 - 3:30 :: Biotech basics: What is genetic engineering and why should

you care & #8232;Ellen Kittredge (Center for Food Safety)

3:40 - 5 :: Corporate Lawsuits vs. Farmers & #8232;Percy Schmeiser, & #8232;Ellen

Kittredge (Center for Food Safety)

3:40 - 5 :: Alternative Medicine and the Politics of Healthcare & #8232;Eliot

Tokar (Tibetan medicine practitioner, New York City)

I dined before heading off to the 6 o'clock demo being held to welcome

BIO delegates to their pre-convention gala, which was held about ten

blocks away, on the other side of the convention center. It was a lot of

fun, except for the tedious detail that I was, cough, cough, the, how

to say this, almost certainly the only person present born before 1950.

Hell, there probably weren't many of us born before 1980. There were

many cops, valiantly holding the line with bicycles. Protestors were not

allowed to take bikes onto the grass. " My bikes are OK, " said a cop,

" Yours aren't. Got it? " But he was chuckling.

 

There were toxic tomatoes, killing volunteers on contact. There was

lots of chanting -- " Global Health Not Corporate Wealth " -- and

banging of

drums. It was all fairly good humored, and at least the delegates have

to have noticed. With luck they felt a little like first-class

passengers on the Titanic.

 

& #8232;Sunday evening

7 - 9 PM Bioweapons, US Militarism, and the Myths of 'Biodefense' at

the Friends Center

Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange) & #8232;Inga Olson (Tri-Valley CARES) & #8232;Laura

Kahn (Princeton University) & #8232;Susan Hammond (Fund for Reconciliation &

Development) & #8232;Susan Gracey (Women's International League for Peace and

Freedom) & #8232;Barry Kissin (Frederick Progressive Action Coalition)

A little bigger crowd, maybe 100. I missed Medea and Inga. I think

Susan H was the one talking about the third-generation effects of

dioxin in

Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Barry was a very dramatic attorney, who

stressed that in Vietnam we had killed (bold, capitals, large font) three

million people (or did he say four?). He was all about how lousy our

government still and always is, which is hard to dispute.

 

& #8232;9 PM: East coast premiere of A Silent Forest, video on GE trees,

featuring David Suzuki (At the Ethical Society Building)

Notable for the fact that Suzuki definitely seemed mad at the prospect.

 

 

& #8232;Monday, June 20th at the Ethical Society Building

Workshops and films 11 AM–6:45 PM (see below), including Green & Black

Urban Gathering offerings.

There were not enough rooms. Several workshops occurred in pairs, in

the same room, which was hard. I sat through two and then my ears hurt

and I had to go out to the street (!) to recover, and in fact had a

lovely Caesar salad and double Americano and read the EcoNexus report

Genome

Scrambling -- Myth or Reality? (Answer: the latter) and came back

refreshed.

 

11 AM - 12:15 PM :: & #8232;Scientific Controversies in Genetic Engineering

(Ricarda Steinbrecher, EcoNexus, and Michael Hansen, Consumer Policy

Institute) & #8232;

Got up to about 30 people. Relatively technical but very interesting.

Ricarda noted that unexpected mutations were not usually looked for or

therefore noticed. Michael stressed the complexities involved in the use

of exotic promoters, and also explained in some detail the Codex

Alimentarius. and much more. Fascinating stuff.

 

Corporations and Militarism

12:30 PM - 1 :45 :: & #8232;

World Bank/IMF and GMOs

Fallacies of Genetic Reductionism and Risk Assessment (Sheldon Krimsky)

A very clear and coherent presentation by an excellent teacher who

listens.

 

2 - 3:15 :: & #8232;Biotech Corporations and Global Trade (Ricarda

Steinbrecher, Brian Tokar, Institute for Social Ecology, and Lucy

Sharratt, Ban

Terminator Campaign) & #8232;Biofuels (Mike Ewall, Energy Justice Network)

I didn't take many notes this time, and actually was late getting there

and missed Brian (I heard his speech the following morning, which was

superb -- a great combination of facts and emotion). I did get to hear

Lucy talking about the Terminator campaign, supported by Ricarda who

objected to the " techno-fix " approach.

 

Javiera Rulli, from the audience but by invitation, spoke some about

the problems in Argentina with clear-cutting in order to plant soy. There

was also discussion of Iraq and Bremer's order (number 86?) making it

illegal to save seeds; Brian used a question about that to stress how

important agribusiness is in the application of US foreign policy -- it

may not be why we are in Iraq, but once we are there it will have an

influence.

 

3:30 - 4:30 :: & #8232;Carlyle Group: Merchants of Death (Jacquelynn Cunliffe,

War Resisters League) & #8232;

I learned a few details about John Major's involvement, brokering a

deal between Carlyle and Quinetek, which is a spin-off from the British

Ministry of Defence, which of course came under his purview while he was

Prime Minister ... oh it makes you sick. It's all legal, she stressed,

even Carlucci's regular lunches with Rumsfeld. What a world.

 

 

& #8232;Monday evening (Ethical Society, First Floor):

7 - 9 PM Biotechnology and the Corruption of Science

Sheldon Krimsky (Tufts University) & #8232;Paul Connett (St. Lawrence

University) & #8232;Ricarda Steinbrecher (EcoNexus, UK) & #8232;Randy Zauhar

(University of the

Sciences in Philadelphia) & #8232;Michael Hansen (Consumer Policy Institute)

Introduced and moderated by Evelyne Shuster, with grace and

intelligence. The speakers were all excellent.

 

Krimsky went first, with a Powerpoint presentation, focusing on, well,

Science in the Private Interest (read his book!). He discussed funding,

big pharma, biased results (the recent Nature article), the Atlantic

" Kept University " article, etc. I took lousy notes, partly because he

held my attention.

 

Zauhar was next, and began with the wonderful tale of his treatment by

BIO. He had produced a Poster, as part of a booth set up by his

University, but when he arrived to check in was told that his

registration had

been cancelled! He objected, and finally got a badge but a few minutes

after he got to the booth was taken aside by a security guard who told

him that this was because he was listed on the program here, warned him

that if he did anything out of line he would be expelled and told him

he had to give his badge back at the end of the day. His actual speech

was mostly on money and its abuse. " Scientists have to have some sense

of morality that transcends making a buck. " He noted that NIH money

tends to go to those who already have access to funding, and that

industry

likes to out-source research to cheap post-docs trying to make their

reputation at universities.

 

Connett really chewed up the scenery. He gave a fire-breathing rant on

" Biotechnology, Wisdom and Scientific Integrity. " He stressed the

difference between being clever and being wise, quoted E.F. Schumacher

(the

Small Is Beautiful author, for those who are not yet of a certain age)

and twice referred to " foolish arrogance " only the second time he

called it " arrogant foolishness. "

 

That histrionic effort gave Steinbrecher quite an act to follow, which

she did brilliantly by speaking softly and sincerely about her own

experiences. She's a geneticist, who was working on gene therapy in the

early 1990s. Because of the " tunnel vision " of science, she had not

followed the work with crops and when she heard about it, in the

mid-90s, she

thought they must have moved ahead -- solved the insertion, promotion

and regulation problems that were so intractable in human gene work. So

she read the literature, and found no more knowledge, just " less

caring " and less of a demand for accuracy. So she decided to put aside

here

own work and spend a couple of years educating the public ... and ten

years later, she is still at it.

 

She also spoke about the inhibiting effect of patents on scientific

discourse, about the breast cancer patent issue, about competition for

funding. Scientists, she said, are in service, to the public, to

biodiversity, to nature, and need to hold interests above their own,

above Nobel

Prizes, above money ... but many scientists operate the other way

round. And some are even calling for " down-regulating " requirements for

safety!

 

Hansen tried for a larger perspective, and focused on the trend over

the last twenty-five years, explicitly encouraged by legislation, towards

making money out of science -- Bayh-Dole, The 1985 Federal Technology

Transfer Act, and so on. He was good, projecting well and finding a way

basically to tie the previous presentations together, which was

especially impressive since he was clearly improvising.

 

 

Tuesday Morning

There was a Breakfast (catered by Food Not Bombs, naturally) outside

" gsk " as they now seem to be known -- Glaxo SmithKline -- before the

three marches that began at 11 and converged on Love Park, where a

policeman, Officer Paris Williams, had a heart attack.

 

I had to go to the airport, so I was not part of the marches, but I

attended the Breakfast and spoke to a few journalists. One strange

detail:

The plain-clothes police (including Officer Williams) were all dressed

up, generally in light-colored suits and fedoras, with identifying

arm-bands, looking for all the world like something out of the 1950s. It

was definitely weird to see black cops reminding me of Bull Connor.

Another protestor thought to ask them about it -- they were not

unfriendly

to begin with, as we began to assemble -- and was told that the word had

come down from higher up that they were to dress up for the occasion,

presumably because of the out-of-town press there for BIO (I saw, and

briefly spoke with, journalists from Florida and New York). So the police

huddled to come to consensus on what exactly this meant, and that's

what they came up with. I immediately dug into my bag, this being the

only

demo I have ever attended with luggage, and pulled out my battered

black felt hat, just to be in keeping.

 

Now I hear they want to charge a protestor with murder for squirting a

cop with water. Since they cannot do that, they are charging him with

felonious assault. It's unbelievable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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