As hard as it is to believe, the New York Times yesterday broke the story that Scottish scientists have been able to clone an adult sheep. With this 'breakthrough' we now have the technology to clone any mammal, including humans.
This not only makes my blood crawl, it makes it boil. I don't think we should be cloning any animals, let alone humans! The moral, spiritual, ethical issues alone convince me. Add to this the idea that by cloning more and more life forms we are vastly reducing the biodiversity of life on this planet. We are already losing enough species. Can we really afford to lose what little genetic diversity still exists within the species that are left?
Where is this all going? Well, we don't have to look far for answers. Just one example is cattle, which have already been cloned by US industry for over 7 years! (cloned from embryos, not adults as was the case with the Scottish sheep). The disease rates among these animals is very high. And they require high doses of antibiotics, which are passed on to us, just to remain alive till market. The same is the case for agriculture, which must use much higher levels of insecticides/pesticides/herbicides to protect their genetically weaker, yet more profitable, bioengineered plants.
So where is the labeling?
How many of our foods are genetically altered?
What are the health/environmental consequences?
WE DON'T KNOW!
Solutions:
The only way we will be able to stop this madness is if we take the profit potential away from the corporate and government leaders who have created it.
To do this, we must demand:
1. The immediate outlaw of patents on life. All life. No exceptions.
2. The immediate outlaw of the cloning of life. All life. No exceptions.
3. Mandatory labeling of all food products containing genetically altered DNA.
The genetic manipulation of life on this planet in the hopes of eventual profit is insane. It will be us and our children that will have to live in this world years from now, when all our leaders will be able to offer us is that 'mistakes were made'.
Don't let this happen. Get involved. Even if all you can do is send some email. But better yet, call your representatives. Demand legislation. Demand action. Find out who will to sponsor legislation on the above three potential solutions, or other solutions. Let me know and I'll post it on the website.
Suggested people to call/write/fax/email:
Your congressperson
Your senators
Your governor
Your president
The FDA. Ask where's the labels?
The EPA. Where are the studies on the safety of genetically altered lifeforms and their effect on the rest of the environment? Don't we have historical justification for limiting species from other continents?
A good place to start is the government contacts page at the NJ Greens website:
http://village.ios.com/~friend/greennj/govtcons.html
There are also links to places where you can find out who your representative is.
Also, please forward this email to as many people as possible. Posts to other friendly mailinglists wouldn't hurt.
Greg Merritt
Green Party of NJ
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http://village.ios.com/~friend/greennj/
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