Re: [e-Laser] Riunione LASER del 29 Dicembre

[bussola]

In 11.25 17/01/03 +0000, hai scritto:
>ciao mariella:
>*per m va benissimo essere amico del CdG.
>*non e' che avete una sorta di documentello di presentazione: cosi magari mi
>faccio una idea piu' precisa......

si ma � ridicolo: ce l'ho solo in inglese (te lo metto qui sotto)
per quanto riguarda biotec e corpo benissimo: nel sito c'� ampio spazio per news e commenti e forse anche spazio per lavorare con i gruppi di lavoro scientifico: dipende dal livello a cui vuoi intervenire.
E' ancora tutto in divenire, alcune persone (io sono tra quelle) per� stanno cercando di fare in modo che ci sia la maggiore interdisciplinariet� possibile.

ciao
mariella

The Council of Genetic Rights has been constituted as an independent, scientifically and morally authoritative body to face the entire range of biotechnological challenges: its main aim is to protect the basic rights of living beings and the ecosystem. The revolution brought about by genetic engineering, which involves all aspects of life  including food, eating habits, health and the very perception of our identity  is by its own nature capable of raising considerable hope as well as deep ethical and social anxiety. Anxiety becomes even greater if we take the economic aspects of biotechnologies into account: the substantial transformation of scientific work  as well as the social role of scientists  and the concentration of knowledge into few hands. A number of events create concern, such as the continuous release of GMOs and the marketing of transgenic crops, food products and animal feed, since there are few independent scientific evaluations about the risks that transgenic products might entail in terms of biodiversity, food safety, animal and human health and the manifold functions of agriculture. A number of facts create apprehension, such as the possibility to patent living organisms, cell lines and genes, as provided for in the agreements for the International Treaty on Intellectual Property Rights, which is partly received in the European directive. This might translate into the legalisation of dispossession of genetic and intellectual resources of Third World countries and might contribute to concentrating food production and distribution increasingly in the hands of a restricted number of companies, thus endangering world food safety in the long term. Furthermore, the use of patents might increase the risk of worsening speculation in the allocation of funds to scientific research, with negative outcomes on research itself as well as on international scientific cooperation. The subordinate attitude of governments of industrialised nations is a matter of concern, in that: by voting in favour of patenting organisms, cell lines and genes, including human genes, governments are running the risk of allowing unlimited dispossession of their own citizens and natural resources; by agreeing to reduce their environmental and health standards, they are sacrificing the long-term interests of the community to the short-term interests of a few people; by cutting public expenditure, they are reducing the range and operativeness of control structures; and, by giving up on scientific research, they are surrendering to industrial interests and relegating research to mere application objectives.

We believe that truly independent scientists should be reasonably well-represented within governmental decision-making and control committees, in order to prevent products and technologies from being marketed unless they have been appropriately tested and assessed from the scientific point of view and from the point of view of their economic and social impact.

The prevailing attitude behind biotechnologies is based a deterministic and reductionist view of science whereby organisms are just products of immutable and unvarying genes which might be arbitrarily used to meet one�s needs. On the contrary, scientific discoveries in the last twenty years have contradicted such assumptions of genetic determinism. New genetics obliges us to adopt an ecological and holistic perspective, especially as far as genes are concerned. These are far from unvarying and immutable: in fact, they are fluid, dynamic and responsive to the physiology of the organism as well as to the environment, and they require a well-balanced ecological situation in order to keep stable. We believe that the cultural impact of genetic reductionism is harmful in the long term. From the environmental point of view, reductionism proposes a �gene-based� alternative to facing the problems of land use and to finding ecologically sustainable patterns of development. From the point of view of health, reductionism urges research in the direction of an elitist kind of medicine, while putting out of focus a more comprehensive approach to health, starting from prevention. Finally, reductionism proposes once again eugenic models which are unacceptable from the ethical point of view as well as socially and politically dangerous and scientifically wrong. The aims of the Council for Genetic Rights are: promoting independent (integrated) interdisciplinary scientific research in the biotechnological field, on a national and international scale, with particular regard to the effects of GMOs on organisms and ecosystems; stimulating knowledge and critical awareness of the implications, in all fields, of bioengineering, especially genetic engineering, among citizens, local and national institutions and associations of producers, merchants and consumers; encouraging discussion across cultures, in order not only to find a common ground between different perceptions and streams of thought, but also to let discussion about these crucial issues extend beyond the boundaries of specialist circles.