|
DURBAN,
Sep 3 (IPS) - Genetic research and experimentation have raised the
spectre of new forms of discrimination, the World Conference Against
Racism heard Monday .
The
future has caught up with the present and now threatens the "brave
new world" envisioned by novelist Aldous Huxley, said participants
at a panel organised by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO).
"Does
modern genetics not threaten to lead one day to that brave new world,
with a new species of supermen who have been genetically engineered
dominating the masses of sub-humans who will either be excluded
from the new genetic paradise or themselves be genetically manipulated
for the purposes of social control or more complete exploitation?"
asked Jerome Binde of UNESCO.
There
is no doubt, according to Binde, that gene research holds out hope
to humankind. "Gene therapy holds tremendous promise for the
treatment of inherited diseases first, but ultimately for innumerable
health problems," he said.
In
addition, genetic research has served to strip away the previously
assume scientific basis for racial differentiation: It turns out
that colour is, indeed, only skin deep.
Although
the advance of gene studies has provided a scientific deconstruction
of race, those who believe that racism is about to be trounced are
wrong, cautioned bio-ethicist Axel Kahn.
"I'm
afraid that we jumped the gun," said Kahn. Noting that cultural
difference have replaced race as a source of discrimination, he
added: "Scientific proof is a necessary but not a sufficient
condition to end racism."
Furthermore,
said panel participants, breakthroughs in mapping genetic make-up,
such as those announced by the Human Genome Project, demand new
measures to ensure against new forms of discrimination.
Parents,
for example, could seize the opportunity to create so-called designer
children. Employers and health insurance providers could discriminate
against people deemed to have a genetic predisposition to certain
diseases.
Novelist
and Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer said the research was in danger
of being used only by the wealthy and noted that the science has
yet to be explained in terms that lay people can understand.
"Will
it be the haves, the light-skinned, and not the have-nots, the dark-skinned,
who will benefit? This is the question to ask of the medical community,''
she said.
"Genetic
engineering is the new face of globalisation," added Gordimer,
who painted a globalised world as one in which "powerful groups
express and protect their own interests." Given increasing
disparities in power and wealth, she said, genetic science risks
becoming part of a "new overlordship."
George
Annas, a Boston University academic and co-founder of Global Lawyers
and Physicians, which promotes human rights and health, said the
latest advances in genetics show that "we are all Africans
under the skin," since Africa is the archeological site of
the oldest forms of humanity.
However,
he emphasised, while the Human Genome Project has found that similarities
make up for about "99.9 percent" of the human composition,
there remains a widespread focus on difference.
Annas
proposed an additional treaty to UNESCO's 1997 Universal Declaration
on the Human Genome and Human Rights. He said it was essential to
outlaw genetic duplication and technique to alter the physical characteristics
of the human species.
The
UNESCO declaration was the first international instrument to ban
human cloning. France, Germany, and the United States have banned
human cloning but some countries are reluctant to do so, stating
their determination to open up new forms of eugenics.
The
UNESCO declaration states that the human genome is part of the heritage
of humanity; reaffirms the universality of human rights and dignity;
and rejects genetic determinism.
Annas,
who has held a number of government regulatory posts in the United
States and whose views were well received here, suggested that the
new treaty outline precautionary principles designed to prevent
the misuse of new genetic technologies and thus strengthen the existing
convention, which the U.N. General Assembly endorsed in 1998.
Quoting
Vaclav Havel, the Czech president and author, he said it was time
to develop a "species consciousness" to protect the human
race against the dystopia described in Huxley's 'Brave New World'.
(END)
|
