From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Date: Tue Mar 18 1997 - 19:27:52 MST
Ken Meyering wrote:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 18:07:43 -0800
> From: Phil Bereano <phil@uwtc.washington.edu>
> To: purefood@aol.com, biotech-wg@igc.apc.org, gentech@tribe.ping.de
> Subject: Final Cloning Position Paper
> Resent-Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 04:02:35 +0100
> Resent-From: gentech@tribe.ping.de
>
Seeing this, I felt compelled to respond to Wendy and Phil as follows:
Having just read your manifesto hoping to ban human cloning, I felt I
must respond, in the name of human rights. What you are proposing to do
is to deny humans everywhere the ability to express in the purest way
that characteristic which is most notable about our species: our ability
to create, to reproduce, even when accidents of nature stand in the way.
I am a libertarian, and as such hold that all that is right and good in
this world derives from respect for the concept that all power is
derived from the individual, that all rights originate from the
individual. To support any law, policy, regulation, or ideal which
opposes the rights of the individual is to denigrate the dignitiy of the
individual human in the most profound way.
For this reason, rather than acting in fear as you have apparently done,
I ask you to explore the possibility of proposing public policies which
will achieve the apparent goals of your "ban" while at the same time
maximizing individual human rights.
That every human has the right to freely procreate is recognised in all
civilized societies (which inferrs attendant responsibilities as well).
All civilized societies also recognize common concepts of intellectual
property, notably concepts like the patent, copyright, and trademarks.
Many people around the world have debated for several decades on the
subject of genetic information and intellectual property, especially in
the area of patents.
Your organization seems to be opposed to the potential for corporate
abuse of cloning technology to enslave humans by the patenting of DNA
sequences. In this I applaud you. How you wish to go about it though,
frankly scares me even more. At least in the marketplace, the public can
vote with its money on the business practices of corporations. In too
many countries, no such competition is allowed in the area of politics
and government. I fear even greater the possibility of government
monopolies of power abusing this technology in secret than I do in
corporations which must compete in the marketplace for public approval.
Due to this, I propose that your organization pursue a policy that
recognizes that 1) only human individuals can make claims of
intellectual property involving DNA, 2) each individual posesses primary
and majority ownership of his or her genetic intellectual property
present in his or her own DNA, which cannot be assigned, waived, leased
or sold. 2) each individual posesses secondary and guardian ownership of
all other individuals posessing copies, in whole (clone) or in part
(natural fertilization) until those individuals attain adult legal
status, or if the state intervenes in the interest of the derived
individual, as is now done in juvinile court, or by various departments
of education, health and human services, etc. Each derived generation,
in whole or in part is to be regarded in the same manner as "next of
kin" are legally today in natural born families. 3) These intellectual
property rights infer responsibilities of stewardship, which if
neglected or abused shall constitute severe human rights violations
punishable under expansions of current law.
By becoming proponents of this sort of policy, we establish primary
political ownership of ANY sort of reproduction or creation of ANY sort
of intellectual property in the hands of the individual, who is free to
choose as is his or her right how and when and where to exercise those
rights, without violating those of others. THus no government, nor any
corporation can ever commit such abuse without the expressed approval of
each and every individual involved. We reinforce the concept that
political power flows from the individual, and governments and
corporations weild power only as delegated by free individuals. By tying
these rights together, an assault on one aspect is an assault on the
whole.
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey
------------------------------------------------------------
President retroman@tpk.net
Northstar Technologies
Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
Website: http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/
Transhumans of New Hampshire (>HNH)
------------------------------------------------------------
Transhumanist, Inventor, Webmaster, Ski Guide, Entrepreneur,
Artist, Outdoorsman, Libertarian
------------------------------------------------------------
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]+$y)%256;&S}$x=$y=0;for(unpack('C*',<>)){$x++;$y=($s[$x%=256]+$y)%256;
&S;print pack(C,$_^=$s[($s[$x]+$s[$y])%256])}sub S{@s[$x,$y]=@s[$y,$x]}
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