Task force begins to spell out concerns with bioengineering
3/19/2003 WASHINGTON
(UMNS) - United Methodists must address the threats that genetic
engineering poses to biodiversity and agricultural diversity, according
to the Bioethics Task Force of the church's social action agency.
At
what was most likely the group's last face-to-face meeting, task force
members also approved their document on embryonic stem cell research.
Meeting
March 14-15, the task force continued working on a report that will go
to the Board of Church and Society, which created the group at the
direction of the General Conference. The board will use the task force's
findings in making its own report to the legislative assembly in 2004.
The task force's mission is to offer direction on ethics related to
fast-moving scientific developments in such fields as human cloning,
embryonic stem-cell research and genetically modified plant and animal
life. The group includes scientists, ethicists and others.
"In
the tapestry of God's creation, all life reflects the beauty of
extravagant diversity," the first draft of a statement on bioengineering
proclaims. "Reflecting on this diversity and this grace, United
Methodists must address the threats to biodiversity and agricultural
diversity posed by current work in genetic engineering."
The
proposed statement laments the history of corporate overuse of land,
homogenization of agriculture and brutal exploitation of non-human
animal life. The document says use of the environment ruled by
efficiency has supplanted awareness of the responsibilities of
stewardship for God's creation.
"We have lost or obliterated
strains of corn and apples, and bred chickens that do not ever get to
walk, much less fly," the draft says. Multinational agribusiness has
threatened the diversity of the human community by exporting such
technology and exploitation to developing areas, it adds. "The voices of
farmers in such developing contexts urge North American Christians to
seek repentance and wisdom as we embark on the next wave of
bio-engineering: genetic modification."
For its theological
foundation and a starting point for direction, the task force draws
heavily on work already done for earlier resolutions of the General
Conference, including those on "U.S. Agriculture and Rural Communities
in Crisis" and "New Developments in Genetic Science." Those and other
position statements are in the denomination's Book of Resolutions.
In
the course of drafting the statement on genetic engineering, the task
force has generated a list of concerns for study and action.
These
include the genetic contamination of non-genetically modified species
and varieties. Related issues include: Who is liable for containing the
modified species? Can the holder of rights to the modified species
obtain payment from the contaminated crop's owner for "use"? What if the
contamination means an organic farmer can no longer meet organic
standards?
Other concerns include the effect of genetically
modified traits in the overall food system and a resultant lack of
diversity; the use of modified organisms to allow greater use of
specific pesticides; and introduction of toxins into food crops as
insecticides and the increasing insect resistance to those toxins. The
group also deplores the lack of regulation and universal labeling of
genetically modified food, and the absence of clear labeling for
organically grown products that involve genetically modified organisms.
The task force says it laments "the dearth of knowledge of the long-term health effects of genetically modified organisms."
Its
members object to the production and marketing of agricultural products
that have been engineered to produce no seed or sterile seed so that
farmers cannot plant seeds from the crops they have raised.
They
also voice concern about interpretations of world trade rules that
prevent local governments from determining their own guidelines
regarding genetically modified organisms.
Committed to continuing
work by conference call over the next few months, task force members
expect to send a completed statement on bioengineering to the board for
its fall meeting.
Meanwhile, the group's chairman, Bill Scott,
will present the task force's paper on embryonic stem-cell research to
the Board of Church and Society at its semi-annual meeting March 19-23.
Scott is a professor at the University of Mississippi and a member of
the board. The paper was revised in a conference call following a period
of churchwide comment. In the paper, two task force members express
opposition to the idea of doing research with existing embryos that
otherwise would be discarded.
"To allow research on existing
embryos, even given the potential for scientific progress, is to dilute
this world of judgment," say task force members Amy Laura Hall, an
ethicist at Duke Divinity School, and the Rev. Horacio Sison, chaplain
at the University of the Philippines. They stated that it would be "more
appropriate to discard existing embryos, with deep repentance" than to
allow their use.
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