GE Free New Zealand
In Food And Environment, Inc.

PRESS RELEASE – 28 December 2002

GE Free NZ Condemn The Use Of Human Reproductive Cloning

The claim by the UFO worshipping cult the Raëlians that through their work a 31 year old American woman has given birth to the first cloned human being has been met with skepticism and condemnation by GE Free NZ spokesperson on Transhuman Eugenics Tremane Barr.

“What reproductive cloning allows is the ability to pre-select the genetic composition of ones offspring. Children will no longer be unconditionally accepted ends, but instead become utilitarian means and as such human cloning must be condemned. Coupled with the continuing prevalent belief in ‘genetics-as-destiny,’ people will increasingly be seen as genetically superior or inferior. A new eugenics, driven by the ‘free’ market and technological innovation, will be ushered in if governments around the world do not act quickly to outlaw human cloning.” said Tremane Barr.

At present the current ban on cloning human beings in the HSNO Act automatically runs out in mid 2003, while the UN treaty to ban human cloning put forward by Germany and France in 2001 has been put off until late 2003 by the United States and a minority of other countries because they want to include a ban on human embryo cloning for medical research. However, Stanford University in America recently announced that scientists there are to embark upon medical research using cloned human embryos.

Raellians are not the only ones working to produce cloned human beings. Italian doctor Severino Antinori has claimed that a woman is currently carrying a human clone that will be born in January 2003. While former University of Kentucky professor Panos Zavos has also announced plans to produce cloned human beings in late 2003.

“It is a bit rich of an American Republican administration which controls the presidency, congress and the senate to derail international efforts to ban human cloning while they have failed to bring into law in America legal bans on human reproductive and embryonic cloning there. How concerned are they really or is it as we suspect a sham to say too late the horse has bolted all we can do now is leave human cloning to the market.”

Raëlians told CNN in July 2001 that the long-term goal for human cloning is to live forever. Raëlians say cloning a baby is only the first step: Eventually the group wants to learn how to clone an adult, then "transfer the brain to the clone."

“The Raëlians claim of successfully cloning a human being has yet to be proven, but nonetheless cloning technology has opened the floodgates to a new eugenic future if action is not taken at the national and international levels to ban human reproductive cloning before it can be fully perfected. GE Free NZ calls on the Government to commit itself to putting in place a permanent ban on human cloning in NZ and to push for the quick implementation of the UN treaty to ban human reproductive cloning internationally.” said Tremane Barr

CONTACT DETAILS:
Tremane Barr
Phone: (03) 981-5235.

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