wfn.org | Task force begins to spell out concerns with bioengineering

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 19, 2003	     News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202)
546-87227Washington	10-71B{148}

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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