Prism Webcast News

Interview with Co-Leader of NZ Greens & Editorial: Modern Eugenics and Genocide in the Name of Freedom

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Posted in Cloning Editorial Eugenics Genetic Engineering News PRISM NEWS PODCASTS | Tagged Cloning, Editorial, Eugenics, Genetic Engineering, News, PRISM NEWS PODCASTS, NZ Election 2008

In this first of a new a new series of Prism Webcast News interviews Tremane Barr speaks with Dr. Russell Norman the male co-leader of the New Zealand Green Party. The topics covered in part 1 include how Dr. Norman (originally from Australia) came to be the Greens co-leader and his opinion on the substance and politics surrounding the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). In part 2 the main topics covered are the Bioethics Council eugenic recommendation that parents should be able to choose the gender of their children and the internal politics around their marijuana policy. 

EDITORIAL: Modern Eugenics and Genocide in the Name of Freedom

The recent recommendation by the New Zealand Bioethics Council that parents using In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) should be allowed to freely choose the gender of their children is another step forward in an ever expanding eugenics industry.

This downward spiral into a systematic genocide of the genetically undesirable is based on giving parents the freedom to choose. Up until recently this choice was exercised predominantly through the use of technologies based on ultrasound and testing of the embryonic fluid for conditions like Down’s syndrome. When informed of so-called “unhealthy abnormalities” the parents were then able to exercise the choice over whether to abort the baby or not.

This has been allowed to happen despite the fact that New Zealand abortion law is supposed to only allow abortions in extreme circumstances for those women whose own life is put at risk or risk of it creating severe mental health issues. In reality abortion is by demand and nobody has ever stood up and said the only reason a women wants to abort a baby is because it does not meet her personal standard of what a healthy baby should be. And so this slow descent into the eugenic mass genocide of the genetically undesirable based on the wonderful notion of free choice of parents has taken us to the abyss of the new genetic technologies of PGD, cloning and genetic engineering.

In all prior human history children have been a lottery in every way. As parents we all have our fears, hopes and dreams as to what we would like and what we hope could be, but in reality a child is what it is - a human being with a randomly assigned genetic makeup and talents and skills (or lack of them) which, may or may not end up gaining the approval of the parents or society. This basic premise has been true to every human in every society, religion, caste or socio-economic class - what you got was what you got and you just have to make the best of it as a parent. In the best of times parents can let go of their prejudices and find that despite expectations to the contrary love and satisfaction can flourish between parent/s and child in the most adverse of circumstances. In other words children need to be accepted as ends in themselves and not the means to someone else’s expectations.

When someone chooses to kill another human being because they do not like how they might turn out in the future this is a very sad commentary on this person as an individual. What does it say about a society that deliberately sets out to create the technology that allows this state of affairs to become a normal part of the health system that oversees the pregnancy of all women? The child in a women’s foetus is subjected to any number of tests through various technologies with only one goal in mind - will this child meet the expectations of the parents (and thus society) for what they believe a human being should be - and if it doesn’t then, in most cases, it will be killed off to try again. Genocide - mass systematic genocide of the undesirable and unwanted all courtesy of the public health system (in New Zealand). A nation built on the genocide of innocents is not a healthy nation.

One can make the argument about that it is in the babies best interest, they would have a diminished quality of life, they would not live as long, they could not do the things most people take for granted, it would be a shame for them to suffer and so on. But make no mistake the people who exercise the choice to abort babies on that basis are still participating in a eugenic program of systematic mass genocide that is forever altering the human gene pool. And now thanks to IVF and PGD the Bioethics Council want to take that choice even further from not just using it to screen out health defects, but to allowing parents to have the right to choose the gender of their children simply on the basis of their personal preference and no other reason. Some say this is a step too far, but in reality it is just a logical conclusion to allow for this choice of choosing ones baby’s gender given what society already allows now. This is the new improved program of eugenics as it does not involve the need for abortion.

In reality if we as a society do not believe that every human being is equal and has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as best they can then the whole social basis of our society will break down. And break it will as new technologies of cloning and genetic engineering are allowed to be developed and perfected so that the scientists can one day say that it is now “safe” to clone and genetically engineer human babies. The New Zealand Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act originally wanted to legalise human cloning and genetic engineering, but thanks to a campaign waged by GE Free NZ Inc. and the Greens this was defeated. Unfortunately, it was only a temporary victory as scientists are still allowed to create cloned and genetically engineered human sperm, eggs and embryos for research purposes. This still leaves the question as to why they want to do this research - for medical advances? Nobody has yet come up with one convincing argument to support this claim. It is for one purpose and one purpose alone that this research has been allowed - to develop the “safe” cloning and genetic engineering of future human babies. So that one day prominent medical scientists like Robert Winston can stand and say there are no longer any rational objections not to allow parents the freedom to choose the “safe” genetic makeup of their children.

On that day the human race will be ultimately doomed to extinction except for those kept in slavery to carry out the menial tasks of that future society. All because of the freedom to choose. The reality is that the only choice we as free human beings can make is to respect each and every individual human being as equal no matter what their genetic makeup may be and to stop the systematic eugenic medical genocide of those deemed unwanted by parents and society no matter what technology is used to do this.

 

Adam Smith

Editor Prism Webcast News