🚀 go-pugleaf

Get a grip. If you want to be left out of the next phase of evolution,
so be it, but don't go dragging down the rest of the world.

zenekar@sonic.net wrote:
: Austrian inititiative about Genetic Engineering

: Here is a rough, but accurate, translation of the Austrian voter
: initiative
: that closed this Sunday with 1,245,000 people signing, 21% of the voting
: age
: population. Under Austrian law 100,000  signatures were needed to
: activate
: the next step, a referendum, presented to the general population, which
: is
: then either voted up or down. The initiative received 12.5 times the
: number
: of signatures needed. Both major parties were against the initiative, it
: was
: supported by the Austrian Green Party, The Catholic Church and the far,
: far
: right Freedom Party (agrarian populist). 

: 1. NO FOOD FROM GENETIC ENGINEERING LABORATORIES IN AUSTRIA!

: We demand a legislated prohibition of the production and sale of
: genetically
: altered food and agricultural products in Austria.

: No one can guarantee that prolonged consumption of genetically
: engineered
: food will not (adversly) affect the health of human beings.

: As in the case of atomic power, we therefore demand that no long term
: experiment upon human beings be initiated.

: 2. NO INTRODUCTION OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ORGANISM INTO THE
: ENVIROMENT IN AUSTRIA!

: We demand  a legal prohibition of the letting free of genetically
: altered
: plants, animals, and micro-organisms.

: The introduction of genetic technology means a threat to those Austrian
: farmers who, in the interests of consumers, pay attention to high
: quality
: and regional diversity.

: 3. NO PATENTS ON LIFE!

: We demand a legal prohibition on the patenting of life forms.

: Animals used in agriculture, experimental animals and plants should not
: be
: created in the laboratory and should not be marketed by the owners of
: patents.

: The patenting of life forms is from an ethical viewpoint fundamentally
: unacceptable.

: The creation of life should remain the province of nature and not the
: genetic laboratory.
: --------------------------------------------------------------------
: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
: prohibiting the exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
: the
: press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
: the
: Government for a redress of grievances.

: Amendment I to the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

: "....AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES."

: Our politicians tell us that we are stuck with genetic technology
: because of
: GATT and NAFTA. But, if genetic engineering, GATT and NAFTA aren't
: grievances, what the hell is?

: Let's get on with it!

--
Later,                http://www.ecsd.com/~den
den                   mailto:den@ecsd.com