[[ Forwarded from an email forum frequented by the very (and I mean VERY)
radical greens ]]
<< Please distribute this to anyone/everyone. Try to make it here if you can.
It's important! We need to show these people(monsters), that we won't
tolerate the genetic manipulation of our animal kingdom. There's an
interesting article at the bottom from the Minneapolis Star Tribune about
the issue.
Peace,
-Matt
ANIMAL GE RESEARCH - http://www.tao.ca/~ban/madscience.htm
please circulate
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JULY 20-26
STOP THE MAD SCIENTISTS IN THEIR TRACKS!
Earth and Animal Liberation activists will converge in the Twin
Cities of Minnesota, to greet the International Society for
Animal Genetics (ISAG) at their University of Minnesota
conference. A wide range of activities is planned to help
mobilize against the rapidly developing bio technologies that
threaten wildlife,
and aim to control and commodify living beings on a entirely new
level.
Workshops, discussions, trainings and presentations on science,
ethics, politics and action strategy and tactics, as well as
direct action videos, will provide the inspiration we need to
join forces
and bring down the heinous biotechnology industry.
BACKGROUND ON ISAG
(http://www.wisc.edu/animalsci/isag/index.html)
The International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG) is based in
Madison, Wisconsin and includes animal geneticists around the
world. They publish a highly technical journal out of the UK
called Animal Genetics
(http://www.blacksci.co.uk/products/journals/agen.htm),
reporting on the research frontlines of economically important
and domestic animals. ISAG scientists are busy mapping the
genomes of common livestock animals, to determine new and
cutting edge methods of disease resistance and improvement for
market and laboratory uses. Cattle, Sheep and Goats, Dog, Horse,
Pig, Poultry, and Rabbit are all in the research pipeline, and
mice and monkeys are already being genetically manipulated for
lab science. The University of Minnesota and is a major center
of animal GE research, especially in the genetic enhancement
and improvement of livestock that is more suited to the
livestock industries. These industries fund conferences like
ISAG, hire such scientists for their own R&D departmenrts, using
the genetic technologies developed in the universities. The
federal govt is a major sponsor and contributor to animal GE,
through the Agricultural Research Service and the USDA.
For an example of government-funded livestock improvement
projects, check out:
http://sol.marc.usda.gov/marc/html/gene1.html
Any time you see that the government or a corporation is
mapping the genome of a species, it means they are doing so to
eventually manipulate the genetic make-up of that species. Such
manipulation is often justified as only one step beyond
conventional breeding, yet the intention is the same,
especially with animals, who have no worth to scientists,
corprations or universities, beyond their economic use. Genetic
engineering IS only one step beyond conventional breeding, and
we contend that even most conventional breeding is driven by
both profit, AND an extreme disregard for the role of non-human
animals in the interdependent web of life.
While the suffering of animals is definitely a major concern
with animal GE, the problems inherent in animal science run much
deeper. Animal GE is simply the latest tool of capitalist
technology, but one we feel could finally awaken people to the
crisis faced by every species on this planet: the corporate
ownership and commodification of life itself. After conquering
almost every mountain, forest, river and distinctive human
community on earth, business elites are seeking new colonies to
control and exploit. Factory and fur farming have already
created waste and enslavement of wildlife. Now the mad
scientists are eager to offer GE animals up to the market.
Will it take the total control and manipulation of humans
themselves (notice that public and private agencies alike are
racing each other to map the human genome?) to provoke a
reaction? If they are so willing to improve the non-market
friendly traits of domestic animals, why should we think that
simliar traits in humans wont be the next of sciences targets?
Already, domestic companion dogs can be froxen and cloned for
$20,000, so good olkd Spot will never really die. (see:
http://www.geneticsavingsandclone.com).
You may think that scientists are the least responsible for such
madness- that its the policy makers who decide what falls
within socially accepted boundaries. But under a government
based on the accumulation of capital, and the assumption of
industrial progress, no rulers could be expected to value the
inherent freedoms of living beings- animal or human. ISAG is
being targetted as a challenge to the very scientific
establishment itself. None of us will understand the terminology
they throw at us - and hopefully people will not feel the need
to play into their science-based justifications for the
atrocities to which they are so desensitized, and which they
perform daily without question.
Our society has to start posing a serious challenge to their
industrial science dogma, and the capitalist ideology that
accompanies it so conveniently. This means crafting our demands
on different terms from theirs. It is expected that the
corporate media will disregard our perspective since we are not
willing to play by their rules of engagement by debating the
level of suffering of cloned animals, or the scientific
usefulness of thir practices. Our demands must go farther. ISAG
is a good excuse to rail against one of the foundations of our
death-culture.
And as usual, action always speaks louder than words.
Sponsors of ISAg 2000 include:
(http://www.cvm.umn.edu/isag2000/sponsors.html)
American Kennel Club
Canine Health Foundation
Ralston Purina Company
Hybrid Turkeys
PE Celera AgGen
Pig Improvement Company, Inc. (see info below)
University of Minnesota (Agricultural Experiment Station,
College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences and
College of Veterinary Medicine)
For more information:
Upper Midwest Resistance against Genetic Engineering (RAGE):
(651) 213-6131
PO BOX 580444
Minneapolis, MN 55458-0444
grainrage@visto.com
http://www.tao.ca/~ban/grainrage.htm
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-
STOP THE MAD SCIENTISTS! SCHEDULE
FRIDAY JULY 21 - SUNDAY JULY 23
DIRECT ACTION CONVERGENCE - Minneapolis
Meet Friday morning at the Bedlam Theater for check-in and a
vegan/organic breakfast.
FRIDAY JULY 21
TEACH-IN, VIDEOS, ORGANIC/VEGAN CAFE, MUSIC - 7pm
Walker Church? (location TBA)
SUNDAY JULY 23
ISAG OPENING CEREMONY
Community Dinner and Speakout, Candlelight Vigil and Noise
Brigade
Meet at 5pm at Loring Park
MONDAY JULY 24
SHUT EM DOWN at the ISAG Conference - Location TBA
SUNDAY JULY 23-WEDNESDAY JULY 26
AUTONOMOUS DIRECT ACTIONS everywhere
--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==--
A few words from an ISAG sponsor:
PIG IMPROVEMENT COMPANY
http://www.pic.com/usa/
PIC's core business is delivering healthy genetic improvement
to pig industries around the world...
PIC is the international leader in the genetic improvement of
swine for breeding and the food industry. Offering the pig
farmer such services as artificial insemination, husbandry and
management, superior breeding stock, and the latest in porcine
biotechnology advances. With companies in over 30 countries
worldwide, PIC is able to cater to the specific needs of each of
its customers.
PIC is a supplier of pig breeding stock. We have proprietary
purebred lines that we continually improve by applying
scientific principles to the selection of each new generation.
Specialist subcontracted multiplication farms then crossbreed
the purelines to produce breeding stock that is sold by PIC to
the worlds commercial pig producers. Thus, PIC concentrates its
investments on the technology of improving pigs and the
servicing of commercial producers. PIC is clearly the world
leader in its field; operating in 30 countries, PIC has
established businesses in Western Europe and the Americas and is
currently investing in the developing markets of Asia and
Central Europe. PICs BIOTECH AGENDA:
http://www.pic.com/r_and_d/biotechnology.asp
---
JOIN THE MOVEMENT TO PROTECT THE FABRIC OF LIFE
Bioengineering Action Network
P.O. Box 11331
Eugene, Oregon 97440
(541) 302-5020
http://www.tao.ca/~ban
ban@tao.ca
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