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Sensitive Swiss Ban Plant Humiliation

Genetic research must not violate the dignity of wheat

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 10, 2008 5:37 PM CDT

(Newser) – Swiss scientists eager to carry out genetic experiments on plants can’t be rash—they must first consider the how their actions make that tulip feel. Government-backed ethicists studied the effects of such experimentation on plants’ dignity; they found that it was wrong to hurt plants for no reason, or to genetically render them sterile, the Wall Street Journal reports. The finding sparked new rules, based on a constitutional amendment.

The 1990s amendment was made to protect all living things from indignities borne of genetic tweaking. Now, when a scientist wants to conduct field trials on plants, he or she must first make the case that the procedures won’t be harmful. “It's one more constraint on doing genetic research,” says a Swiss scientist. But “where does it stop?” wondered a colleague. “Should we now defend the dignity of microbes and viruses?"

Unfortunately, we have to take it seriously, a Zurich researcher says of the rule.
"Unfortunately, we have to take it seriously," a Zurich researcher says of the rule.   (Shutterstock)
Researchers had to explain why wheat experiments wouldn't harm the plants' dignity.
Researchers had to explain why wheat experiments wouldn't harm the plants' dignity.   (Shutterstock)
Plants' dignity is protected as long as their independence, i.e., reproductive ability and adaptive ability, are ensured, a panel found.
Plants' dignity is protected "as long as their independence, i.e., reproductive ability and adaptive ability, are ensured," a panel found.   (Shutterstock)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
Solomon
Feb 11, 2011 3:37 PM CST
The Swiss are quite pragmatic. the migration of GMO from crops to contaminate local frogs and insects was alarming. I urge strict quarantine of GMO production facilities and mandatory labeling of GMO foods until such time as the technology has been perfected. That process has been too slow to start and what little has been studied has not sounded particularly promising. www.seedsofdeception.com "44,000 internal FDA documents made public by a lawsuit show ... the overwhelming consensus among the FDA’s own scientists was that GM foods were quite different (from non-GM natural foods) and could lead to unpredictable and hard-to-detect allergens, toxins, new diseases and nutritional problems. It turns out that FDA scientists, who had urged superiors to require long-term studies, were ignored. See, Failed Government Regulation."

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ethics • genetic testing • genetic modification • Switzerland • plants • genetic research

 
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