02/08/2020 Robert Lederman, The Human Genome Project and Eugenics

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From ARTISTpres@aol.com Tue Jul 4 14:59:00 2000

Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2000 00:37:18 —0500 (CDT)
Subject: The Human Genome Project and Eugenics By R Lederman
Article: 99540
To: undisclosed—recipients:;

The Human Genome Project and Eugenics

By Robert Lederman, 1 July 2000
“Today we are learning the language in which God created life...humankind is on the verge
of gaining immense new power to heal. Genome science will have a real impact on all our
lives, and even more on the lives of our children. It will revolutionize the diagnosis,
prevention and treatment of most, if not all, human diseases.”

With these words President Clinton announced the completion of the mapping of the human genome on
6/26/2000. Will this scientific accomplishment usher in a new age of disease—free human life or begin an
epoch in which our social status, and even our right to exist, is based on an analysis and classification of
our genes?
Leaving aside the possibility that the claim to have decoded the human genome might be grossly—
exaggerated or even totally false should we be thrilled about our prospects for improved health and
longevity, or instead be trembling at the prospect of an entire society based on Eugenics? There are
excellent reasons to be very afraid of what this development will mean for us all in the very near future.
The Human Genome Project is headquartered at the Cold Springs Harbor laboratory on Long Island, NY
—the exact site of the notorious Eugenics Research Office started in 1910 by the Harriman family. The
Human Genome Project is thus a direct continuation of the Eugenics movement begun in the early part of
the 20th century.
Throughout its history the Eugenics movement has advanced an agenda that if fully recognized and
understood for what it is would shock most people living in our current society of relative tolerance and
diversity. Prominent advocates of Eugenics in the US, including the Rockefellers, Henry Ford and
Margaret Sanger, wanted the government to decide who could reproduce and how many offspring they
could have; which ethnic groups should be excluded from immigrating to the U.S. based on their alleged
inferiority; and which medical and psychological conditions should qualify one for sterilization or
euthanasia.
By the start of WWII 25 States in the U.S. had already passed Eugenics laws requiring forcible
sterilization, a policy which was declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Tens of thousands of
American citizens, most of them minorities, were ordered sterilized. Many States were on their way to
passing laws requiring euthanasia for the handicapped, the mentally ill and for career criminals.
Adolf Hitler publicly praised the U.S. policy and copied many of its features for the Nazi system which
eventually resulted in the Holocaust. Due to the emerging awareness of the Holocaust after WWII and of
the extent to which Hitler and Axis powers like Japan had planned to depopulate whole nations and even
entire continents, the public promotion of Eugenics experienced a temporary setback.
After WWII, many top officials involved in creating and administering these Nazi policies were brought
to the U.S. by our own government and placed in universities, in the military and in scientific institutions
and think tanks where their ideas have exerted a tremendous but seldom recognized influence. The CIA,
which was started right after WWII, was deeply involved in importing these Nazi officials—supposedly
for the purpose of fighting Communism.
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The expertise and ideas of these former Nazis have been behind many of the most controversial U.S.
government policies during the ensuing decades. The business dynasties which have dominated American
foreign and domestic policy for a century and which were avid supporters of Hitler, among them the
Rockefeller and Bush families, have continued to promote the exact same goals of Eugenics that were
pursued in previous decades.
In the past 15 years genetically—engineered foods have become so commonplace that many scientists
fear the genetically—modified genes corporations have spliced into everything from fish and fowl to
fruits and vegetables have already permanently altered the world’s food supply. Some of these genetically
—engineered foods may be intended to accomplish the same population—reduction goals as Eugenics.
Many Western European nations no longer allow the importation of U.S. produced meat, grain, dairy or
produce because they fear that all have been contaminated with modified genes, pesticides, artificial
hormones and animal feed containing fecal matter and ground up diseased animal tissues. While priding
ourselves on being the only remaining superpower, we the American people have become lab rats for the
corporate interests that actually run this country.
These corporate interests have pushed the Human Genome Project to its current advanced state. If one
examines the history of these same corporate interests, specifically as applied to promoting Eugenics,
there is no reason whatsoever for optimism. Even during his speech praising the wonders of the new
technology, President Clinton felt obliged to acknowledge serious concerns that the sequencing of the
human genome could lead to new forms of discrimination.
Probably the single greatest irony in the human genome issue is the idea being marketed to the public that
this scientific advance will lead to the average person enjoying a much longer and healthier life. In light
of governmental resistance to preventing corporate pollution of the environment, developing renewable
sources of energy, banning the use of toxic chemicals and insecticides or protecting the food supply from
contamination, can we really expect that this technology will be used to extend human life generally?
Politicians claim there is an imminent crisis facing the social security system right now. How much worse
will that crisis be if tens of millions of Americans who might otherwise have died in their sixties and
seventies from chronic disease live into their nineties and beyond? Be assured that those in control have
no intention of allowing this to happen.
The far likelier scenario is that for the very wealthy there will indeed be new and miraculous medical
treatments to prolong and enhance life. For the vast majority however, this new technology will only be
used to further limit their freedom and privacy while creating a caste system based on genetics that
fundamentally changes the way society is structured.
Today a college degree is required in order to apply for many jobs. In the near future a genetic degree
proving that an applicant fits the genetic profile an employer wants will be a similar requirement. Unlike
a college degree, you’ll have to be born with the right genetic makeup.
Sound far fetched? Only 68 years ago in Nazi Germany, an entire society based on the concept of genetic
status was created. Not having DNA technology, Hitler was forced to use eye and hair color as the main
basis to determine who was an Aryan and could therefore hold a socially—desirable position. With the
required DNA testing that elected officials like New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani have publicly
advocated for all children at birth, this kind of genetic—profiling can be computerized and applied to all
areas of human life.
An even greater threat to mankind is that this technology will not merely be used passively to document
existing genetic makeup but will be used actively and aggressively to create new sub—races of human
beings specialized to perform certain tasks. Naturally—created children will find themselves competing
against genetically—modified people that are stronger, faster, smarter, less constrained by feelings of
empathy and more disease and stress resistant.
Military and police applications are certain to take precedence over civilian ones, as a new super
soldier/cop is bred. Armies and police forces of the future will be staffed by people created for their
assigned tasks the way ants in nature and farm animals in human society are now specialized.

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Corporations have already patented thousands of human, animal and plant genes which are being mixed
together and applied for economic advantage, often with no idea of the consequences. As corporations
obtain ownership rights over more and more life forms the very idea of human rights and freedom may
become a vestige of the past.
Since it would appear that short of a cataclysm sending mankind back into the dark ages this technology
is here to stay, what can we do? The first step is to educate ourselves about the threats this technology
poses to our survival. We need to be able to interpret the subtle messages behind the feel—good
propaganda President Clinton and his corporate pals are feeding us and then vote and express ourselves
accordingly.
If it can be regulated based on the universal human values most societies have shared in common this
technology might truly enhance human life and culture. If on the other hand we leave it up to corporate
and government interests to determine the use, we can be assured of a future in which most people enjoy
the same status that a domestic farm animal does today.
In short, corporate and government control of the human genome may precipitate the greatest struggle for
survival ever faced by human beings.

NY Times 6/28/2000 “U.S. Hopes to Stem Rush Toward Patenting of Genes”

“Long before scientists had completed the task of reading the human genome, parts of it had already been
claimed for commerce. In what has often been compared to a land grab, companies and universities have
filed for patents on hundreds of thousands of genes and gene fragments”.
“When asked whether all children should have DNA tests at birth, the Mayor said: ‘...I would have no
problem with that, or fingerprinting all children...There is absolutely no reason why people should be
afraid of being identified...’ It’s not invasive,” the Mayor said. “It doesn’t invade any right of privacy. You
don’t have a right not to be identified. I don’t remember a constitutional amendment that gives you the
right not to be identified.”—N.Y. Times 12/17/98 “Giuliani Backs DNA Testing of Newborns for
Identification”
“Among hundreds of Rockefeller funded institutes and projects in the U.S., England and Germany that
have been involved in promoting Eugenics, was the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Eugenics
and Human Heredity in Berlin. The head of that institute, Dr. Otmar Verschuer, was Josef Mengele’s
patron, teacher and co—researcher. Another Rockefeller sponsored doctor and researcher, Dr. Franz
Kallmann, helped save Verschuer after WWII by testifying favorably about his value to science during the
U.S. government denazification hearings. Dr. Kallmann later created the American Society of Human
Genetics, which organized the ‘Human Genome Project’”.
[See: http://www.livelinks.com/sumeria/politics/eugenics.html]
[Also see: Nazi Germany, Klaus P. Fischer pg. 515]

http://www.the—times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/03/10/timfgnusa01003.html
3/10/2000

“The eugenics movement started in the early decades of the last century, and although Hitler’s
sterilisation of as much as 1 per cent of the German population forced many to reconsider, it remained
popular in many states in America...It is believed that 60,000 or more Americans were sterilised in the
1930s, 1940s and 1950s.”

Village Voice 2/29/2000 “History of American Eugenics”

“A century ago, scientists from the top universities in America began to study people’s pedigrees in the
hopes of creating ‘perfect’ children. Instead, they spawned a monster: the pseudoscience of eugenics...It’s
more than coincidence that minority groups were most often the target of this plan...The Eugenics
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Records Office itself was endowed by a grant from the widow of railroad magnate E.H. Harriman and
such population—control progressives as Margaret Sanger also believed in the cause....”

NY Times 4/29/2000 “A Fund Is Planned by U.S. Companies for Nazis’ Victims”

“A group of American companies that had factories in Nazi Germany plans to establish a fund that would
aid people who suffered persecution under Hitler’s rule, a gesture that comes as more American
multinational corporations acknowledge having benefited from slave labor during World War II...At least
50 American companies operated factories in Germany during the years that the Nazis were in
power...Ford, General Motors, Exxon—Mobil and Kodak are among a growing number of American
multinationals that say they have found evidence that their subsidiaries used forced labor during those
years.”

Daily News 12/7/98 “Chase Banked On Nazis — Report”

“Chase National Bank—the precursor of today’s Chase Manhattan Bank—allegedly helped the Nazis
plunder Jewish property in France during World War II, according to a published report. The New York—
based bank controlled by the Rockefeller family closed Jewish accounts even before the Germans ordered
them to do so and did business with the Nazis while they were sending Jews to the gas chambers,
Newsweek magazine reports in this week’s edition. And while the U.S. was at war with the Nazis, Chase
also apparently helped German banks do business with their overseas branches, the magazine reported.”

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT Sept. 1, 1997 “The next bad beef scandal? Cattle feed now contains
things like manure and dead cats—”

“To trim costs, many farmers add a variety of waste substances to their livestock and poultry feed”and no
one is making sure they are doing so safely. Chicken manure in particular is increasingly used as feed by
cattle farmers despite possible health risks to consumers...Chicken manure often contains campylobacter
and salmonella bacteria, which can cause disease in humans, as well as intestinal parasites, veterinary
drug residues, and toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury...In addition, some 40
billion pounds a year of slaughterhouse wastes like blood, bone, and viscera, as well as the remains of
millions of euthanized cats and dogs passed along by veterinarians and animal shelters, are rendered
annually into livestock feed...Researchers in addition have experimented with cattle and hog manure, and
human sewage sludge.

Margaret Sanger, “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda.” Birth Control Review, Oct.
1921, Vol. V, No. 10, page 5:

“Today Eugenics is suggested by the most diverse minds as the most adequate and thorough avenue to the
solution of racial, political, and social problems ... As an advocate of Birth Control, I wish to take
advantage of the present opportunity to point out that the unbalance between the birth rate of the ‘unfit’
and the ‘fit,’ admittedly the greatest present menace to the human race, can never be rectified by the
inauguration of a cradle competition between the two classes. In this matter, the example of the inferior
classes, the fertility of the feeble—minded, the mentally defective, the poverty—stricken classes, should
not be held up for emulation to the mentally and physically fit though less fertile parents of the educated
and well—to—do classes. On the contrary, the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage
the over fertility of the mentally and physically defective ...”

Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T.

(Artists’ Response To Illegal State Tactics)
ARTISTpres@aol.com (718) 743—3722
http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html

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[See: http://www.gvny.com/ for an extensive archive of Lederman columns]

Also see:
http://www.levymultimedia.com
[For essays and notes on pesticides scroll down to and click on Lederman archive link or go to
http://www.levymultimedia.com/lederman/index.htm]
http://www.american—politics.com/101299Lederman.html
http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/district—court.html
http://www.mindspring.com/%7Etheremin/fooliani/index.html

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