First of all, I'd like to introduce you to a saint, whom you may know of already, but certainly he's new to me. He's from the 13th century, and his name is St Guinefort, and his story is that he rescued a child from a snake. Alas, he was falsely accused and killed, and the mistake only discovered later that in fact he was protecting the child. He became greatly venerated during the 13th century and was prayed to particularly by parents of sick children. His cult was eventually stamped out by the Inquisition.
That's by way of an introduction to this part of the presentation which is going to take a look at the ethics of humanity's relationship with the creatures of the world, particularly with regard to genetic modification. One of the perhaps humbling facts which is emerging in the mapping of the human genome sequence is just how much material we share with the animal kingdom.
(Reminder about the Human Genome Project - the goal is to discover all the approximately 30,000 to 35,000 human genes (the human genome) and to determine the complete sequence of the 3 billion DNA subunits. (If the DNA sequence of the human genome were to be read out loud, it would take about 9.5 years to read it, without stopping for tea breaks or sleep!)
Our relationship with the animal kingdom is similar to the animal kingdom's relationship with itself. We are predators in that we hunt, shoot, fish, trap animals so that we can eat them, and parasites in that we use them by harnessing them, farming them, 'improving' them for our own benefit or pleasure, and experimenting on them. Is genetic modification on animals just more of the same thanks to developing technology?
Conservation laws of most countries contain four sorts of instrumental ethics regarding animals:
Objectors to and those deeply concerned about genetic modifications to animals have brought a greater focus to the argument for preserving the intrinsic value of creatures. So far (1997) only New Zealand incorporates this phrase in its conservation legislation. Let me give an example of intrinsic value: :
University of Wisconsin working to produce genetically engineered turkeys that are unable to produce the hormone prolactin. This hormone naturally triggers broody behaviour. It's calculated that turkeys could lay between 15 and 20% more eggs if they didn't lapse into periods of broodiness when they want to incubate the eggs they have laid. Objectors to this argue that this work in some sense alters the 'essence' or 'being' of a female turkey - her intrinsic nature. Is it acceptable to take away this ability, even if no suffering results? Is this a serious violation of the intrinsic nature of the creature. On the other hand, this development might be an improvement to the present state of farmed turkeys where the females are 'shocked' out of broody behaviour by being exposed to bright lights, or being made to stand on wires most of their life so they are unable to settle down and brood. Does this argument really matter if we end up eating the turkey in any case? How important is it (and why) that we need to feel that the animal we eat, or whose milk/eggs, etc, we eat, has had a 'happy', or 'normal' life? Is this merely sloppy sentimentalism which is only to be expected from a culture raised on Bambi, Peter Rabbit or Winnie the Pooh?
Joke: Did you hear about the genetic engineer working for a large multinational company who tried to cross a hyena with an oxo cube and ended up making a laughing stock of himself….?
Why is it that it's no longer acceptable to kill animals for their fur, but OK to wear leather. Is this a utilitarian principle in action because we eat the animal and wearing its skin is very efficient use of that total resource? Is it part of the same divine plan that the liver fluke in sheep grows in the liver and eventually eats its way out of the sheep, causing its death, and humans first of all milk a cow, then eat it, and then wear it.
How does Christianity compare with other religions. In Jainism, the concern for ahisma (non-injury) means that there is a monastic practice to carry a small broom with which gently to remove any living creature before one sits or lies down. Jainism also insists on a vegetarian diet. Buddhism also has a strong emphasis on animal welfare.
Words of comfort provided in Joel 1:18m 2:21-22:
'How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep are dismayed. 'Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pasture of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and the vine give their full yield.'
Andrew Linzey, author of Animal Theology and Animal Rites, would suggest that the laws of nature, operative in this fallen world may not be the absolute or initially chosen laws of God - quite, when one considers the liver fluke. He claims that it is a fundamental insight that parasitical existence is incompatible with the original will of God. All life is sentient - gradations in sentience are related to the complexity of the nervous and sensory system of the particular organism. There are animals of many different kinds that think, remember, anticipate, intend, suffer, and enjoy life. God who creates freely, allowing the risk of creation, yet not failing to enable redemption and liberation, may wish us to work as co-creators in both that creation and redemption. We can knock out the liver fluke. Is this part of a journey towards the vision of Isaiah. Animal nature, as well as human nature, are in bond to violence and predation. Might the developments in animal genetic modification move us further towards the fulfilment of Isaiah 11:6ff:
'The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox…'
Donald Bruce and Ann Bruce, Editors, Engineering Genesis, Earthscan Publications Ltd 1998
Charles Birch and Lukas Vischer, 1997 Living with the Animals, WCC Publications, Geneva
Celia E Deane-Drummond, 1999 Genetic Engineering for a New Earth, Grove Ethical Studies
Andrew Linzey, 1994 Animal Theology, SCM Press Ltd
Andrew Linzey, 1999 Animal Rites, SCM Press Ltd
Michael J Reiss and Roger Straughan Improving Nature, Cambridge University Press 1996
Human Genome Project Information from http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/faq/faqs1.html
Further information on St Guinefort from Joyce E Salisbury: 'The Beast Within: Animals in the Middle Ages (Routledge, 1994) and Jean-Claude Schmitt: 'Guinefort: The Holy Greyhound - healer of children since the 13th century' (CUP, 1983)
'Twould ring the bells of Heaven The wildest peal for years, If Parson lost his senses And people came to theirs, And he and they together Knelt down with angry prayers For tamed and shabby tigers And dancing dogs and bears, And wretched, blind pit ponies, And little hunted hares. Ralph Hodgson
And other eyes than ours Were made to look on flowers, Eyes of small birds and insects small: The deep sun-blushing rose Round which the prickles close Opens her bosom to them all. The tiniest living thing That soars on feathered wing, Or crawls among the long grass out of sight Has just as good a right To its appointed portion of delight As any King. Christina Rossetti
The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him. Mark 1: 12-13
Christ of His gentleness Thirsting and hungering Walked in the wilderness; Soft words of grace He spoke Unto lost desert-folk That listened wondering. He heard the bitterns call From the ruined palace wall, Answered them brotherly; He held communion with the she-pelican Of lonely piety. Basilisk, cockatrice, Flocked to His homilies, With mail of dread device, With monstrous barbed slings, with eager dragon-eyes; Great rats on leather wings, And poor blind broken things, Foul in their miseries. And ever with Him went, Of all His wanderings Comrade, with ragged coat, Gaunt ribs - poor innocent - Bleeding foot, burning throat, The guileless old scapegoat; For forty nights and days Followed in Jesus' ways, Sure guard behind Him kept, Tears like a lover wept. Robert Graves
god i want to pray that my favrit lamb binky from our farm will go to hevven and be with us all after we die i think he will becos i have eaten him so he is inside me like jesus some bits of him are inside a sorted uther members of our fammily but pleese will you put him back together when you get all the bits in it will be a bit of a jigs saw puzzel but i know you can do it don't bother with the one called frank becos he allways butted me with his head amen.
(From a Year at St Yorricks)
In the beginning the Lord created heavens and the earth and all therein. But scientists said let the seas be populated by fish containing human, mouse, and rat genes. And Hoechst and Monsanto said let the land produce plant and trees bearing fruit containing bacteria and virus genes. And Ciba Geigy said let corn grow containing scorpion genes. And Amoco said let there be tobacco containing hamster genes. And Zeneca made all kinds of fruit and vegetables and they did not rot. By the seventh day the work of the Lord had been undone and the companies saw they had recreated life for their own ends. And the Parliament of Angels blessed the seventh day and made all life patentable.
(Postcard send by Greenpeace to all MEP's in 1995 before the vote in the European Parliament on the patenting of genes)