Designer baby eugenics and how to stop it

A teach-in and campaign planning day has been organised by Stop Designer Babies (SDB), Alliance for Humane Biotechnology (USA), Gen-ethisches Netzwerk (Germany), and GeneEthics (Australia).

10am-5pm, March 4, 2023, Somers Town Living Centre, Ossulton St, London NW1 and online. FREE, Register here.

Come along to discuss the urgent need for action to stop the harsh realities of modern eugenics. Designer babies are not science fiction any more – the first genetically modified children were announced in 2018. Despite global outrage, the British government is now trying to overturn the legal ban on human genetic modification (HGM) this year. HGM would create genetic changes with unpredictable long term effects which would be passed on to all future generations, affecting their human rights and intergenerational equity. 

In this time of increasing right-wing extremism, allowing HGM would be utterly irresponsible. This event is timed to coincide with a summit at the nearby Francis Crick Centre on March 6, where scientific and industry groups are meeting to push the agenda of HGM forward. As Vandana Shiva said at a Stop Designer Babies event, ‘There is an attempt to make people forget eugenics…. that’s why your work is so important.’

Because eugenics targets disabled, black, Jewish and working class people and other groups and traits perceived as ‘undesirable’, this event will be a chance to share perspectives from different social movements. We must face the threat that eugenics poses to human rights and defend basic concepts of social diversity, equality and inclusion of everyone.

Sessions on:

* History of eugenics 1900 to 2023, including Somers Town connection
* Introduction to the science and politics of HGM
* Perspectives from black/anti-racist, disability rights, working class, feminist, parents and human rights movements
* International perspectives
* UK and international campaign planning.

Speakers will include David King (Stop Designer Babies), Theo Simon (musician and trade unionist), Dr Michael Antoniou, gene therapy researcher, invited representatives of disability rights, anti-racist, working class and other social movements and International Coalition signatories, tbc.

During the lunchtime break, participants are encouraged to visit the Somers Town People’s Museum (100m away), where there will be a mini-exhibition on the Somers Town connection with eugenics.

To register, click here.

For more information, contact info@stopdesignerbabies.org

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