You just can’t make this stuff up..
The Swiss federal government’s ethics committee on non-human biotechnology has mapped out guidelines to help granting agencies decide which research applications deeply offend the dignity of plants–and hence become unfundable.
Although most people might be bewildered that a discussion on how to define ‘plant dignity’ should be taking place at all, the stakes for Swiss plant scientists are high. The Gene Technology Law, which came into effect in 2004, stipulates that ‘the dignity of creatures’ should be considered in any research. The phrase has been widely criticized for its general woolliness, but it indisputably includes plants.
All plant biotechnology grant applications must now include a paragraph explaining the extent to which plant dignity is considered. “But scientists don’t know what it means,” says Beat Keller of the
Institute of Plant Biology at the University of Zurich who is running the first field trial–of disease-resistant corn (maize)–to be approved under the new legislation.
Wesley’s comment is right on the money….
In one sense, I think the Science Establishment asked for this. It has been a prime mover in seeking to stamp out human exceptionalism as the reigning ethic of society. Well, this is what happens when we lose our self concept as a species of unique importance. Once we are knocked off the pedestal, all fauna and flora get thrown into the mix of “creatures” entitled to “rights,” even to the point that human beings are the world’s villains in some eyes. We are, in effect, eating our own tails as we move from human rights, to animal rights, and now plant “dignity.” This is beyond satirizing and, if we are not careful, can stop our own flourishing in its tracks.
What was it our Lord commanded? Oh, yes, that’s right – it was
And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens, and all animals that move upon the earth. [Gen 1:28]
It just proves once more what a mess man gets himself into when he leaves God out of the picture.