
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 14, 1995                   TAG: 9505150093
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

GENETIC ENGINEERING DAMNED AS MAN'S ATTEMPT TO PLAY GOD

Leaders from virtually every major religion plan to issue a statement this week asking the government to prohibit the current patenting practices for genetic engineering, The New York Times reported Saturday.

About 100 Roman Catholic bishops, many Protestant and Jewish leaders and groups of American Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists have signed the statement that opens a new battle over religion and science.

``This issue is going to dwarf the pro-life debate within a few years,'' said Richard D. Land, head of the Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

``I think we're on the threshold of mind-bending debates about the nature of human life,'' he said. ``We see altering life forms, creating new life forms, as a revolt against the sovereignty of God and an attempt to be God.''

Genetically engineered animals and the ability to patent human genes are a financial pillar of biotechnology companies. The ability to patent a human gene has made it possible to create life-saving drugs for thousands of patients, biotech companies have said.

Religious leaders told the Times that the patenting of human genes or organisms violates the sanctity of human life and reduces what some call the ``blueprint of evolution'' to a marketable commodity.

Biotechnology companies said the patents, which grant companies exclusive rights to manufacture or sell inventions for 17 years, have been crucial to their ability to raise capital.

The religious coalition was put together over the last two years, largely with help from one of the biotechnology's industry's most persistent adversaries: Jeremy Rifkin, head of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington.

The foundation has fought biotechnology companies on many issues, including marketing milk produced by cows that receive a growth hormone, and growing new plants that were developed through genetic engineering.

by CNB