19/01/2019
A nobel prize winning scientist whose work helped discovered the double helix nature of DNA, but who later stated that homosexual foetuses should be aborted, has been stripped of his honorary science accolades. James Watson was science icon in the nineteen sixties for his work on genetics, but in the nineteen nineties was quoted by a British newspaper as interceding in a debate over whether there was a gay gene. He was reported to have said that parents wanting to have a heterosexual child should have the right to genetic screening. Mr Watson later wrote to the papers, and was widely quoted in the gay press, as clarifying his position. He claimed to have been misrepresented by the initial newspaper interview and said that whilst he supported the right of parents to practice whatever genetic screening they wished, he was not opposed to the existence of gay people. Nevertheless, his remarks were cited by many LGBT activists at the time as a warning of the possible misuses of genetic research, with the highly underground newspaper Green Anarchist publishing a polemic encouraging an alliance between eco activists, the disabled and gay people to take direct action against genetic modification technologies. Mr Watson was stripped of his titles by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the United States, after racist statements made in a television interview given to PBS Network. According to the black British newspaper The Voice, Mr Watson repeated his notorious claim that African people were less intelligent than Caucasians. The laboratory responded: “Dr Watson’s statements are reprehensible, unsupported by science, and in no way represent the views of CSHL, its trustees, faculty, staff, or students. The laboratory condemns the misuse of science to justify prejudice.”
https://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/scientist-stripped-titles-over-ra...
https://www.soilassociation.org/our-campaigns/stop-genetic-modification/
