« You are invited to the first online meeting of signatories of the declaration, on November 8th, at 7pm UK time. Please let us know if you wish to attend by replying to this message. If you would like to attend but cannot make that time, please let us know, and we will probably be able to arrange a second meeting. The meeting will provide an opportunity for members to introduce themselves and their work, and will discuss next steps for the coalition.
We regard the work we have done so far as just the first step towards bringing together a massive international coalition to demand a global ban on HGM and cloning. In order to do this we need to convince many social movements to become active on this issue. We want to hear your thoughts on how to do that and about the situation in your country.
So far 1630 individuals and 65 organisations have signed the declaration. We believe that the stand you have taken, as well as the physical presence of anti-HGM activists earlier this year at the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing in London had a significant impact on the final communiqué of the summit. Against the trend of the last few years, it noted that “Public discussions and policy debates continue and are important for resolving whether this technology should be used” (our italics). However, we cannot be complacent, and we know that international scientists’ groups are still working to legalise HGM : their first effort is likely to be in the UK, in the next year or two.
Up to now, the coalition has been run by a coordinating group of organisations listed on the coalition’s webpage. However, we are open to the possibility of expanding the coordinating group ».