John Gillott

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John Gillott in 2004

John Gillott has a degree in applied mathematics. Between 2009 and 2013 Gillot was registered as a Phd student at the ESRC Innogen Centre in Development, Policy and Practice in the Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology, Open University. He formerly worked at the Genetic Interest Group (GIG) London, as a policy officer, and was also on the staff of the online clinical genetics resource Genepool along with Juliet Tizzard of Progress Educational Trust. As a contributor to Living Marxism, (between 1992 and 2000, in which he sometimes used the 'Party name' John Gibson) Spiked (between 2001 and 2010 at least), a speaker at Institute of Ideas events (for example on Wednesday 14 March 2007) he is associated with the LM network.

Education

Gillott has a first degree in Mathematics.

Between 2009 and 2013 Gillot was registered as a Phd student at the ESRC Innogen Centre in Development, Policy and Practice in the Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology, Open University. In 2009 this was listed as being on 'How Government and regulators pursue their objectives through public and stakeholder engagement'.

By June 2010 this had changed to 'The Changing Governance of Science? A critical inquiry into the contemporary politics and governance of research as explored through the human tissue and embryo cases in the UK'

John Gillott from the Innogen website, 2011

The 'Patents on Life' Directive

For more detail see Main Article Genetic Alliance UK

In 1997 the Genetic Interest Group became embroiled in controversy over the lobbying activities of Gillott's colleague, GIG's Director, for the EU Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions (popularly known as 'Patents on Life'). What was controversial about Alastair Kent's lobbying for the Directive was that it was at total odds with GIG's declared policy of opposing attempts to patent genes.

This policy departure is interesting when viewed in the context of the attitude of GIG's Policy Officer towards those that GIG should have been allied with in opposition to the Directive. Gillott was busy vehemently attacking those with whom he and GIG should have been allied in opposition to the Directive. 'The Directive has been vigorously opposed,' Gillott noted in an article at the time, 'by environmental campaigners who say it is an aspect of the 'race to commodify life' which amounts to 'biopiracy' '. Gillott dismisses such views as 'the rubbish peddled by the environmentalists.'

Gillott's article appeared on the website of LM (formerly known as Living Marxism) of which Gillott was the science editor. That same year Gillott appeared in the Channel Four TV series Against Nature which presented environmentalists as comparable to the Nazis and as responsible for the deprivation and death of millions in the Third World.

Since the demise of LM magazine in 2000, Gillott has been a regular contributor to the Spiked website edited by LM's ex-editor, Mick Hume. Both Gillott and his GIG colleague Alastair Kent have also spoken at events run by the Institute of Ideas, an organisation headed by LM's former co-publisher.

Targeting Environmentalists

John Gillott and Manjit Kumar, Cover of the 1995 edition of their Science and the Retreat from Reason. 'It is difficult to understand', wrote one reviewer 'how a book that began with such a brilliant defense of science and reason... could lead in the end to such a state of unreason'

Environmentalists are consistently a key target in Gillott's writing. In 1999 Gillott appeared, like Juliet Tizzard, in the Channel Four TV series, Against Nature, directed by Martin Durkin. The series painted environmentalists as doom-mongering Nazi's responsible for the deprivation and death of millions in the Third World. In one of his Spiked-science articles from 2001, Gillott claims that the apparent scientific consensus on global warming is 'rigged through a media compliant to Environmentalists' extremism'

Gillott's preoccupation with opposing and attacking the environmental movement is also a marked feature of a book he co-authored with Manjit Kumar, who was once a prominent member of the Revolutionary Communist Party. In Science and the Retreat from Reason (Monthly Review Press, 1997) - first published in Britain by Merlin Press (1995) - Gillott and Kumar argue that progress requires the unfettered growth of science. This it sees as threatened by the irrationality of the environmental movement.

Despite being published by the Monthly Review Press, Gillott and Kumar's book attracted a review in their journal Monthly Review that contained some unusually scathing criticisms. In his review John Bellamy Foster argues that although the book advances a ' strong and in many ways brilliant defence of science and reason', in the end it 'turns, in my view, into the opposite.' The book, according to Bellamy Foster, takes on 'all the assumptions' of 'the current "brownlash" against environmentalism', ie the attempt to minimize the seriousness of environmental problems in order to fuel a backlash against environmentalism and 'green' policies.

Bellamy Foster is also highly critical of the authors' thesis, advanced particularly in the book's penultimate chapter, that environmentalists are 'the main contemporary enemies of science and reason'. He also notes the authors' 'naive willingness to accept all technology without question' - something which 'is evident throughout Science and the Retreat from Reason.'

The authors, he says, 'write as if the left is simply being irrational in being skeptical about the wisdom of obtaining "cheap electricity from atomic power" or the application of "genetic engineering" (p. 173) --as if these technologies did not raise quite horrific possibilities.' Gillott, by contrast, is no skeptic but a true believer, writing of 'an imperative to crack on with genetic engineering: it will help improve the human condition. Diseases will be cured, new drugs will be developed, and, in the distant future, we might want to make more fundamental changes to our genetic constitution.'

Bellamy Foster continues, 'Not ones to stop half-way in their criticisms, Gillott and Kumar go on to contend that all of those who believe that there are ecological limits to economic growth (even ecological limits to capital accumulation) have succumbed to "a mass psychosis about limits in nature" (p. 166). Such views, we are told, are anti-science and anti-reason. Yet the fact remains that they are held by many, probably most, scientists, and hence cannot simply be presented--as Gillott and Kumar are wont to do--as attacks on science from without...'

Bellamy Foster continues, 'Ultimately, it is not just environmentalists who come under attack in Gillott and Kumar's book but all of those, among scientists and philosophers, who have raised questions about the role of science in contemporary society. Thus among those who are supposed to have retreated from science and reason we find, astonishingly, such names as Robert Oppenheimer (because of his quote from the Bhagavad Gita--"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds"--when viewing the first atomic blast), Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead (pp. 22, 113, 197).'

Bellamy Foster concludes his review, 'It is difficult to understand, in fact, how a book that began with such a brilliant defense of science and reason, and indeed of realism, could lead in the end to such a state of unreason.'

Views

Writing for Living Marxism/LM (1989-2000)

As John Gibson (February 1989 - January 1994) Between February 1989 and January 1994 Gillott wrote for Living Marxism under his party name of John Gibson contributing 21 articles. The issues covered included: prospects in the former Soviet countries (3); an anti-environmentalist discourse (6); science under attack (3); genes and intelligence; in support of genetic engineering (2); the hypocrisy of Western nuclear weapons policy (2); war economy, and one book review.

As John Gillott (February 1994 - Summer 2000) Between February 1994 and the final issue of Living Marxism/LM in Summer 2000 Gillott wrote 21 articles and 2 commentaries using his own name. The issues covered included: animal rights vs human rights; science under attack (5); against the regulation of scientific research and access to new technologies (2); in support of genetic engineering (6); an anti-environmentalist discourse (8); the precautionary principle;

Environmentalists were often accused of Western imperialism:

The long-term needs of people in all areas of the world will be best served by implementing the most advanced technology across the board, and establishing the highest level of communication and cooperation necessary to use it....This long-term goal is negated by the thinking behind sustainable development, which is ultimately about limiting development by raising environmental concerns. The bottom line message of sustainable development is: things cannot change much, so accept your lot. So while 'appropriate' technology sounds fine in the World Bank/Oxfam brochure, on the ground in Africa it means more back-breaking work using limited, outdated technology

He also takes the line that in order to deal with climate change is more energy production:

Whatever measures are taken now to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, global warming is going to occur to some degree if the scientific models are correct. The accumulations of gases already released will see to that. One lesson we need to draw from history and the experience of the world today is this: if contemporary society is to face up to the challenges of global warming, there can be no place for conservationism. Indeed our environmental doommongers could help bring their own nightmares to life if some of their policy recommendations were acted upon. For underlying many of the calls from Greens to cut carbon dioxide emissions is the belief that global warming is a warning to reduce the scale of human production. This would only put us at the mercy of climatic extremes. What is needed is more of that kind of human activity, especially in the fields of science and technology, if we want to protect ourselves from the impositions of nature

Similarly any questions raised against the potential dangers of unregulated genetic engineering research were seen as anti-humanist, holding up the inevitable march to progress:

Commercialism is not the real target under attack; indeed the reaction to the role of the profit motive in biotechnology is out of all proportion to the real problems that commercialism currently causes in the field. Rather than joining in a phoney attack on profit-making, scientists would do better to illustrate the gains to be made for humanity from an instrumental and manipulative approach to nature. Making an uncompromising case for the oncomouse would be a good starting point...Commercial imperatives must be criticised for the right reasons. To join in with the anti-patenting lobby on the particular issue of the oncomouse would be to endorse what is at heart a regressive, anti-science, anti-humanist campaign. By contrast, upholding our right to develop tools like the oncomouse can be a useful step towards setting a human-centred agenda

Career Chronology

• February 1989 - Summer 2000 - Living Marxism/LM - Contributor/Writer
• June 1996/September 1996 -December 2005 - Genetic Interest Group (GIG) - Policy Officer
• June 1999 - December 2013 - BioNews - Contributor/Writer
• May 2001 - July 2010 - Spiked - Contributor/Writer
• 2004 - Genepool - Staff Member
• 2012 - Present - Innogen (ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Research on Innovation in Genomics), The Open University - Visiting Fellow

Educational Background

• 2012/2013 - Completed PhD

Other Links with the Network

Panel Appearances

2004

• Wednesday 17th March 2004 - John Gillott appeared with: Professor Lynn Frewer; Dr Phil Macnaghten; and Professor Roy Boyne, discussing 'Playing it safe: Science and the Risk Society', at the Great Debate at the Newcastle Science Festival.

2010

• Saturday 31st October 2009 - John Gillott appeared with: Dr Phillipa Brice (head, knowledge and communications, Foundation for Genomics and Population Health), Professor Peter Donnelly (director, Wellcome Trust, Centre for Human Genetics), Mark Henderson (head of communications, Wellcome Trust), Robin Walsh (co-founder, Sheffield Salon), discussing 'Genetics and genomics: medicine made to measure?', at the Battle of Ideas.

2012

• Sunday 21st October 2012 - John Gillott appeared with: Professor Marcus Pembrey, Marilyn Monk, and Sandy Starr, discussing 'Epigenetics: are you what your parents ate?' at the Battle of Ideas.

Publications

1980-1989

1989

• John Gibson, 'No nukes here?', Living Marxism, No. 4 - February 1989, p. 35.
• John Gibson, 'An ozone-free zone?', Living Marxism, No. 5 - March 1989, p. 36
• John Gibson, 'The war economy', Living Marxism, No. 6 - April 1989, p. 32.
• John Gibson & Manjit Singh, 'Silence of Despair', Living Marxism, No. 14 - December 1989, p. 34.

1990-1999

1990

• John Gibson, 'Eco-doom day book', Living Marxism, No. 17 - March 1990, p. 44.
• John Gibson and Manjit Singh, 'Let's conquer tomorrow's world', Living Marxism, No. 21 - July 1990, p. 32.
• Alan Harding, John Gibson, Manjit Singh, Daniel Nassim, Rob Knight, and Andrew Calcutt, 'Marxist Review of Books', Living Marxism, No. 21 - July 1990, p. 47-50.
• Thomas Fischer and John Gibson, 'A new Germany in the making', Living Marxism, No. 23 - September 1990, p. 36.

1991

• John Gibson, 'The Greens: eaten up', Living Marxism, No. 31 - May 1991, p. 15.
• John Gibson, 'Germany one year on', Living Marxism, No. 33 - July 1991, p. 18.
• John Gibson, 'The dangers of sustainable development', Living Marxism, No. 38 - December 1991, p. 22.

1992

• John Gibson and Manjit Singh, God and the Big Bang, Living Marxism, No. 44 - June 1992, p. 34.
• John Gibson and Manjit Singh, 'The scapegoating of science', Living Marxism, No. 48 - October 1992, p. 35.
• John Gibson, 'The Burt scandal', Living Marxism, No. 50 - December 1992, p. 34.

1993

• John Gibson, 'The real dangers of Jurassic Park', Living Marxism, No. 60 - October 1993, p. 24.
• John Gibson, 'Lots of pain, but no gain', Living Marxism, No. 61 - November 1993, p. 24-7.
• John Gibson, 'Environmental imperialism', Living Marxism, No. 62 - December 1993, p. 34.

1994

• John Gibson, 'North Korea: nuclear Gooks?', Living Marxism, No. 63 - January 1994, p. 24.
• John Gibson, 'Green patsies', Living Marxism, No. 63 - January 1994, p. 28.
• John Gillott, 'Progress: No man is a monkey', Living Marxism, No. 64 - February 1994, p. 16.
• John Gillott and Manjit Kumar, 'Progress: science fiction', Living Marxism, No. 65 - March 1994, p. 34.
• John Gillott, 'No controls on infertility treatment', Living Marxism, No. 66 - April 1994, p. 24.
• John Gillott, 'Progress: Designer genes', Living Marxism, No. 66 - April 1994, p. 32.
• John Gillott and Manjit Kumar, 'Futures: Over the moon?', Living Marxism, No. 69 - July 1994, p. 22.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: Too many people?', Living Marxism, No. 71 - September 1994, p. 34.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: A fear of science?', Living Marxism, No. 72 - October 1994, p. 34.
• John Gillot, 'Futures: Of mice and men', Living Marxism, No. 73 - November 1994, p. 34.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: Petrol pollution scam', Living Marxism, No. 74 - December 1994, p. 20.

1995

• John Gillott and Manjit Kumar Science and the Retreat from Reason, London : Merlin Press, 1995. ISBN 0850364515 (hbk.) : 0850364337 (pbk.)
• John Gillot and Manjit Kumar, 'Futures: Science and the Bomb', Living Marxism, No. 81 - July/August 1995, p. 52.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: The dangers of 'sustainable development', Living Marxism, No. 76 - February 1995, p. 34.
• John Gillott and Dominic Wood, 'Futures: Who's afraid of global warming?', Living Marxism, No. 78 - April 1995, p. 28.
• John Gillott and Nick Thwaites, 'Futures: Dump the Greenpeace platform', Living Marxism, No. 82 - September 1995, p. 34.

1996

• John Gillott, 'Futures: The spectre of eugenics', Living Marxism, No. 86 - January 1996, p. 34.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: Of oncomice and men', Living Marxism, No. 87 - February 1996, p. 34.
• John Gillott ‘Letter: Ship of Oil and Fools’ The Guardian (London) February 24, 1996 Byline: Section: The Guardian Features; Pg. 24.
• John Gillott, 'Oil Spills and Eco-doom Mongers - But is it really the 'environmental disaster' that many have claimed, asks John Gillott?’, Living Marxism Commentary, 22 February 1996.
• John Gillott, 'Futures Letter: Science loses its bottle’, The Independent (London), March 28 1996, Thursday SECTION: COMMENT; Page 18.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: Chernobyl fall-out', Living Marxism, No. 89 – April 1996, p. 34.
• John Gillott, 'Chernobyl as a metaphor for the 1990s - John Gillot explores how the dishonest discussion about delayed-action cancers are used to justify an anti-nuclear argument’, Living Marxism Commentary, 29 April 1996.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: Who's afraid of nature's revenge?', Living Marxism, No. 90 - May 1996, p. 28.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: Carry on the car', Living Marxism, No. 94 - October 1996, p. 34.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: New Food No Danger', Living Marxism, No. 96 - December/January 1996/7, p. 34.

1997

• John Gillott and Manjit Kumar Science and the Retreat from Reason, London : Merlin Press, 1995. ISBN 0850364515 (hbk.) : 0850364337 (pbk.) & Monthly Review Press, 1997.
• John Gillott, Sandy Raeburn and Alastair Kent, 'Genetic Services in the United Kingdom', Eur. J. Hum. Genet. 1997; 5 (suppl. 2): 188-195.
• John Gillott, 'GENE JUNCTION; John Gillott argues we've over-reacted to the decision that information from genetic tests will in future affect life insurance', The Guardian (London) February 20, 1997, FEATURES PAGE; Pg. 17.
• John Gillott, 'Cloning Update - John Gillot, who writes on scientific issues for LM magazine, is excited by the possibilities brought about by the onset of cloning but despairs at the hysterical reaction’, Living Marxism Commentary, 24 March 1997.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: Send in the clones', LM 99, p. 20, April 1997.
• John Gillott, 'Futures: Time for science to get on its soapbox', LM 100, p. 34, May 1997.
• John Gillott, 'Gene Patenting: piracy or progress? - John Gillott, co-author of Science and the Retreat from Reason, looks at the brouhaha surrounding gene patenting’, Living Marxism Commentary, 2 December 1997.

1998

• John Gillott, Jonathan Montgomery and Stewart Payne, 'Confidentiality Guidelines', Genetic Interest Group, 1998.
• John Gillott, 'Childhood testing for carrier status: the perspective of the Genetic Interest Group', in Clarke A. (ed.), The Genetic Testing of Children, Bios Scientific Publishers, 1998: pp. 97-102.

1999 John Gillott, 'We must allow therapeutic applications of cloning', BioNews, 28 June 1999.

2000-2009

2000

• John Gillott, 'Genetic engineering: a cautionary tale', LM 128 - March 2000, p. 18.
• John Gillott, 'National genetic screening programmes are needed', BioNews, 13 March 2000.
• John Gillott, 'Warning: precautionary principle ahead', p. 50, Last Magazine, Summer 2000.
• John Gillott, 'New technology, age-old discrimination', BioNews, 16 October 2000.

2001

• John Gillott, 'Screening for disability: a eugenic pursuit?', J. Med. Ethics, 2001, 27: pp. 21-23.
• John Gillott, 'Global warming - where's the consensus? The facts behind the politics', Spiked, 22 May 2001.
• John Gillott, 'The Skeptical Environmentalist John Gillott reviews the book that has landed like a bombshell on environmental debates', Spiked, Monday 10 September 2001.
• John Gillott, 'Phoney debate about cloning: The main problem is not the law, but the boo-word culture that surrounds the cloning issue', Spiked, 29 November 2001.

2003

• John Gillott, 'Genetics needs to go back in its box', BioNews, 2 May 2003.
• John Gillott, 'IVF babies: life chances. The birth of IVF ‘saviour sibling’ Jamie Whitaker in the USA should prompt the UK to re-think how it regulates fertility treatment', Spiked, Tuesday 24 June 2003.
• John Gillott, 'Putting genetics into practice', BioNews, 30 June 2003.

2006

• John Gillott, 'Reproductive rights - and wrongs?', BioNews, 13 February 2006.
• John Gillott, 'Human rights, privacy and medical research: analysing UK policy on tissue and data', BioNews, 22 May 2006.
• John Gillott, 'Stemming scientific endeavour. Research involving the transfer of a nucleus from a human cell into an animal cell is being stifled by religious and government officials', Spiked, Tuesday 21 November 2006.
• John Gillott, Human Rights, Privacy and Medical Research; analysing UK policy on tissue and data, Genetic Interest Group, 2006.

2007

• John Gillott, 'Who’s afraid of ‘Frankenbunnies’? Scientists should vigorously oppose the UK authorities' clampdown on research involving 'hybrid' embryos, Spiked, 8 January 2007.
• John Gillott, 'Keeping the research in an embryonic state For research using human embryos to move forward, and to reap benefits for humanity, scientists will have to break free of overregulation', Spiked, Wednesday 21 March 2007.
• John Gillott, 'Embryos, hybrid embryos and UK law', BioNews, 10 April 2007.
• John Gillott, 'PGD and the Human Tissue and Embryos (Draft) Bill', BioNews, 11 June 2007.

2008

• John Gillott, 'A permissive trend - and its limitations', BioNews, 12 May 2008.
• John Gillott, history of quantum weirdness Manjit Kumar’s new book charts the historic clash between Einstein and Bohr over quantum mechanics, and the science and philosophy that shaped their arguments', Spiked, Friday 24 October 2008.

2010-2019

2010

• John Gillott, 'The party poopers at Darwin’s 200th birthday. Following mainstream scientists’ celebration of Darwin’s big birthday last year, two new books argue that Darwin’s theory is not all it’s cracked up to be. Are they on to anything?', Spiked, Friday 26 March 2010.
• John Gillott, 'Choosing our children’s traits Should parents be free to create ‘saviour siblings’? To have boys and no girls? What about making sure their baby is deaf? A fascinating new book explores these modern moral dilemmas', Spiked, Friday 30 July 2010.

2011

• John Gillott, 'Regulators and embryologists aren't buddies', BioNews, 31 January 2011.

2013

• John Gillott, ‘The Changing Governance of Embryo Research?’, New Genetics and Society, 32 (2), pp. 190-206, 2013.
• John Gillott, 'After the tyranny of the embryo?', BioNews, 17 June 2013.
• John Gillott, 'Back to school - using genetics to personalise education', BioNews, 28 October 2013.
• John Gillott, 'Boris, Genes and Class', BioNews, 2 December 2013.
• John Gillott, 'Professor Plomin Goes to Parliament', BioNews, 16 December 2013.

2014

• John Gillott, 'Book Review: G is for Genes - The Impact of Genetics on Education and Achievement', BioNews, 17 February 2014.
• John Gillott, Bioscience, Governance and Politics, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 11 March 2014.

Affiliations

Genetic Interest Group

GenePool