Treaty of New Iowa

From Acw

Treaty signed by all major powers in 2199 banning all custom-built genetic code. It was signed as a response to an increasing number of genetic accidents that caused wide spread suffering. The most notorious of these was the Neuostland Pandemic of 2195, in which a new super-crop grown on Neuostland and exported to both New Iowa and New Ukraine was found to be producing a mutagenic bacteria.

Massive population losses occurred before a counteragent was developed and released by GDL. Rumours of preventative culls across Neuostland and New Ukraine are still whispered about. But even before the Neuostland Pandemic, cases of mutations, cancer clusters, total crop failure, rogue mutant species escaping into the wilderness and spontaneous psychosis were being dealt with by all the major powers. Cases of note include the spontaneous failure of Argus Corp's line of enhanced eyes in 2191 (UISA), the psychotic episode experienced by the USSR's ambassador to the UISA in 2192, and the Deimos Famine of 2194 (SBE).

The Treaty was initially proposed by the UISA president Johnathon A. Schwarzenegger in 2196, but its initial form was considered too restrictive by the SBE and Grossdeutschland; and several iterations of amendments were necessary before all major powers would sign off on it. President Schwarzenegger used the historic signing to pave the way for his second term in office.

Importantly, the Treaty does not prevent the use of other forms of Eugenics, but most research in the field has concluded that such programs do not result in statistically significant gains. Despite this, the SS of the GDL still continues to use Eugenics to gnerate new members.

See also: Cybernetics and Genetic Engineering