"Switzerland will forever be privileged in having reached new 'Himalayan heights' in stupidity.” declared Rael, leader of the Raelian Movement, after reading Alison Abbott’s article published in the April 23rd edition of Nature regarding the Swiss ethics-committee guidelines that allegedly preserves the dignity of plants.

As unbelievable as it may sound, the Swiss federal government's ethics committee on non-human biotechnology has mapped out guidelines to help granting agencies decide which research applications deeply offend the dignity of plants. All plant biotechnology grant applications must therefore include a paragraph explaining the extent to which plant dignity is considered.

“After the Swiss banks' decades of harboring and investing money that was stolen from the Jews by the Nazis; after their terrible discrimination against religious minorities, and a court acquitting a public bar that had refused to serve a drink to a customer only because he was Raelian, Switzerland now reaches Guinness book record levels with this law about plant dignity.”

According to Abbot, the committee said that genetic modification which caused plants to 'lose their independence' would be rejected, especially when interfering with their capacity to reproduce.

Rael commented: “Is it not disrespecting the dignity of grape vines to spray them continuously with toxic chemicals, or use only cloned vines, in order to produce wine? If so, it should be the end of Swiss wines.”