>From MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.com/local/wnbc/196194.asp
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Designer genes Part I: Genetic dream or nightmare?
Cold Spring Harbor, NY, Nov. 22 - Increasingly, geneticists claim that
a world where human hunger and disease can be genetically controlled and
manipulated to improve the quality of life is not a dream but a reality.
But could tampering with the basic building blocks of life backfire and
turn a dream world into a nightmare?
Cold Spring Harbor is a quaint village on the north shore of Long Island that could be to genetic engineering what Los Alamos was to the atom bomb. Scientists at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory are experimenting with DNA. Their research involves a simple crop plant called an arabidopsis. Plant geneticist Rob Martienssen and his colleagues could change life as we know it through their work.
“We are deciphering the genetic code that allows a plant to be what it is,” said Martienssen. He added, “We want to be able to make crops that survive in extreme conditions – crops that will produce more, crops that can be grown further north, for example.”
In theory, genetically engineered plants could feed more people and reduce the damage farming does to the environment. But theologians already are arguing that the technology to feed the world could also have unintended consequences.
Monsignor William Smith of St. Joseph’s seminary is one member of the clergy who questioned what geneticists could bring about through their research.
“I remember when I was a kid collecting stamps, there was a stamp for
nuclear power and everyone was applauding it. And now we have nuclear
waste and no one knows what to do with it. The so-called Doctrine of Unanticipated
Consequences almost constantly comes back to haunt us,”
said Smith.
It’s one thing to talk about altering plant genes, but the stakes change dramatically when scientists start altering the genes of animals and humans.
Part of the genetic work currently being done involves genetically altered goats. The result of that effort is goats that can produce therapeutic proteins for human use in their milk.
The complicated process begins with a goat’s embryo being microinjected with human DNA. Then they are surgically implanted back into surrogate mothers, and five months later the baby goats are born.
After a year, the female goats begin to produce milk. According to Harry Meade, vice president of Genzyme Transgenics, the result looks very much like a normal dairy farm operation.
“A goat makes between 500 and 800 liters per year. So at the end of the year, we’ve actually had goats produce 6 kilograms of this protein in their milk,” said Meade.
The protein can then be used to make drugs that can combat a variety of diseases, such as breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and malaria.
Other transgenic facilities already have taken the process one step further – they are creating transgenic animals for the purpose of human organ replacement. While there is no question that it already has revolutionized transplant technology, the ethical issues involved are much less clear.
According to animal rights activist Michael McGraw, “When we’re talking
about zenotransplantation, it brings to mind a sort of Frankenstein mentality.”
Author Robin Cook explored this subject in his novel
Chromosome 6, a cautionary tale of science run amok.
According to Cook, “How many human genes do we want to put into animals, and if we do, what does that mean? Is it still an animal? Is it human? Is it somewhere in between? Does it have any rights it didn’t have before?”
The ethics of genetic engineering could become even more of a dilemma when scientists begin altering human genes.
What if parents had the ability to choose their children’s eye color, height, gender and intelligence level before birth?
dan@southeast.net
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