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Where Will the Genetics Revolution Lead?
This century has seen astounding scientific and technological advancement. Developments
continue to amaze. But is all such advancement a good thing?
by Noel Hornor
July 20 of this year marks
the 30th anniversary of perhaps the most captivating moment in a century rich with
technological achievements. A few years ago U.S. News & World Report called
the first manned moon voyage "the signature of our century." With that
event mankind fulfilled a dream of decades. It seemed to many people at the time
we could accomplish almost anything.
In this amazing century one invention after another has altered forever the course
of history. Of all man has achieved, two developments seem to have brought about
more sweeping changes than any other. These are the automobile in the first half
of the century and the computer in the second.
If this century has given us future shock, the pace of change in the next century
will be even more dizzying. How fast is human knowledge advancing? "In the past
decade, more scientific knowledge has been created than in all of human history"
(Michio Kaku, Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century, 1998,
p. 4).
British journalist Paul Johnson adds: "We may think science moved fast in the
20th century, but we are going to be dazzled by its acceleration in the century to
come. And the rapid rise of the life sciences means that many of the changes it will
soon be in our power to make will be fundamental and irreversible" (The Daily
Mail (London), May 22).
Keep in mind, as Mr. Johnson implies, that the focus of technology has changed. Although
still prominent, the main focus of science is no longer on outer space. It is on
the inner space of the deoxyribonucleic-acid (DNA) molecule. Next century's frontier
is the science of biotechnology.
If scientists are correct in their projections, the futuristic wave of genetics will
present us with fascinating possibilities--and perplexing choices.
Genetic Engineering Already Here
For centuries mankind has manipulated genetics to ensure the passing on and strengthening
of desirable traits in animals and plants. Humanity has seen many benefits from understanding
and properly using genetics. Animals have been bred to be stronger, more hardy, to
produce more wool, milk or meat. Strains of wheat, corn and rice have been created
that produce more food while needing less fertilizer and water. Fast-growing trees
provide more lumber, pulp, fuel and shade. Even flowers are bigger, more colorful,
more beautiful than they would be otherwise.
But, since scientists began unlocking the secrets of DNA in the 1950s, genetic manipulation
has taken new meaning. Researchers have discovered ways to change the inherited shape,
form and function of living things by altering their genetic material. This process
is known as genetic engineering.
All living cells--plant, animal and human--contain the genetic material DNA, which
determines the attributes of the offspring of all living things. By directly manipulating
that material, scientists can change inherited characteristics in predetermined ways.
Such manipulation of genetic material is a reality. Your world has probably already
been affected by it. Many food products have been genetically altered. Tomatoes have
been genetically manipulated to have a longer shelf life. Rice strains have been
engineered to be disease-resistant. Genes of fish have been placed into potatoes
and strawberries to make these plants more resistant to cold weather.
Not all of these products are in commercial production yet, but work continues. Even
so, a considerable amount of processed foods sold in Britain has in some way been
genetically modified.
Scientists have also tinkered with livestock. Cows have been injected with growth
hormones to increase their milk production. Attempts are underway to engineer sheep
that produce a chemical in their skin that will provide immunity to insect parasites.
Researchers are attempting to develop herpes-proof pigs. These projects are only
the tip of the iceberg.
Genetic Engineering: Good or Bad?
Not everyone views such tinkering as positive scientific advancement. Some, particularly
in Europe, skeptically view it as an assault on nature. "If something goes wrong,
how can it be put right? The truth is, nobody knows . . . And like some
drug complications, ecological side-effects may take years to appear" (The
Economist, June 13, 1998).
Some engineering of plants involves the use of virus particles. One concern is that
this could result in the unintentional creation of viruses harmful to existing crops.
Another concern is that, in the efforts to design plants that produce toxic chemicals
that ward off their natural pests, chemicals might result that poison native animals
or beneficial insects. The inadvertent production of allergens in foods is another
concern.
Proponents of genetic engineering believe these risks are justified because of the
potential that such research offers to lessen the effects of food shortages and malnutrition.
If genetic manipulation of plants and animals causes concern, it is nothing compared
to the concern in some quarters about genetic engineering in humans.
The Human Genome Project
The seminal event for the science of genetic engineering occurred in 1953 when
James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of the DNA molecule. If this
were the birth of modern genetics, many scientists believe the Human Genome Project
(HGP) is its industrial revolution.
The HGP is a global scientific project. Its director is an American, Francis Collins
of the National Institute of Health (NIH). He calls it "the most important scientific
project mankind has ever mounted."
The purpose of the project is to make a "map" of the approximately 100,000
human genes on the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the cells of our bodies. "Once
it is completed, we will have an 'owner's manual' for a human being" (Kaku,
p. 143).
The implications of such research are far-reaching. The original target date for
completion of the project was 2005. The expectation is that it will be completed
before that time, perhaps as early as the end of 2001. In running not only ahead
of schedule but under budget, it is unusual among government projects. The rapid
progress is attributable in large part to the prodigious information-processing power
of the computer.
By unlocking the genetic code of life, scientists believe they may eventually have
at their fingertips the power to heal diseases, create new species, fashion "designer
children" and perhaps move closer to grasping the Holy Grail of immortality
by reversing the aging process.
A New Era in Medicine
Many diseases are influenced, at least in part, by genetic factors. Through the
HGP, genes that are linked with various cancers, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes
have been pinpointed. Through such progress, geneticists hope to discover new ways
to fight disease. Some believe it will be possible in a few years to develop custom-made
drugs for the best fit to an individual's body chemistry.
These possibilities excite scientists. Not only will this new knowledge deliver the
potential to treat diseases, it will bring the possibility of preventing the
diseases in the first place.
But, with the possibility of obtaining a readout of our individual genetic makeup,
we may be presented with a Pandora's box of choices.
Genetic testing and screening could arm parents or prospective parents with the foreknowledge
that they have the potential to beget a child with a serious physical impairment.
As more disease-causing genes are identified, this will present painful choices,
such as whether to abort or deliver an unborn child. Some parental carriers of the
gene for cystic fibrosis have already faced this dilemma when they identified the
disease in their developing fetus.
Genetic blueprinting will beget a host of privacy concerns. Will governments at some
point mandate genetic testing for couples seeking to get married? This is sure to
raise serious concern about the prospect of government intervention. Would governments
pressure pregnant women who are carrying defective fetuses to submit to abortions?
Governments might conceivably do this out of concern over the financial burdens placed
on their health-care systems by children with incurable lifelong afflictions requiring
expensive care.
Design Your Own Child
If gene-manipulation procedures sufficiently improve to yield predictable results,
what will happen then? Some believe it may be possible to design a dream child with
the characteristics the parents desire in their offspring. Parents might be able
to plan a customized child who is genetically disposed to be physically attractive,
of superior intelligence or athletically talented.
On the other end of the spectrum, if certain genetic traits are associated with physical
violence, totalitarian societies might move to counter with this by targeting those
who are considered apt to commit or have committed felonious acts. These concerns
may seem far-fetched to some, but they should not be dismissed, given that attempts
at ethnic cleansing have been a sad reality in several regions in recent years.
Is It Right or Wrong?
Is there such a thing as right or wrong in these matters? Does genetic engineering
or cloning have anything to do with God? Many in the field of science do not believe
in God, so to them it is a nonissue. But those who believe God exists need to address
the matter of what He may think.
After God created life on earth--plants and animals--He proclaimed it all to be very
good (Genesis 1:31). God also declared that sanctity exists between species. Everything,
including plants (Genesis 1:11-12), animals and man (Genesis 1:24-28), was created
to reproduce "according to its kind." In Genesis, "kind" is generally
equivalent to a species.
Genetic engineering is an attempt to improve on what God made. God designed into
every species considerable genetic diversity and potential, which is why we see hundreds
of different breeds of dogs, cats, birds and cows, along with billions of people,
all different. As noted earlier, humans for centuries have used this diversity to
produce stronger, more productive, more beneficial plants and animals.
But could taking genetic engineering a quantum leap forward produce unforeseen problems?
"Researchers in the field of molecular biology are arguing that there is nothing
particularly sacred about the concept of species" (Michael J. Reiss and Roger
Straughan, Improving Nature? The Science and Ethics of Genetic Engineering,
1996, p. 64). In reality, such genetic engineering amounts to tampering with God's
creation. Those who call for caution are wise in having and voicing concerns. "No
new scientific or technological development can claim immunity from ethical scrutiny"
(Reiss and Straughan, p. 6).
In addition to protecting individual species, we should also be concerned about the
environment in a larger sense. Just because we can do certain things technologically
does not mean we can do them safely.
At one time nuclear power plants seemed like a brilliant idea, but a string of nuclear-power-plant
disasters has dimmed their luster. Decades ago nations embarked on a binge of building
nuclear facilities without adequately thinking through long-term storage solutions
for radioactive wastes. Humanity has a long history of short-sightedness when it
comes to considering the possible consequences of our actions. The potential for
ecological damage to other plants and animals from genetic engineering should raise
warning flags.
Genetic Tinkering Gone Awry
A case in point is a United States experiment in which pigs were given a human
growth hormone gene in hopes they would put on weight faster. They put on weight
but were also partially blind and arthritic and developed ulcers. Is this the way
God wants us to manage His creation?
Among the dangers we face with plants is that an altered plant might bring unforeseen
consequences to the environment. Researchers recently found that one variety of genetically
engineered corn produced pollen that was toxic to monarch butterflies. Others raise
the concern that manipulated plants could become "weeds" with no useful
purpose and the potential to run amok. Man has often introduced animals or plants
to areas in which they were not indigenous, only to see them become a major nuisance
harmful to other species in the area and impossible to eradicate.
The bottom line is that man's attempts to improve on God's handiwork canñand do--sometimes
backfire.
Genetic engineering of humans and cloning is an area where man should tread with
a special awe. Evolutionists believe man is simply the highest life form. With knowledge
of genetics, some are tempted to look at man simply as so much genetic material to
be manipulated in an attempt to improve the human species. The truth is that God
designed man to be the highest form of physical life--made in the very image of God--and
with the wondrous potential of becoming a part of His family. (To better understand
this astounding truth, please request our free booklet, What Is Your Destiny?)
Misplaced Priorities
The desire to alleviate human suffering through genetic engineering may spring
from good intentions, but we should consider why sickness and disease exist. One
of the reasons, simply put, is sin and abuse of our bodies. The health costs from
alcohol abuse, illegal drug use, smoking, sexually transmitted diseases and improper
diet, not to mention crime and violence as a means to solving problems, is staggering.
The problem that man most needs to address--but that we frequently ignore--is the
need to change our nature rather than trying to improve on the physical design of
mankind.
As with many other contemporary issues, some will use the issue of freedom as a trump
card to get their way. Some cloning advocates speak of "human procreative liberty."
Do we have a right to clone that outweighs other ethical considerations?
Are we, without adequately considering the consequences, tampering with the society's
building block, the family? "Whether or not we know it, the severing of procreation
from sex, love and intimacy is inherently dehumanizing, no matter how good the product"
(Flesh Of My Flesh, Ethics of Cloning Humans, Gregory E. Pence, ed., 1998,
p. 26).
In God's plan, children should come into the world in a stable home environment founded
on a committed marriage between a man and woman (Genesis 2:24). At one time this
was the cultural norm in most nations. This standard has been shattered in recent
decades by a series of cultural earthquakes and repeated assaults on the family.
Manufacturing children by cloning could prove to be another step in the further disintegration
of the family.
Where will all this lead?
As humanity approaches the 21st century, with an incredible arsenal of technology
in our possession, we will be wise to consider what can happen to a civilization
that is infatuated with its own wisdom and rejects the knowledge of God.
The world in the days before the flood of Noah had rejected God's ways. "Then
the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). The result
of living that way was destruction. We would do well to heed the lesson of what can
happen to a society that rejects the knowledge of God.
One of the gravest dangers of our modern, technologically advanced society is the
power we have created to destroy all human life. Man has possessed this frightening
potential for some time--since harnessing the power of the atom to create enough
nightmarish nuclear weapons to eliminate all life on earth many times over.
In the wrong hands, biotechnology can be a grave danger. Germ weapons could be used
by rogue nations or terrorist groups, or even by misguided individuals, to devastate
entire countries. Karl Johnson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
in Atlanta expressed this very concern: "Any crackpot with a few thousand dollars'
worth of equipment and a college biology education under his belt could manufacture
bugs that would make Ebola look like a walk around the park" (Kaku, p. 258).
Jesus Christ prophesied a time when the survival of human life would be jeopardized.
"It will be a time of great distress, such as there has never been before since
the beginning of the world, and will never be again," He warns. "If that
time of troubles were no cut short, no living thing could survive . . ."
(Matthew 24:21-22, Revised English Bible).
As we move rapidly down the pathway of scientific progress, mankind moves closer
to the very moment Jesus predicted. When that time comes, we will discover that the
god of technology will not be able save us. Our deliverance will come from God alone.
Sidebar: Send in the Clones
Except for some simpler life forms, nature's method of reproduction is the union
of male and female. Cloning is a means of producing offspring without this formality.
Cloning does not, as some may think, present the possibility of producing offspring
in a test tube. It requires that a cloned cell be implanted in the womb of
a female of the species.
What about the ethics of human cloning? Some believe it is a needed and beneficial
step. Others are appalled that anyone would even consider cloning another person,
producing a human being by replication rather than reproduction. A cloned child would
have only one parent, who in a sense would be genetically like an identical twin,
though much younger. This lively debate is sure to intensify as experiments in cloning
continue.
British biologist J.B.S. Haldane was among the first to use the term cloning,
in 1963, when he foresaw cloning of human beings as an imminent probability.
In spite of Haldane's optimism, little scientific evidence surfaced during those
years that human cloning would ever succeed. Plants were easily cloned, but cloning
mammals was elusive, particularly the idea of developing a complete organism from
an adult body cell. Though the entire DNA is present in an adult cell, the great
challenge is to coax the material into reverting to the embryonic state so that all
of the differentiated body tissues--muscle, bone, nerve cells and so on--can be produced.
In 1996 scientists were stunned by the news that Scotsman Ian Helmut fused the cell
nucleus from the udder of an adult sheep with an egg structure taken from another
sheep and implanted the altered egg into the uterus of a third sheep. The result
was Dolly, an apparently normal sheep, cloned from an adult cell. Dolly was born
July 5, 1996.
The implications of this development are profound in that it indicates that what
J.B.S. Haldane anticipated is now possible. Lee Silver, a molecular biologist at
Princeton University, observed that "genetic engineering of human beings is
now really on the horizon" (Gina Kolata, Clone, The Road to Dolly and the
Path Ahead, 1998, p. 233).
Though nations have enacted legislation outlawing human cloning, the issue will not
go away. There will be pressures to develop and perfect the process. Among these
is what is called the "technological imperative," the idea that it is wrong
to artificially impede scientific progress.
Economic pressures may arise also. Because many couples experience difficulty in
conceiving children, fertility clinics have become a fixture in our world. We can
expect the fertility industry to push for legalization of human cloning procedures.
Even if it is not legalized, the possibility exists of the development of an underground
cloning industry.
Many geneticists, doctors and political leaders agree that human cloning should not
be attempted at this time. It is a science in the developmental stage. Production
of genetically damaged offspring is a distinct possibility.
Others, however, believe it is only a matter of time before the technique is improved
and accepted. "Most . . . fertility experts, asked if humans will
one day be cloned, replied, 'Of course.' " And as for the propriety or impropriety
of reproduction without sex, one doctor said, "In my opinion, it is all nonsense
whether it is sexual or asexual . . . The whole argument is sort of silly--so
what? People will agree with me in fifty years" (Kolata, p. 247).
God created sex in human beings for several reasons. One is reproduction (Genesis 1:28). The whole created order shows that God is a believer in variety, else why
are there so many varieties in so many species? Why the different races? Our Creator
doesn't want His children to be yellow pencils. The apostle Paul told us the Church,
although it is one body, is composed of many members. He likened them to the members
of the physical human body, each serving a different function (1Corinthians 12).
Vive la difference!
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Keywords: genetics genetic engineering cloning DNA human genome
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