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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 1993)
OPINION Genetic engineering: Stop the race for perfection Maries Meland Many years from now. the world will be a lus ter place to live. People will be happier, healthier, more intelligent and better-looking. They will lend more meaning ful. more active, longer-lasting lives. Aggressive traits will have been removed from the human species, resulting in lower crime rates and the abandonment of wars as a means of solving a con flict. People will be programmed to be faithful and monogamous. There will be fewer divorces, fewer sex crimes and fewer instances of sexual harassment. Most diseases, such as cancer. AIDS and multiple sclerosis, will have l>eun cured, and no children will be born with brain damage or physical disabilities Everyone will be tolerant and open-minded. Racism, sexism and bigotry, some of the most destructive human characteris tics in the past, will be unheard of in this brand New World. Sounds too good to be true? Admittedly, this scenario does not seem plausible today But with the rapid development in human genetics and genetic tech nology. the things that seemed an ini{>ossibilitv yesterday area pos sibility today and will bee ome a reality tomorrow Al Gore, chairman of the Con gressional Committee on Science and Tec h no logy in 198S. wrote that "biotei hnology has more potential to reshape the world than any other technology except nuclear power " "Biology is destinySigmund Freud once sriid. In the future, we will change our biology to take control of our destiny Today, we're using genetics to cure human diseases Tomorrow, wo might use it to cure the human condition. With today's level of lei hnot ogv it's possible to alter the genet ic material in a single i ell or a group of cells This tei hnologv. called gene therapy, has changed the face of modern medicine and opened up a world of previous ly inconceivable advances Just recently. scientists hove begun to use gene therapy to treat genet ic diseases. (Changing the genes in the body cells is called somatic, gene ther apy. This technology is, in itself, generally accepted today. In many ways, it's just an extension of modern medicine. Many of today's worst killers, such as AIDS and c nnu'r. tnnv lie cured by gene therapy in the future. Although most people think this tec hnologv is intrinsii ally m i eptable. many think that some of its applications are not. For instance, it may not he easy to distinguish between genetic treat ment and genetic enham ement To understand this distinction, we must have a clear and prec is*? definition of what a disease is. Hut who can say exac tly what a disease is? Attorney Jeremy Kifkiti, one of the most vocal crit ic s of genetic engineering, sav s. "Whore do we draw the line7 We ll want to eliminate lay Sac hs disease, an early childhood killer Heart disease i an kill you at 20. emphysema at HO and Alzheimer’s at 70 How about ni ne7 At what point do we move front try ing to cure horrible genet ic diseases to try ing to enhance a genetic trait7" Kifkm believes the ultimate goal of si ientific pursuit is per fection and immortality He thinks there is n fine line that sep arates modern genetic: engineer ing from the eugenic movement of the past Kifkin says the pos sible consequences of human gene therapy i onstilutu "the most impressive social problem the human family has ever had to deal with, excepting the dropping of a nuc lear bomb.” If the prospective of somatic: gene therapy doesn't scare you. germ-line gene therapy will. While somnlk gone therapy ( hnnges th<; genetic compound of (lit! body rolls, germ-line gone ihorapv changes iho sev t oils In other words, germ-line gene ther apv moans altering Iho human hereditary material. That moans, to pul H simply, that germ-line gone therapy will allow st it'niists to cure tlisoases before their patients are born even before they're conceived liy using germ-lino gene Ihorapv. wo can moke sure that all babies are Iwrn strong and healths Hut if wo can’t define "disease" properly, strong and healthy" is an ambiguous term Perhaps we can agree that loukomia. cam or, AIDS, physical disabilities and brain damage are undesirable dis eases that should be eradicated before birth Hut where do wo draw the line? How about inferi or intelligence, an unattractive appearance, an unusually short or tall stature, a laxly with a high fat content? It the technology becomes available, and it probably will, these are questions that we will have to deal with, hi the future, it may he possible fur US to cre ate a Brand New World stit h as the one outlined above The quo-, lion is Do we really want it' Do we really want to lie perfect? bthii s and science don't always go hand in hand. Knowl edge is, I suppose, intrinsii ally neither good nor had. hut the application of knowledge can txi disastrous, lust think of nuclear tis hnology It's a great idea, hut an abuse of this knowledge could havo monstrous consequences In tlm case of nuclear tw hnol* ogv. the development occurred so fast that nobody except tho s< i ontists know what was happen ing It was wnrtiiuo. and puoplo didn't have limit to think of tho otiiu al consequences of tho dovolopmont of a now technnl ogv When the atom hoinhs wore dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August I'Hi, many people didn't oven know what an atom homb was. and nobody — not oven its creators were aware of the full extent of its destructive power. In the < axe of genetics, we have a chance to outline the ethical guidelines for this technology as it is lieing developed, ('.one tech nology is still in an early stage of its development, and although some of its technic al ospei Is are incomprehensible lor lay people, it's still possible to have a basic understanding of the field It 's important that we don't let genetics become the sole prop erty of sc ientists Genetics is going to i liange our lives; in fai t, it may change tIn* meaning of being human And everyone should lie able to take part in the dec isions that yvill shape human history in the years to come Marins Mrlutul is a columnist for the Emerald 16*102 eadline Afplit Matlnloili Color Cloak * -480, Built in 10“ Color Monitor aid AppU hryirxirJ II The Macintosh* Color Classic* It offers a bright, sharp Sony Trinitron' display. It s compact enough to fit on any desk And right now, tins already affordable model is available at an unheard-of price. 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