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12, 1997 • T he P or i la n d O bserve
Don’t worry: a brain still can’t be cloned
Explorers returning from distant
lands tell o f aborigines so afraid o f
cameras that they recoil from the
sight o f a lens as i f they were look ing
down the barrel o f a gun. Taking
their picture, they fear, is the same
as stealing their soul.
You might as well just shoot
them dead on the spot. Knowing
that a photograph is only skin deep,
people in the developed lands find
such terror absurd. But the fear that
one’s very identity might be stolen,
that one could cease to be an indi
vidual, runs deep even in places
where cameras seem benign.
The queasiness many people feel
over the news last week that a scien
tist in Scotland has made a carbon
copy o f a sheep comes down to this,
if a cell can be taken from a human
being and used to create a geneti
cally identical double, then any o f us
could lose our uniqueness. O ne
would no longer be a self.
There are plenty o f other rea
sons to worry about this new divide
the biologists have trampled across.
Nightmare o f the week goes to those
who imagine docile flocks o f en-
slaved clones raised for body parts.
But the most fundamental fear
is that the soul will be taken by this
penetrating new photography called
cloning And here, at least, the no
tion is just as superstitious as the
aborigines’. There is one part o f life
biotechnology will never touch.
While it is possible to clone a body,
it is impossible to clone a brain.
That each cceature from microbe
to man is unique in all the world is
amazing when you consider that
every life form is assembled from
the same identical building blocks.
Every electron in the universe is
indistinguishable, by definition.
You can’t tell one from the other
by exam in in g it for nicks and
scratches All protons and all neu
trons are also precisely the same.
And when you put these three
kinds o f particles together to make
atoms, there is still no individuality.
Every carbon atom and every hydro
gen atom is the same. When atoms are
strung together into complex mol
ecules — the enzymes and other pro
teins — this uniformity begins to
break down Minor variations occur.
But it is at the next step up the
ladder that something strange and
wonderful happens. There are so
many ways molecules can be com
bined into the complex little ma
chines called cells that no two o f
them can be exactly alike.
Even cloned cells, with identi
cal sets o f genes, vary somewhat in
shape or coloration. The variations
are so subtle they can usually be
ignored. But when cells are com
bined to form organisms, the differ
ences becom e overw helm ing. A
threshold is crossed and individual
ity is born.
Two genetically identical twins
insidea womb will unfold in slightly
different ways. The shape o f the
kidneys or the curve o f the skull
w on’t be quite the same. The differ
ences are small enough that an or
gan from one twin can probably be
transplanted into the other. But with
the organs called brains the differ
ences become profound.
All a body’s tissues - bone,
skin, muscle, and so forth — are
made by taking the same kind o f cell
and repeating it over and over again.
But with brain tissue there is no such
monotony.
The precise layout o f the cells,
which neuron is connected to which,
makes all the difference Linked one
with the other, through the junc
tions called synapses, neurons form
the whorls o f circuitry whose twists
and turns make us who we are.
In the reigning metaphor, the
genome, the coils o f DNA that carry
the genetic inform ation, can be
thought ofas a computer directing the
assemblyoftheembryo Back-of-the-
envelope calculations show how much
information a human genome con
tains and how much information is
required to specify the trillions of
connections in a single brain.
I he conclusion is inescapable:
the problem o f wiring up a brain is
so complex that it is beyond the
power ot the genomic computer.
The best the genes can do is indi
cate the rough layout of the wiring,
the general shape o f the brain. Neu
rons, in this early stage, are thrown
together more or less at random and
then left to their own devices.
After birth, experience makes
Tricked On To Heroin
and breaks connections, pruning the
Once the twins left the room, the
thicket into precise circuitry. From
differences between them would in
the very beginning, w hat’s in the
crease
genes is different from w hat’s in the
Send one twin around the block
brain. And the gu lf continues to
clockwise and the other counter
widen as the brain matures
clockwise and they would return with
The genes still exert their influ
more divergent brains. For artificial
ence — some o f the brain’s circuitry
clones the variations would accu
is hardwired from the start and im
mulate even faster, for they wou Id be
mutable People don’t have to learn
born years apart, into different
to want food or sex. But as the new
worlds.
connections form, the mind floating
Photography is only skin deep.
higher and higher above the genetic
Cloning is only gene deep. But what
machinery like a helium balloon,
about the ultimate cloning — copy
people learn to circumvent the baser
ing synapse by synapse a human
instincts in individual ways.
brain?
Even genetically identical twins,
If such a technological feat were
natural clones, are born with differ
ever possible, for one brief instant
ent neural tangles. Subtle variations
we might have two identical minds.
in the way the connections were
But then su p p o se neu ro n No.
originally slapped together might
20478288 were to fire randomly in
make one twin particularly fasci
brain I and not in brain 2. The tiny
nated by twinkling lights, the other
spasm would set off a cascade that
drawn to certain patterns o f sounds
reshaped some circuitry, and there
Even if the twins were kept in
would be two individuals again.
the same room for days, these natu
We each carry in our heads com
ral predilections would drive them
plexity beyond imagining and be
each in different directions. Experi
yond duplication. Even a hard-core
ence, pouring in through the senses,
materialist might agree that, in that
would cause unique circuitry to form
sense, everyone has a soul.
i
s
M
Americans are turning to heroin
drink alcohol and smoke pot on a
after having become addicted.
greater profits.
in alarming numbers all due to some
pretty regular basis. After a while
You may have noticed an inter
The quickest and most dangerous
very brilliant marketing strategies
the high I got from marijuana w asn’t
esting pattern o f use in Eric. The
drug
route is injecting a drug in a
o f the drug cartels. What is this
enough and I started taking LSD
back and forth that can often be seen
blood
vessel as the results are in
strategy? Get heroin on to the streets
and eventually cocaine. The cocaine
in the use o f stimulant and sedative
stant.
Once
an overdose, too much o f
in concentrations strong enough to
began to make me very jittery and
type drugs, following addiction to
a
drug,
is
injected,
there is rarely any
snort (sniff) or smoke so that inject
paranoid and this bothered me. My
the gateway drugs. For example, the
turning
back.
The
effects o f smok
ing heroin is not necessary to expe
cocaine connection also sold heroin
stimulation o f methamphetamines
ing
a
drug
also
occurs
very rapidly
rience its alluring effects. Street
and asked me if I wanted to try it. At
is solved by sedation with alcohol,
through
absorption
o
f
the
drug via
heroin has become available in much
first I said "no”, but a couple o f days
GHB, Rohypnol, and other downers.
the
lungtissuedirectly
into
the
blood
stronger concentrations o f 60 to 70
later I tried heroin for the first time
Stimulation with cocaine and then
stream,
bypassing
the
digestive
sys
percent pure or higher, making the
by sniffing it. This was the begin
sedation with heroin. Or stimula
tem
altogether.
While
the
majority
snorting and smoking of heroin pos
ning o f the end for me. I got so high
tion with LSD, ecstasy or herbal
o f the drug-using population is not
sible.
the first time I did it I vomited for a
ecstasy, and sedation with alcohol,
willing
to use drugs intravenously,
In the past heroin was diluted to
couple o f hours and passed out. I
heroin or other sedative. This use o f
they
are
willing to smoke or snort a
as little as 5% o f less for the purpose
H o no rs
loved how it made me feel so I did it
A N D
uppers
then
downers
can
often
be
drug.
In
the case o f heroin, they
o f increasing the profits made by
again, and again, and again. Before
combined, sometimes with deadly
N C O U R A G E S
D iv e r s i T Y
usually begin to inject the drug once
drug dealers and heroin was almost
I knew it I was spending about $ 100
results Remember the famous ex
addiction
occurs.
always used intravenously. Smok
a day sniffing heroin.
ample ot "speedball” use (heroin
Even though "crack” or “ ice,"
ing or snorting heroin was not very
‘I told m yselfl would never shoot
K aiser P erm a n e n te is e n ric h e d by the c o n trib u tio n s of
and cocaine injected at the same
and “Persian heroin” are just differ
effective and rarely done, as the drug
(inject) heroin because I didn’t like
time) by John Belushi that killed
ent forms o f cocaine, metham phet
issoexpensive. With today’s heroin,
individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds. We’re enhancing our
needles. My fear soon gave way be
him. This may have been behind the
amines and heroin, the effects o f
smoking and snorting it has become
cause I w asn’t getting as high snort
death o f River Phoenix too.
workforce to better reflect the people we serve.
these drugs when smoked are som e
popular and even chic in the club
ing heroin. The first time I popped
The ingestion o f drugs takes place
what different.
scene.
(injected) two packets I went out for
in several ways. There is the drink
Apply at our Employement Office, 500 NE Multnomah St., (use first
The coating o f poisonous drugs
We are now seeing the social bar
about ten minutes. I woke up with
ing or swallowing o f liquids, pow
on the delicate tissues o f the lungs
riers o f the user o f heroin come
my friend giving me mouth to mouth
Floor, Grand Avenue entrance) Portland, OR 97232. Or, call (503) 813-4700.
ders. and pills. There is the.snifflng
cannot be positive. How much dam
down, even though there is no drug
resuscitation and a bunch o f girls I
of powders and vapors, as in the case
age occurs is not fully known. You
with a more sinister reputation than
Before being considered as an applicant, candidates are required to
knew were around me crying. At
o f inhalants such as glue, paint,
are
also at greater risk o f overdosing
heroin. Youth are more willing to
first I didn t know what was going
paint thinner, gasoline, and other
complete an on-line application. On-line apps accepted M-F, 8a - 3:30p.
from smoking these three drugs.
snort or smoke this drug.
on but when my friends told me I had
industrial poisons. Drugs can be in
Only injecting them would be more
In the United States there are an
turned blue and w asn’t breathing, I
jected under the skin or into blood
dangerous.
estimated 600,000 heroin addicts
realized that I was dead and had
vessels. Smoking o f tobacco and
There is also now ample evidence
with the Drug Enforcement Agency
been revived!
marijuana has long been done. There
KAISER PERMAMENTE
that drugs and other toxins can re-
(DEA) estimating that 2.3 million
“ Even after my near death experi
are even pharmaceutical drugs ad
sidually store in the fatty tissue o f
An Equal Opportunity Employer
Americans over 12 have used heroin
ence I still used heroin and didn’t
ministered as enemas; and some
the body for long periods
in the U.S. With the social barrier o f
care. I made me feel so good that I
drugs can be absorbed through the
o f time. The smoking o f
having to inject heroin avoided, we
didn’t give a @#$* !#A% about any
skin such as LSD and nicotine
the oil forms o f these
are seeing people more willing to try
thing, except that needle. A fter shoot
patches.
drugs are cause for con
heroin by snorting or smoking the
ing heroin for a year straight and
What became popular in the 1980s
cern that more o f the drug
drug. O f course, as they become
being sick a bunch o f times I decided
was the smoking o f drugs that were
will remain locked in the
addicted to heroin, guess what hap
to get some help. I tried methadone
not being smoked before. The smok
fatty tissue. Narconon
pens? You guessed it. They begin to
but it made me feel worse and I quit
ing o f heroin (chasing the dragon),
utilizes a very unique
inject the drug as the preferred
and went back to heroin. Eventu
the
smoking o f cocaine (crack), and
sauna sweat-out detoxi
method o f use!
ally, I heard about Narconon and I
the smoking o f methamphetamines
fication program devel
Take the story o f Eric T. and what
went to them for help. At first I had
(ice). All three forms o f these drugs
oped by author and phi
happened to him. Eric is now get
a hard time, but I now know that I
needed to be in much purer concen
losopherL. Ron Hubbard
ting help at Narconon Ch i Iocco New
have the power to be happy and
trations
for smoking to be effective.
to sweat these drug resi
Life Center in Oklahoma, but before
drug-free."
I his holds true for snorting ofheroin
dues out o f the body with
Eric arrived at Narconon, he had
Eric became a heroin addict with
as
well. Knowing this, the drug car
tremendous results.
become addicted to heroin.
out having to use a needle. He later
tels responded, predicting larger
As for today’s heroin,
“When I was sixteen I started to
succumbed to using the needle only
number o f consumers would mean
the ploy o f putting high
potency heroin on the
streets is a trick. There is
The Pacific University College o f Optometry is pleased to announce the
no other way to put it.
opening o f its Northeast Eye Center, conveniently located in Northeast Portland
Heroin is heroin, and
at the Multnomah County Health Center—corner o f MLK Jr Blvd. and
Killingsworth. Pacific University faculty and staff offer a hill range o f affordable
no matter how you con
state-of-the-art vision services provided in a caring and compassionate manner
sume it the danger o f
addiction looms closely.
EYE CARE SERVICES INCLUDE:
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D
What we almost always
I Examinations for eyeglasses and contact lenses
Wyden said the grant, which was
A dm inistration," said W yden.
O regon) today announced that
see
with
the
advent
o
f
I Care for those with diabetes and high blood pressure
awarded to Multnomah County by
I he Ryan White Act was autho
I Treatment o f eye injuries and diseases such as glaucoma
Multnomah County will receive
addiction
through
the
the U.S. Department of Health and
rized during W yden’s tenure on
I Excellent selection o f frames and sunglasses
$1.9 million in federal assistance
sniffing
or
smoking
o
f
Human Services’ (HHS) is being
the House Commerce Committee.
I Free vision screenings for children and adults
heroin is a shift to inject
to help deliver and enhance HIV-
used to provide medical assistance
Since then. Wyden has been dogged
I Examination o f children with reading problems
related outpatient, am bulatory
ing the drug. The trick is
for those with AIDS or those who
in
his
attempts
to
obtain
funding
h e a lth and su p p o rt se rv ic e s
complete!
Some sight-threatening conditions—such as diabetes and high blood pressure-
arc HIV-positive
for the growing number of Ameri
throughout the county. The money
N
a
rc
o
n
o
n
In
te
rn
a
are
common in African Americans, Hispanics and other minority populations.
“T his grant provides federal
cans who are infected with this
Therefore
early detection and continued monitoring are important to insure
tional
is
a
network
o
f
was awarded to the Multnomah
funding for home and com m unity-
terrible disease.
good vision and eye health.
County Health Department as part
substance
abuse
program
based care, continuity o f health
Wyden also said. "I will work
of the Ryan White Comprehensive
and treatm ent centers
To schedule an appointment or free screening and for more information about
insurance coverage and paym ent
hard to make sure we continue to
AIDS Resources Emergency Act
located around the world.
vision care services, please call 248-3821.
for p h a rm a c e u tic a ls . T o d a y ’s
fund community-based AIDS pro
which Wyden championed when
For
more
information
on
award show s a continuing co m
grams so that HIV-positive Orego
Northeast Eye Center, Multnomah County Northeast Health Center
he served in the U.S. House of
N arconon services or
m itm e n t to c o m m u n ity -b a s e d
nians have access to necessary
K irxc f.__i:___
-C
, . .
Representatives
help call I (800) 468-
5329 N.E. MLK Jr. Blvd., Portland
6933.
ANNOUNCING THE
Northeast
Eye Center
A Clinical Care and Teaching Affiliate
o f the Pacific University College o f Optometry
Wyden announces
Multnomah AIDS/HIV grant
(C o m er o f N.E. MLK a n d Killingsworth)
248-3821
V