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HumanSurvival
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved . ..
Matthew 24:22
THE NEW BIOLOGY–
PANACEAOR
PANDOR~S
BOX?
Spectacular new breakthroughs in genetics have prope/led man–
kind to the threshold of a new era. By recombining the funda–
mental mo/ecules of lite,
some
scientists claim great benefits
are in the offing. But others are alarmed at the potential for un–
told peril to al/ lite on earth - far exceeding the menace of the
atomic bomb! Thus the new bíology poses one of the greatest
dilemmas to ever tace modern man.
by
Robert A. Ginskey
T
he year 1976 marked the real
beginning of the era of genet ic
engineering.
It
was just last fall
that Nobel Prize winner Har Gob–
ind Kho rana of the Massachusetts
lnsti tute of Technology announced
that he had successfully synthesized
the first fully functional gene from
off-the-shelf chemicals. Khorana's
achievement was the latest in a
whole seri es of stunning biological
"advances" tha t have signaled a
new age of discovery - a biological
revolution.
"A new genie has emerged from
the bottle of scientific research,"
proclaims Dr. Cl ifford Brobstein. bi–
ologist a t the Uníversi ty of Califor–
nia. San Diego.
The new biology has many facets
- everything from art ificial in–
sem ination (includíng sperm a nd
egg banks), to organ transplants. to
ge net ic tailoring and even human
"cloning." the asexual reproduction
of individuals that are identícal to
the o riginal (see box on next page).
Even sorne form of human immor–
tality
is held out as a fu ture possibility.
But one thing is certain: revolu–
tionary biological breakthroughs are
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1977
destined to become sorne of the
most hotly debated and cont ro–
vers ia! developments of the twen–
tieth cen tury.
hit
represents prob–
a b ly th e largest e thica l problem
science has ever had to face," admo–
nis hes Harvard biologist and Nobel
Laureate George Wa ld . " 1 fear for
the future of scieoce as we have
known it , for mankind, for life on
the Earth."
"The ethical problems . . . raised
by the population explosion and ar–
tificia l insemination, by genet ics and
neurophysio logy. and by the social
and mental sciences are at least as
grea t as those arising from a tomic
en~rgy
and the H-bomb,' ' declares
Dr. W. H. Thorpe of Cambridge
University.
Why all the concern? To under–
stand it, we need to briefty review
the incredible biological achieve–
ments that have recently occurred.
Our Genetic Heritage
Science has known for some 25
ye(\rS that a remarkable a nd awe–
somely compJex molecule called
DNA controls all heredity. DNA in
the fonn of chromosomes and genes
is found in every cell of every orga–
nism. lncredible as it may seem. bi–
olog ists have demons trated tha t
each cell in your body contains th e
entire genetically coded information
necessary for a complete human
being.
DNA is composed of various
se–
quences of four chemicals known as
nucleotides. Unt il recently. there
was little science cou ld do to alter
these sequences. But in just the pasl
few years, researchers have shown
that it is possible to "transplant"
ge net ic material (sect ions of DNA)
into celts of wholly different species.
By spli tting open the DNA in one
organism, researchers can insert
new genes from a different orga–
nism. thus changing the hereditary
cha racter istics of the o rganism' This
breakthrough. coupled with o ther
achievements, such as the synthesis
of totally man-made genes, means
that genetic engineering - and the
creation of tota lly novel organ isms
- is now within reach.
Proponents of such research say
the DNA transplantation technique
promises a whole ar ray of benefits
lo medica! research, practica! medi–
cine and agr icul ture. The process
cou ld, for example, provide crit ica!
insights into the way in which cells
- iocluding perhaps cancer cells
- reproduce. It might a lso be used to
mass-produce drugs that are now
rare or expensive. such as insulin.
gamma globulin, and ant ibiot ics. by
transplanting into sorne common
host the genes that stimulate the
production of these drugs. Some sci–
en tists talk of conquering cr ippling
genetic diseases such as Down's syn–
drome, or sickle-cell a nemia.
The so-called recombinant DNA
techniques a lso have potential ap–
plications in agr icu lture. For ex–
ample, food crops could be given
the genetic abil ity to convert nitro–
gen from the air di rectly into the
chemical essentials for growth , a
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