Sunday, December 31, 2000		Article

LIFE MATERIALS

Replication of human beings through technology may have been a subject of popular science fiction novels. But today, science has caught up with science fiction. Not only can we now arrange the building blocks of life, we can also add or subtract them.

THE replication of human beings through technological means has long been a subject of popular science fiction novels. Today, as in many instances, science has caught up with science fiction. We are told we now have the ability to improve the overall quality of life through genetic engineering.

We will soon be able to enhance our own intelligence, whether its through a chip implanted in the brain to make one smarter or have the blind see, and the deaf hear, or by gene splicing to give what is missing or correct what is flawed.

This new technology will not just affect a few people. It will directly affect the whole world we live in, as this technology will dominate the new century. Science allowed us previously to arrange the building blocks of life now we can add or subtract them.

We now hear of head trasnsplants in monkeys, headless frogs, cloned sheep, designer humans, but we are entering a very different world now. Nuclear transfer has been done before (which is a clone from the nucleus of an adult cell) it was performed successfully on Tetra, a primate who recently made news.

We first heard about this from scientists in Scotland that had successfully cloned a sheep called Dolly, the first mammal to be reproduced identically from the artificially manipulated cells of a donor mammal. Since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996, scientists have been going further with DNA research.

But Dolly was not the first mammal ever cloned in a lab. Many others, including rhesus monkeys, have been cloned from one, two, and four-celled embryos. Dolly was the first mammal cloned from adult cells, which is a more difficult achievement scientifically than embryonic cloning.

The researchers in Scotland responsible for Dolly have plainly stated that they see no reason to pursue human cloning and are personally repulsed by the idea. But not all feel the same way and many would like to see this funded for numerous reasons because they believe its beneficial. We all know that every technology has the ability for abuse even though it was invented for good. But good intentions will guarantee nothing.

The Bible teaches that reproduction is after each kind. God made an order to the species and a certain way for it to occur. Today scientists have the ability to not only change the species, they now have the ability to create a whole new species. Through genetic engineering we are able to create something that has never been in nature before.

Critic Jeremy Rifkin called for an immediate ban on human cloning, urging it be classed a crime on par with "rape, child abuse and murder." A spokesman for the lab that created the clone stated that animal cloning necessarily would lead to human cloning.

History has proven whatever can be thought of can eventually be done . What is forbidden now will become a normality of life later, especially if there is money to be made. Under scientific advancement the Pandora's box is open.

Should this technology be left up to the population to vote by their pocketbooks (considering our nature, we would want to make ourselves perfect people). Laws have always lagged behind the technology as the product is marketed. We are never ready for the technology whether its guns or nuclear. There is no way for the laws to catch up with how fast science is progressing today. Yet many scientist are excited as they see the potential for all kinds of possibilities.

Supporters of cloning feel the technological benefits of cloning for humanity outweigh any of the possible social consequences, as long as research is carefully done. We can all have an improvement in our quality of life. But do we want to roll the dice on this issue. Once its rolling it will be very hard to turn back , it could be a mistake of dire consequences.

The benefits

No one wants to die. Bioengineering is pursuing to understand the basic building blocks of life, they are pursuing knowledge that only God knew. Dr. Richard Seed, one of the leading proponents of human cloning technology, suggests that it may someday be possible to reverse the aging process because of what we learn from cloning.

If they can mutate a few genes they can prolong life immensely and postpone the penalty of sin.Science has identified that the average person carries 8 defective genes inside him. These defective genes allow us to become sick when we would normally remain healthy. With the technology of human cloning it may be possible to ensure that we no longer suffer because of our defective genes. We could have optimum health.

Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States and several other industrialised countries. Scientists believe that they may be able to treat heart attack victims by cloning their healthy heart cells and injecting them into the areas of the heart that have been damaged. This can mean no more surgery for cures. Cloning may replace organ donors as the compatibility would be close to 100 per cent. Surgery as we know it may change. It may look very crude after we venture into this new science.

Cloning research may contribute to treating diseases by allowing scientists to reprogram cells. The benefits of cloning could provide spare parts Ones liver cells, or eye cells, or bone cells, hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys could be produced. Embryonic stem cells can be grown to produce organs or tissues to repair or replace damaged ones. If any of body parts failed or were injured they can be replaced. Limbs for amputees may be able to be regenerated. Burn victims could receive new skin. Brain cells for the brain damaged, spinal cord cells for quadriplegics a paraplegic could be cloned, and get a new body ending their paralysis. Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, heart failure, degenerative joint disease, diabetes, and other problems may become curable if human cloning and its technology are not banned. Sounds good on paper but…

Take, for example, Jesse Gelsinger. He was born with ornithine transcarbamoylase (OTC) deficiency, a rare metabolic disorder that disables the liver and causes a toxic buildup of ammonia. He volunteered for gene-therapy program last September at the University of Pennsylvania because gene therapy had been hailed as the new frontier of medicine. The experiment entailed patients injected with corrective genes to replace the missing or defective ones. The purpose was a commendable one, to save lives. Within 24 hours after Jesse received his first infusion, he was suffering from a life-threatening clotting disorder which red blood cells were breaking down faster than the liver could metabolise them. He now is known as the first patient to die directly from the result of gene therapy. His father who encouraged him to do this said to a senate subcommittee investigating this that he was not given all the information, such as side effects and that lab monkeys have died during the same experiment.

We are allowed by law to fix flaws or failures in our human body but we are not allowed to expand it beyond its basic natural capabilities. So why not? We already receive spare kidneys from family members and parts from other humans like a liver or a heart to save a life, so what can be wrong with taking a cell from ones own body to have a perfect match.

A cloned cell as a replacement for a body part is certainly not a human person, but it does open the door. As we all know once the door is open the envelope gets pushed further in time.

Designer genes will not be something you wear but something you are. Some believe that if a parent wanted to produce talents in a child similar to his own, they can clone the DNA from the cell of the adult that may produce a child with the same traits. You can call them designer children. Clones that are derived from an existing adult cell, that has older genes. What will life be to a cloned son looking at his dad and know he is his exact twin? The cloned son will know how tall he will be, whether he will be bald at 30, what are the hereditary flaws he has and will know what talents he possesses, unless there is gene tampering.

Supporters of cloning feel that with controlled research, the technological benefits of cloning clearly outweigh any of the possible social consequences, but do they outweigh the scientific dangers? The applications of cloning is seen as humanitarian Cloning could stop parents who risk passing their defects to a child. A fertilised ovum could be cloned, and the duplicate would be tested for disease and disorder of the original. If the clone is found free from any defects, then other would be as well. But what if it is found defective? Will it be destroyed for a more optimum foetus or will it be fixed?

Through Genetic research and use of this technology the advantage of curing diseases and its ability to treat and cure genetic flaws diseases is an ethical goal.

We are at the door of doing anything we want. For the most part, science makes its progress and influences human ethics not vice versa. Look at evolution and modern psychology.

This new population could be susceptible to the same diseases, and one disease could devastate the entire population if we are all clones having the same exact genes. Maybe the variety of man with all our flaws was included in God’s wisdom.

There are now reported 60,000 artificially mutated animals born in the UK each year. Many of these creatures are said to contain a unique blend of genes from two or three species. (reported by Reuters April 28, 1999)

The good the bad and the very ugly

The idea of super-breeding is nothing new. Hitler thought he could engineer a master race. Can we be seeing the seeds of a new Third Reich on the horizon by technology? With the new technological tools that can be sold to anyone with enough money.

Cloning might be used to create a hybrid or a "perfect human", by eliminating all the flawed genes.

Cloning has the possibility of creating creatures that are half human and animal with animal type powers and human thinking or vice versa. What if we are able to give a human type brain to animal. What would we call it? Would it have the same rights as humans if it can think like us? Maybe science will think they are speeding up their evolution by making animals have some type of critical thinking and a ability to speak.

It took 277 eggs with transplanted cells to produce one live lamb. Ian Wilmutt and his associates required 277 tries before producing Dolly. The fact is that they kept cloning secret for three years after doing it, and more than likely were attempting to do it at least a couple of years previously. They didn't tell us anything until Dolly was seven months old, over a year after the cloning was successful and several more years after they started this secret project.

A new cloning technique has recently been developed which is far more reliable. This was performed In July 1998, a research team at the University of Hawaii announced they cloned 50 mice in three generations from adult cells of a single mouse. It was the most successful cloning experiment to date.

The reaction

Many countries have already banned experimentation in human cloning or have imposed a temporary moratorium so that the ethical questions can be properly addressed before continuing. The development of this will end up in countries where there is little or no gene legislation. Over 170 nations have no gene laws.

One of the major arguments against cloning is that it would rob individuals of their uniqueness, that is designed and given by God or Nature. But the assumption is that "we are our genes", and this is what makes us who we are. But humanity is more than our genes. There is something more to mankind than his physiological makeup and scientists are possibly coming close to discovering this.

Creating life in the lab

Using in-vitro fertilisation, we already have the ability to start a new life outside of the womb, are we willing to go to the next step of genetic engineering eggs of humans. Infertile couples are already buying human eggs on-line. Can we find ourselves in a society where supermodels or geniuses' could sell their eggs to the highest bidder? Many think human organs will be made available in bio-auctions very soon.

In 1980, a California Company started a Nobel sperm bank which sold the sperm of Nobel prize winners to help woman give artificially inseminated birth to smarter babies.

On the other hand, now one can breed for beauty in eugenics. Ron Harris, a fashion photographer and a producer of exercise videos and director for Playboy TV, believes that being beautiful is part of evolution which favours fitness and good health. A attractive people are more successful and popular. So he has created a web site where people can bid for the eggs of beautiful models.

Human embryos have already been cloned using other methods. Where do we draw the line? Is there a line?.’’

The late 20th Century was about discovering genes and tinkering with them.

Now man wants to improve on this to make a new species in our image. The difference is God breathed in life directly into man who was made from the earth. Like anything we develop, cloning can be used for good or for evil.