The Human Genome Project

The popular saying "Knowledge is Power" may be what the public afraid of. In theory being able to decipher the genetic code completely gives you the power to manipulate it as you see fit. This is a large fear concerning the post-HGP actions by scientists with the new abundance of information. The whole issue of genetics frightens people who just don't understand what is going on. There is tendency for humans to avoid or fear what they don't know or recognise. Some people on hearing the word genetics immediately associates it as some sort of weird Frankenstein project and scenarios similar to those in extravagant science fiction films run amok in their minds. Visions of clones or even armies of minions created by genetic technology coming to take over the world, almost like a Terminator reality, are not so far fetched. The end of the HGP would mark the advent of the ability to fully clone humans and this is what so many people are fighting to constrain.

So there may be the opportunity to create human clones, but what is there that can stop people doing this? Looking at the legal issues concerning genetics in this country there is actually no law in the United Kingdom to prevent or regulate human cloning by the technique known as cell nuclear replacement (CNR), which produced Dolly the sheep. This was the upshot of a ruling in the High Court on 15 November 2001. As the law now stands, the judge's ruling implies, any scientist in Britain is free to try to produce human clones by this method, and to do whatever he likes with them if he succeeds. Even in the last couple of days there have been claims of scientists in America having already created a human embryo clone. The 'culprits' say, "Our intention is not to create cloned human beings, but rather to make lifesaving therapies for a wide range of human disease conditions, including diabetes, strokes, cancer, Aids, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease." There are very strong arguments both for and against cloning. Those who conduct this research are not mad, but scientists seeking cures for human diseases. Those who argue against it are properly concerned with the moral status of the tissue on which the scientists are experimenting.

So it is fair to say that scientists may be using the information for the good of mankind. But what is to say that this information can or will not fall into the wrong hands? With the ability to perform 'virgin births' combined with a full detailed map of the human genome, anybody could create a superhuman with all the desirable traits and none of the flaws. A genetic X-MAN! People like Hitler could re-ignite hopes of a master race and mass produce clones to populate the earth, while normal humans like ourselves would be classed as 'subhuman' and therefore eradicated. It is also very dangerous to play around with technology like it is a toy. The slightest mistake could result in disaster. Scientists do not even have a full understanding of the human mind and trying to create a functioning human being needs this vital information otherwise there could be risks of creating potential beasts.

From a religious point of view, the whole idea of any cloning, whether it is of an animal or a human or whether it is for medical benefit or not, is frowned upon. A former US ambassador to the Vatican is quoted, "Human reproduction is now in the hands of men, when it rightfully belongs in the hands of God." Religion regards Gods as being the fathers of the planet and that genetic technology is the answer to becoming rebels and breaking away, almost as if forming an alliance with the devil and performing evil tasks.

Coming back to the issue of 'test-tube babies', this is a technique that has been successfully used in the past. Moral issues come into play, similar to those concerning abortion, regarding the classification of the human created. It is not right to create people for their body parts because cloning for intended destruction can easily be passed as murder in a court of law. There are arguments whether the creation is a life or not. Who owns it and is it right to put a clone through all the suffering if anything does go wrong?

So many social, ethical, moral, legal implications etc. may go so far as hindering the development of genetics into dangerous territories but in reality it can always be considered as an inevitable accident waiting to happen.

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By Milan Shah