The Genetics Revolution: History, Fears, and Future of a Life-Altering Science

232 Pages·2005·3.41 MB·English

by  Rose M. Morgan

THE GENETICS
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THE GENETICS
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HISTDRY, FEARS, AND FUTURE
DF A LIFE-ALTERING SCIENCE
R D SE M. M D R G AN
Greenwood Press
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging4n-Publication Data
Morgan, Rose M., 1935—
The genetics revolution : history, fears, and future of a life-altering
science / Rose M. Morgan,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-313-33672-5 (alk. paper)
1. Medical genetics—Research—Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Genetic
engineering—Moral and ethical aspects. 3. Human cloning—Moral and
ethical aspects. I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Genetics, Medical—ethics. 2. Genetics, Medical—trends.
3. Ethics, Medical. 4. Genetic Techniques—ethics. 5. Genetic Techniques—
trends. 6. Genome, Human. 7. Stem Cells. QZ 50 M849g 2006]
RB155.M673 2006
174.2'8—dc22 2005019205
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2006 by Rose M. Morgan
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2005019205
ISBN: 0-313-33672-5
First published in 2006
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright materials in
this book, but in some instances this has proven impossible. The author and
publisher will be glad to receive information leading to more complete
acknowledgments in subsequent printings of the book and in the meantime extend
their apologies for any omissions.
CDNTENTS
Preface vii
Part I. On the Brink of Altering Life 1
1. Recombining DNA Molecules 3
2. Splicing Life: Technological Revolution or Pandora's Box? 19
3. The Book of Life: The Human Genome Project 35
Part II. Beauty and the Beast 53
4. Laboratory Babies: New Biology, Old Morality 55
5. The Warnock Report 71
91
Part III. Fighting to Save a Gene Pool
6. The Human Genome Diversity Project 93
7. The HGDP Debate 105
Part IV. Threading an Ethical Needle 129
8. Stem-cell Research 131
9. A Major Decision 145
Part V. To Clone or Not to Clone: That Is the Question 157
10. Reproductive Cloning 159
11. Cloning a Human 175
CDNTENTB
Notes 193
Bibliography 203
Index 211
PREFACE
The discovery of the structure of DNA by Crick and Watson,
with all its biological implications, has been one of the major sci
entific events of the 20th century
Sir Lawrence Bragg, Nobel Prize recipient
and director of the Cavendish Laboratory at
Cambridge University, in the foreword to
Watson's book, The Double Helix
Humanity has much to learn from history In this context we are reminded that
the rise of modern-day DNA technology owes its origin to the many scientific
events that occurred over a relatively long period of time.
Despite past successes of the various DNA technologies, however, the public
has always been uneasy as to what scientists should and can do. Today, as in past,
the world struggles with an ability to thread its way through an ethical minefield
surrounding various genetic issues.
The scientific method had its beginnings in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen
turies. However, systematic experimentation in the laboratory was not carried
out until the seventeenth century. Even in the early nineteenth century science
and technology were not included in the mainstream of major achievements.
Rather, it was a time when questions were posed about evolution, the purpose of
advancement, and the nature of human beings.
It was a different story from the mid-nineteenth century to end of the twenti
eth century, when there were decades of enormous development in scientific
knowledge. In 1865, Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, was credited as the first
to lay the mathematical foundation of the science of genetics. Later he became
PREFACE
known as the "Father of Genetics." Charles Darwin's revolutionary ideas on evo
lution were finally recognized during this period in time and there followed a daz
zling burst of genetic information.
In 1931 it took Aldous Huxley, the brilliant English author, only four months
to write his most famous novel, Brave New World, Huxley used Brave New World
as a warning against the misuse of science and about the consequences of a soul
less technology. During this time there were significant political, philosophical,
and economic changes taking place in the United States and Europe. It was a time
when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party came into power in Germany, but before
Joseph Stalin's Bolshevik Revolution in the Soviet Union and before Benito
Mussolini led an authoritarian, fascist Italy.
In April 1953, two young scientists, James Watson and Francis Crick, eluci
dated the double-helical, spiral-staircase structure of DNA that became the key
to the technology of life. The dividends that resulted from Watson and Crick's
discovery are too numerous to count, and today in laboratories worldwide scien
tists use the information from that scientific milestone.
By 1970 Watson and Crick's discovery had been known for seventeen years
and a new term, recombinant DNA technology (also known as gene splicing and
genetic engineering), was introduced into our vocabularies. What it meant for so
ciety was a second mobilization of biology. It permitted the transfer of genetic
material not only across species lines but out of the animal kingdom—for exam
ple, transferring a human's insulin gene into bacteria. However, the new DNA
technology had important consequences because for the first time it gave humans
control over various possibilities for curing diseases.
The first child ever conceived outside a mother's body under controlled
conditions, Louise Brown, was born on July 25, 1978, in Oldham, England.
Drs. Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe, English physicians who performed the
IVF procedure, had taken it as their duty to satisfy the natural desire of every
couple to have a child, by natural or artificial means. However, behind the beauty
of Louise Brown's unique creation there lurked a beast in the form of nightmares
and concerns voiced by ethicists, philosophers, theologians, lawyers, and physi
cians. These individuals, on both sides of the Atlantic, warned that the medical
miracle of IVF indicated the arrival of unorthodox medicine as forecast in Brave
New World.
In response to the heated controversy over IVF, the British government com
missioned Dame Mary Warnock, of Girton College, Cambridge University, to
form a committee to study recent and potential developments in medicine and
science related to human fertilization and embryology. Warnock's Committee of
Inquiry into Human Fertilization and Embryology eventually issued sixty-four rec
ommendations.
Progress in elucidating the molecular basis of disease at the genetic level con
tinued to progress at a rapid rate. This was due largely to the Human Genome Pro
ject (HGP), the largest and most expensive scientific study conducted since the
Apollo project and the race to send a human to the moon. For the first time, there
was tangible hope for the control of most genetic diseases and even some degener
ative ones. In June 2001 the HGP was completed, ahead of the April 23, 2003,
deadline that marked the fiftieth anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery.
VII
PREFACE
In 1991 a group of prominent Bay Area human geneticists and molecular bi
ologists proposed to the scientific community that a five-year international study,
known as the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP), be undertaken to deter
mine variation in the human genome. The well-intended study was to be an effort
to collect and preserve DNA samples from a part of the world's 4,000-8,000 en
dangered populations and was designed to give insights into the origins of ancient
populations. However, from its beginnings, indigenous groups voiced concerns
about patenting human genes, diversion of funds, the potential for biological war
fare, violation of human rights, informed consent, and biopiracy. Almost from the
beginning, various indigenous groups called for a halt of the HGDP.
The first authentic reproductive cloning made news on July 5, 1996, when the
cloned lamb named "Dolly" (after the entertainer Dolly Parton) was born near
the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland. Essentially her mother's physical
twin, Dolly was in all appearances a normal sheep, the first-ever cloned animal
from a specialized (differentiated) adult cell.
On January 6, 1998, Chicago physicist Richard Seed shocked the world by
announcing plans to clone a human, setting off an emotionally charged national
debate. As a result, U.S. president Bill Clinton immediately renewed efforts for
federal legislation to outlaw both public and private attempts to clone a human.
Several bills were introduced to outlaw cloning of any kind, opponents arguing
that humankind would be reduced to genes. Supporters countered that therapeu
tic cloning/stem-cell research had the potential to cure many major illnesses.
On August 9, 2002, in a prime-time speech to the nation, President George
W. Bush gave the go-ahead for limited federal funding on existing embryonic
stem-cell research. Attempting to thread an ethical needle, the president's deci
sion was a definite compromise that allowed him to address concerns about the
willful destruction of potential human life, while giving hope to those suffering
from horrible diseases that might be cured by embryonic stem-cell research.
Like the arts, DNA science and thought have experienced substantial politi
cal pressures. The Qenetics Revolution: History, Tears, and Future of a Life-Altering
Science is a book that will confront you, the reader, with alternative points of
view on complex and sensitive genetic issues. However, we are reminded that
moral and ethical genetic issues are continually changing and what may not be
moral and ethical today could well be acceptable in the near future. This may be
come more pronounced as the skills and expertise of scientists and physicians
become more advanced.
As you read the book you will have a deeper understanding of some of the
genetic issues that surround us today, as well as those of yesterday. In the twenty-
first century, the success of the new DNA technologies will transform the course
of society's thought and activity, bringing a heightened degree of social awareness
and compassion. The Chinese have a pertinent saying: "May you live in interest
ing times." That we do!
IX