Keep Us Human:
If We're Truly Smart, We'll Refuse to Foolishly Tamper with Our DNA
By Bill McKibben,
Los Angeles Times
| 04. 14. 2003
The 50th anniversary of the double helix has been greeted with
worldwide hoopla. It began in February, the month that James
Watson and Francis Crick actually made their discovery, and
will culminate this month with the golden anniversary of the
paper they published announcing the news to the world.
The celebration is appropriate; understanding of the gene is
rivaled only by understanding of the atom as the great scientific
achievement of the last century. But just as cracking the atom
raised the deepest ethical and practical dilemmas, so too does
cracking the gene. Our new knowledge of genetic manipulation
forces us to ask a question other generations couldn't have
imagined: Are we a good enough species?
Consider Watson, who has been the towering figure in genetics
research since that first paper -- the "commanding general"
of the DNA revolution, in the words of London's Guardian. He
has used his fame and influence to push for changing human beings
in the most radical ways. Human embryos should be manipulated,
he has said, to increase intelligence, to eliminate shyness,
even to make...
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