|
|
Dec. 14, 2007
Remaining mindful of morality
As scientific development allows godlike creation, scientists must proceed cautiously.
EUGENE KAELLIS
There seems to be a kind of inevitability about contemporary science: if something can be done, chances are that it will be and, if it works, it will find some commercial application. Lately, these equations, applied to reproductive biology, are causing distress. Governments have eliminated funding for some kinds of research. Scientists are accused of "playing God." And people are uneasy that this time "they" have gone too far. Enough is enough. But playing God is distinct from trying to be God. Playing God is what we've been doing since chapter three of Genesis. God knew very well that to attain their truly human condition Adam and Eve would have to disobey Him and eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, but, like any doting parent, he wanted to keep them safe as long as possible, especially from their "adolescent" selves. They were not ready to have "the keys to the car," but, as we learn from history, they never were given them: they took them and, since then, all of us have been on a terrifying and often tragic "joy ride." Maybe, just maybe, we are now beginning to drive safely and obey the rules.
We have, therefore, to believe that God understands the tension between Him and people and we too should understand it. He even threatened them with death if they ate the forbidden fruit, but, He didn't kill them, knowing that they were callow adolescents and their "Fall" was the beginning of a maturing process that would go on, perhaps forever.
If you wish, scientists are indeed playing God, but so are other seekers of knowledge. As long as we maintain a basic morality, the "toys" they and we create will end up benefiting humankind. Granted, it's not always clear if they do or don't. Sixty years after Hiroshima, people are still arguing the case.
When people do pay attention to science, which is not too often, a major concern is about reproductive biology. Dolly, the Scottish ewe cloned from her mother, without the usual "ramifications," was only the first of a now long list of mammals cloned the same way: goats, cows, mice, pigs, cats and rabbits. The procedures are technically demanding but the theory is really quite simple, probably too simple.
Here's how Dolly was made. One of her mother's eggs was retrieved, its nucleus removed and replaced by a nucleus from one of her own body cells. The latter had the full number of chromosomes, while the unfertilized egg had only half. It was supposed to get the other half from a sperm cell. The result, containing the nucleus from a body cell, with its full complement of chromosomes, was then stimulated and placed in the womb, where it underwent normal development until out popped Dolly.
Two things worth noting about Dolly and other clones: they were sickly and died young. Also, in an embarrassment for orthodox biologists, they were not complete replicates of their mothers, including the genes.
So far, perhaps enough to "ooh and ahh" about, but not to become fearful.
Here is the scary part. Genes can be added, subtracted, substituted in the nucleus before it is placed in the enucleated egg. If you believe in current biological cant – that the genes "control" the cell – this scenario is more frightening than if you don't. However, increasingly the dogma is giving way. It turns out that DNA and even the nucleus itself, considered "the brain" of the cell, acts much more like the "gonad." The real "brain" is in the unbelievably complex system of surface and internal membranes, which control the cell's metabolism and, ultimately, its DNA.
A fertilized egg is the "stemiest" of stem cells. It will give rise, in the fully formed human, to every highly individualized and specialized cell, numbering in the trillions. Stem cell research is, therefore, to a significant degree, dependent on a source of embryonic cells only slightly less "stemy" than their fertilized egg cell parent. This upsets a lot of people, even when the cells come from embryos long since signed away by their female carriers and sitting in freezers in hospitals and research laboratories. The consequence has been that, in some countries, government funding on research using embryonic cells is forbidden.
Most of the opposition to using embryos overlaps significantly with the opposition to therapeutic abortions. Much has to do with ensoulation, the time when, in fetal development, the "soul" enters the body. For many Christians, it is at conception; for Jews, at "quickening," i.e., about four months.
Theoretically, all the cells of the body have the full number of chromosomes and a complete set of the same genes as other cells; only the egg and sperm cells are excluded. So, if a way can be found to "primitivize" let's say, a skin cell, de-differentiating it back to its earliest form, we would have something as good (perhaps better) than an embryonic cell. This has allegedly been done. It may relieve scientists of the highly controversial use of embryos, but it may also reveal that reproduction and embryonic development are far more complex than the unfolding of genetic information, which is precisely what I think will happen.
Although the word "clone" is new, the process in nature is very old. Arborists and gardeners have been generating complete plants for centuries by using cuttings. Plants contain widely distributed meristematic tissue, which contribute to their growth and which has the capacity to start new plants. Likewise, many animals, such as starfish and worms, can reproduce complete animals from their own severed parts. Hydra, a tiny coelenterate that lives in fresh water, goes one step farther: it can be completely macerated in a blender-like apparatus and will reform itself.
As for how the bolder experiments of biologists relate to God, these scientists are not like Prometheus, stealing fire from the Titans to give to people and then being punished with eternal torment. The Titans were angry because they had limited assets, and losing a powerful tool, like fire, was a big blow to them. The One God we worship is infinite in power and knowledge. There is nothing we can do to diminish Him in any way.
Eugene Kaellis is a retired academic and writer living in New Westminster.
^TOP
|
|
