"Pandora’s
Genetic Box
Pandora’s Box follows around one of genetics most credible
people: James Watson, and asks him the important questions of where today’s
technological advances should be taking us. His very controversial answer is to
the maximum of genetic alteration. Watson believes that we should use our
growing knowledge of the building blocks of humans to alter genes and
genetically control our evolution. If your child has an unfavorable genetic
disease or illness Watson believes parents should have the right to abort that
child. Watson believes people are ignoring the important truths of genetic
science because they are afraid of change.
Personally I can believe a lot of what Watson said
although I do not agree with most of it. I can see how someone who is a pure
evolutionist can say what he was saying. I think in order to have an educated
opinion a person has to be able to see the facts of both sides before they can
make a rational decision. While all of the things Watson mentioned, like
changing DNA in an embryo in order to avoid abortion, may be said with the best
intentions I do not think it is a path humans are ready to venture down if we
ever should.
The ability to alter things genetically is a road that is
paved with nothing but good intentions. Watson says those who oppose who simply
do not understand what they are trying to do. But it is too uncontrollable to
pursue. Take the example of birth controls that are offered for women. Through numerous
testing the drug was made safe for women and it was sent into the public
through ads on television. Now ten years after the new drug was released you
see ads asking if you had experienced several diseases or birth defects as a
result of the drug that is no longer allowed to be offered and if you would
like to be a part of the class action law suit. Who is to say the same thing
will not happen with genetic enhancements but it will be too late and too
severe to remedy. In the film Mario Capecchi even mentions going as far as
adding an extra chromosome to humans. I cannot fathom something that would be a
bigger mistake than messing with human chromosomes. Something that has been
working and evolving on its own all these years does not need to be altered
because humans believe they have the ability to. Until we can understand
literally every aspect of the human DNA and the human brain and body to see if
there is anything that can go wrong, it does not need to be attempted. How can
people say that they know how to do it and that the effects will be positive if
there is still so much about biology and life they do not understand? I am just
a young woman in a first year college biology course, so I am not even trying
to pretend to be knowledgeable on the subject, but it seems to me that
sometimes people who do not know it all sometimes have the best view points
because they are completely unbiased.
As far as genetically altering plants, like what is done
at the Monsanto Corporation, I believe this is also testing risky waters. We
have no idea what the long term results of putting unnatural genes into our
systems will be. Several hundred years from now we may be able to trace a new
terminal illness to those with grandparents who ate or worked with genetically
altered foods. However, I can see how the short term results are almost
undeniable. The ability to end world malnutrition is at our fingertips.
I cannot help but think the money is being spent in the
wrong way. Millions of dollars are going into the research to be able to add an
intelligence gene to children and while I think that is amazing, what if half
those funds went to nourishing and education the children of today? What if
instead of focusing on how to be able to genetically make it easy for a child
to learn we focused on feeding children and helping families have the time to
teach children. There is a reason the wealthy are always more intelligent than
the lower class: because the lower class has to focus on what they will be able
to eat that night and are only given access to poor education and the wealthy
are given food that is meant for the body to process and taught at a level to
be able to go to an ivy league school.
In my opinion the world is in trouble no matter which way
we go, and I can only hope people start asking the right questions again before
it is too late."
