Tracks Across Time Into The 21st Century

In the Age of cloning, with that woolly triumph of science by the Roslin Institute in Scotland which produced Dolly, the celebrity sheep with the eponym of that curvaceous country and western singer (1), this exact biological double proved that man creates life. Voltaire couldn’t have been happier when this portentous scientific achievement since the explosion of the first atomic bomb took place.

The stuff of life, genetics, the blueprint of life as to our identity, our record of existence and the material evidence of fag is a young field. A single hair, a pin drop of blood, dried saliva on the back of a stamp or cigarette ends, could today lead the course and courts of justice. The co-founders of the double helix structure of DNA did say, ”We used to think that our fate was in our stars. Now we know that, in large measure, our fate is in our gene.” (2)

The Book of Genesis, replaced by the instruction book of genes. With an estimated 100.000 genes and functions of 5.000 determined and 50.000 identified, this revolutionary science of genomics (DNA research) could be compared to the emergence of the Industrial Revolution. The dramatic progress of this genomic era plans to make a breakthrough by giving every human being a smart card with his genetic profile printed. A thumb-sized chip can contain as many as 10.000 spots of DNA each representing a different gene. The Human Genome Project together with other biotechnologies have developed computers that work around the clock to codify our genetic make up.

Gene mapping is one of them. It helps to identify the culprit gene by identifying sequences of DNA. It is an incomparable tool for the study of every aspect of human function with three billion chemical units that make up forty six human chromosomes of which the major constituent of chromosome is DNA: a double stranded molecule coiled in helical fashion.

Each strand consists of billions of pairs of chemical subunits (nucleotides) which encode the instructions for the manufacture of hundreds of proteins written in triplets. Genes are not without politics. Whether the costs to identify is justified in such mega-science projects, whether it is wise in steering biology are agendas in Genome politics. That a biologically deprived underclass has (3) emerged, that one in ten accept gene manipulation to increase intelligence, that it has become the last court of appeal (4) is all too apparent.

Genes not only creates life but bring the past, alive. Under the Law of Return, Jews allowed the lost tribes back to Israel. Some were traced in Africa and Japan. Hidden links uncovered as genetic ties found in non-Jewish Spanish against the Jews of Turkey or the lembahs of Zimbabwe. Genes move faster than anybody across the globe. Lingual affinities show common genetics, from the transatlantic to the Bay of Bengal. Archaeologists attempt to unravel our distant past. Deciphering our DNA with the latest forensic technology we might be able to find where we came from.

Pääbo extracted DNA from the bones of the first Neanderthal skeleton and prove it to be an evolutionary dead end; unrelated to human DNA. This fits the ’Out of Africa’ theory of human origins. That Europeans have ancestors who roamed the Asiatic steppes long before the mass migration of Homo Sapiens out of Africa was evidence coming from Rosalind Harding of Oxford Institute of Molecular Medicine. Nevertheless, humans and chimpanzees share 98% of the same biological material. Queen Victoria visiting the zoo remarked, ”they are painfully and disagreeably human”. Goethe as a biologist was aware of blood as a special fluid while Freud contended that drinking the blood of Christ during the Eucharist is a cannibal ritual and the eating of God. The Japanese maintain harmony by marrying those with the same blood group.

The unconscious awareness is thus clear that genes have a specific influence. They produce proteins, programme for growth, survival, reproduction, ageing and decay. Every individual has a unique hereditary endowment with 3 million sites in the DNA that varies from person to person, except identical twins (still fingerprints differ). (5) Everyone holds a copy of his genes within each cell, heritability in equal unity, (6) 50% from each parent, 25% from each grandparent.

GENETIC DISORDERS

They occur when a mutation is present which in some cases affects the protein structure. Such mutants (alleles) may be masked by a normal gene and could be recessive (7). A single defect is enough to make the entire effect.

Structural proteins and enzymes are manufactured by the four bases of DNA: Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thiamine, ingredients of the gene map. States Daniel Cohen, the pioneer of the atlas of the human genome: ”The gene map gives us a person’s probable life-long bill of health.” Illustrating further, ”you can’t repair a flawed genetic make-up by making lifestyle changes, but you can influence how it develops by catering to it in advance”.(8)

This gives me room to introduce my new theory to the field of Genetics: KARMIC GENES. For bodily growth and functioning enzymes are the vital chemical processes. What then constitutes for mental growth? I assume, mental food and its corollaries which show impacts on individuals. That the male supplies the ‘motion’ (Aristotle) ’the seed’ (9) in the Laws of Manu, ’inheritance of acquired traits’ of Darwin and ’changes due to selection of population’ are some pointers towards Karmic Genes. Karma Bija (seeds) is Buddhistic with all its extrasensory connotations based on the philosophy of change.

One of the Aristotelian tenets is that ‘the philosopher must begin with medicine and the physician must end with philosophy’, a reverberation of the pattern of discovery in scientific research. Descartes concluded: ’Medicine was the foundation of ethics, the object of which, is to teach men to submit to the world as it is. Karmic Genes lie in the world within which has a direct impact on behaviour and environment. After all, the brain, the master of the body’s economy has 30.000 genes at work.

Leroy Hood of the University of Washington predicts, to track down genes responsible for prostate cancer, it will not be the medical genes, but the behavioural genes that will stir public interest. ”We don‘t know that there are genes predispose to risk-taking, homosexuality and almost certainly to violence. Karmic ones will be the contrary to the idea of fate or determinism, e.g. St. Augustine says, that only God can forgive inherited Evil. In the city of John Calvin, Geneva, God was the ultimate genetic determinist. All possess the genetics of sin. Geneva was an island of righteousness in a sea of iniquity. Geneva sounds like gene. Genetics is playing God by claiming to identify who is elected to offend and who is not. How will the rule of law deal with a generation of Justified Sinners? The dynamism of Karma provides free will and individual and social moral responsibility. For a human being is not a mere biological animal. Besides genotype, we would pay attention to the phenotype who depends on complex interactions between genes and the environment, both internal and external which changes momentarily.

The things we create evolve for us. Our buildings, our computers and our cars change, adapt, and improve at a rate Darwin never dreamt.  Interestingly, Homeopathic Medicine looks not only at the mental symptoms but also at the mind symptoms, apart from the demand of a family history. Hence, new genetic knowledge has to provide a greater sense of moral and ethical responsibility in application.

GENETIC PROBE

Genetic probe is to look in advance on parent’s chromosomes to identify a disorder. If a blood relative (or previous child) has a disorder (11), then treatment or alternative routes to parenthood can be looked for. Each child of an affected person usually has a one in two chance of inheriting defective genes (autosomal dominant). In cases where the autosomal is recessive, parents are unaffected but carriers. Even without familial history, unexpectedly there still could be a transmission.

After all, many congenital abnormalities are not genetic origin. (Some Karmic?) If both parents are carriers, the chances become one in four, where males outnumber females. In all cases, mothers pass the disorder to sons while daughters remain carriers.

To avoid hereditary disorders Artificial Insemination by Donor (AID) can be contemplated. In 1948, the Archbishop of Canterbury called it a criminal offence though it did not constitute adultery (Mac Lennan v. MacLennan,1958, S.C.105).Couples and donors need to know their rights and duties. An AID child is illegitimate, liable to suffer disadvantages associated with his status. The husband has no parental rights or duties to the child, while the donor has. The donor could be liable to pay maintenance and could apply to court for access of custody (12). The donor’s rhesus factor needs to be known, in case a recessive condition prevails. The child legitimacy and his confidentiality must be maintained. If the mother is at risk, embryo donation may follow.

GENETIC DISORDERS

The non-availability of a probe led the Tsar and Spanish Royal families affected by Haemophilia through the British Royals. The Royal Malady, Porphyria, made King George III suffer from blisters and skin falling due to sunlight and to possess vampire like red eyes and teeth with fig of rage. Mental disability was a part. Through Mary the Queen of Scots the transmission entered the British and German Royal families. King George III brought Parliament to heel. His son shunned the public, rarely rose before dinner. Victoria’s symptoms were neuralgic pains, fits of anger, nervous prostration (13) and the earlier mentioned Haemophilia which affected many in the Royalty. Prince Charles in his foreword to John Brooke’s biography of George III admitted the Porphyria thesis. He chided in the 60’s to an eminent historian ’Its still in the family’(14). Prince William of Gloucester was a modern victim (15).

Those with breast cancer could reduce the risk as the gene in Alzheimer’s. The central function of genes is to encode instruction for the production of proteins largely responsible for the structure and function of the organism. There are over hundred different inborn errors, defects in specific enzymes. These are secondary to specific gene mutations. Bacteria are the simplest genetic material and evidence that they are mutable and therefore useful in understanding genes.

THE VIRTUES OF BACTERIA

A molecular genetic structure has remarkable flexibility, e.g. carrying, neighbouring sequences and rearranging the DNA, jumping genes. But the diversity for antibody production could possibly cause cancer. Yet, evolution happened because of the change of gen frequencies, related to Karmic Genes. Recombinant DNA led to the discovery of E-coli (engineered bacteria), valuable for proteins. (Compare with Homeopathic ’Nosodes’). Lymphocytes too could be cultured by infecting it with Epstein-Barr virus. Critics, say the technologists are playing God, diminishing the mystery of life. The response, Biotechnology is to understand life.

POPULATION GENETICS

As per Hardy Weinberg theory, populations maintain their genetic equilibrium status which is possible when certain assumptions are met. But efforts by leaders like Muammar Gadafi to increase the Muslim population in some countries, have their repercussions (16). But migration (Gene Flow) could either increase or decrease it. Usually, the ’Founder Effect’ causes smaller gene, due to constrains and selection pressures e. g. Tay Sachs a rare autosomal recessive inherited disease among Eastern European Jews because of being socially ostracised and forced to live in isolation. Unbalanced samples of the gene pool is evident in oppressive countries.

Populations do consist of mutant genes, not to its eradication as the equilibrium is met. Some defects skip a generation like the webbed-toe condition (17). Epidemiologists opine that 1% of all new-borns have a single defect. Almost 40% of all infant mortality is due to a genetic disease. About 10% adults do have defects. 1 in 1.000 app. male new-borns have an extra Y-chromosome (47, XYZ). This makes them taller with reduced intelligence. British statistics show such in higher proportions among the criminally insane. If a child has the right not to be born genetically handicapped, then the burden of responsibility lies on the parents.

ABORTION DUE TO GENETICS

Decisions about Down Syndrome foetal abortion or to abort foetuses with Muscular Dystrophy or Haemophilia (males unaffected),Rh-incompatibility between mum and foetus, smoking or alcoholic parents are ethical and moral dilemmas in elective abortion (19).

Amniocentesis (15th-16th week pregnancy test) or foetal blood cells may predict some afflictions. Whatever the ethical debate is, to treat some is positive. The moral conflict of parents and the wisdom of counsellors is crucial. In a male chauvinist world, female foetuses have bad fate. The Mosaic code is silent on abortion but the Hippocratic Oath ’I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy’. Plato disfavoured mum above 40. Aristotle proposed a law forbidding any kind of care for infants with birth defects. The Pythagoreans, on the contrary, were the only sect in Greece to disapprove abortion.

British law provides penalties up to penal servitude for life to a mother who uses poison or any other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument, or any other means whatsoever, with the like intent to procure a miscarriage...(Offences against the Persons Act, 1861, and the Abortion Act, 1967). When the mum’s life is in danger, legally, therapeutic abortion is accepted. Moral standards are never absolute. The cost effectiveness of our resources if not the lesser crime, is the rule. Women in traditional Christian societies very often suffer from a strong guilt complex because of back street abortionists. The British Medical Association in this regard wants the profession to guide public opinion (20). Society place the burden on the doctor for which Medicine is itself responsible!

During the First World War, as syphilis was transmitted to wives of the forces, the advise: A German bullet is cleaner than a ’whore’. Ethics due to the bias of fear and power.

Embryos by in vitro fertilisation, provide insights to genetic disorders and birth defects. The evaluation is again controversial. If the zygote is a human being, then the research is unethical or because in superovulation many spare eggs are left to die, it is immoral. For to take the lives of innocents is moral outrage.

The Infant Life Preservation Act (not Scotland) has as its purpose the protection of the life of a child capable of being born alive. On the other hand, the Congenital Disabilities Act, 1976, allows damages to be recovered, when an embryo(or foetus)is injured ’in utero’, by the negligence of a third party.

The right to life is a fundamental human right indeed.

EUGENICS

To what extent should we control our (21) evolutions by conscious interventions is a trilemma. Respectively, Eugenics is worth deliberating. In negative eugenics, ”inferior genes” for reproduction is abhorred, ”good genes”, the contrary. With the intent of well-meaning this ignores the role of the environment. Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton the hereditary genius wrote: ”It would be quite practical to produce a highly gifted race of men by judicious marriages during several consecutive generations.”

Such experiments not only in Hitler’s Germany (master race) but also in Lee Kwan Yew’s Singapore were tried. Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian ethnic cleansing appears like an extension of the Führers plan on a different dimension. All races are mixtures of many types but the American Eugenics Society (1926) held the view that ”Nordic whites were superior to other whites”. There were active attempts to restrict immigration based on eugenics, they stressed on sterilising the defectives. By 1931, 27 States in America had the required law. Such sterilisation were next found in Europe. The issues raised because of the mentally retarded, habitual criminals and sexual deviants are areas of value judgements, unlike individual counselling. Nevertheless, genetic counselling is a form of an eugenic activity. Ira Levin’s ’The Boys from Brazil’, about genetically duplicating Hitler is a fiction of one decade translated to technology by cloning Dolly in another decade.

In China, prenatal testing is compulsory. If a disorder, then termination (22). In yonder years, Karl Pearson, the UCL biometrician visualised a threat to civilisation by the high birth rate of the poor. His solution:” higher” races must supplant the ”lower”. The genetics of blood led to such assumptions. Some seem to have missed the fact that inter-racial variations are more than inter-racial differences. Selection due to disorders may appear to be a lesser evil compared to eugenics or sex selection. As technology advances the possibility of do-it-yourself materials for gender selection is in the offing.

With regard to this, the Pope (John Paul II): ”Genetic screening is gravely opposed to the moral law when it is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion depending on the results.. malformation or a hereditary illness must not be the equivalent of a death sentence.” More plausible than the Archbishop of Canterbury’s view on AID.

Genetic superiority is also found amongst the blacks e. g. the Melanin Movement. That civilisation began with black Egyptians, that blacks discovered America before Columbus, that whites first appeared in Africa are some of the movement’s propositions. This definition found its way broadcasting in Detroit and Manchester and some schools in New York, Melanin, the Chemical Key to Black Greatness (23 ) denotes that melanin absorbs light and converts it to knowledge. Of course a black absorbs a third more solar energy than whites who are more at risk of skin cancer. Problems of creation ?

The notion of apartheid led Afrikaners to assume that native Africans (they called them Hottentots) were a missing link between ape and man. In 1810 a native South African women was displayed in Piccadilly, London, almost naked, in chains, in a cage and later in Manchester. After her death her skeleton was presented to the French nation where a replica of her is kept (24). Scientific racism. Political minded Africans want her relics back.

GENES & CRIMINAL SCIENCE

Genetics has been useful in Forensic Science and the current issue is whether there exists a criminal gene.

A statistical appraisal is such: Detroit is forty times more violent than London and a 25 years old Detroit woman is more dangerous than a London man of the same age, despite testosterone which makes men more aggressive. Oppression over genes in society? Criminality is not just a problem of nature but of nurture as well.

Convicted criminal Stephen Mobley of Georgia who is awaiting to be electrocuted by the chair is according to his lawyers not to be blamed for murder. The bone of contention: His familial genes has diminished his ability to decide between good and bad. Instead they argued that he needs to be treated.

The celebrated Italian Dr. Lombroso (25) recognised ’Criminoloids’. More than genes they were susceptible to social stress. Lombroso pioneered the notion of rehabilitation as against retribution.

In a classic American case, a Georgian woman imprisoned for matricide claimed diminished responsibility, on the grounds of Huntinton’s disease in the family. This malady does lead to mental instability. But, the unimpressed judge couldn’t verify the supposed symptoms. Few years later, when the symptoms appeared, she was released.

Yet, these implications are not to be taken too far. Ethics, law and Medicine are interrelated. But, law cannot accept ’Original Sin’. For society is not mere genes but a group of persons who need law for good order. In Mobley’s case the father was displeased as the genetic defence was a slur on his character.

GENETIC FINGERPRINTING

Also called genetic profiling, is the work of DNA detectives. It is a revolution in forensic against crime and in U.K. it has altered the course of criminal investigating. The current demand for analyses is tremendous. Since 1995, more than 20.000 DNA fingerprints are added to the database to fight crimes. A high profile American example of new DNA technique was the dried saliva on the back of a stamp identifying the Unabomber, Theodore Kaezynski who had a history of 17 years in terrorism.

The first DNA evidence in court in the U.K. was to confirm a mistaken identity. Richard Buckland of Leicester had admitted guilt for raping and murdering two school girls but his DNA did not match the semen samples taken from the girls. Though the police persisted his guilt the geneticist with the collaboration of the police after profiling 4.000 local samples established that the criminal was someone else.

In a blood sample, the DNA extract is cut by enzyme where the fragments are separated through electrophoresis. It is then transferred to a nylon membrane with radioactive pattern detected after X-ray where a film is developed. This helps to protect the innocent and in cases of disputed paternity. One could become a British (26) citizen on the grounds of ’patriality’ (Immigration and Nationality Act, U.K. 1971)

GENETIC SCREENING

This is the systematic search by probes or genetic markers for persons with a particular genotype in a defined population. Considered as an important adjunct of preventive medicine is also blamed for discrimination. It has profound implications on social and ethical considerations in all aspects of human activities and to some extent the environment.

Not only individuals but also their offsprings are screened. In prenatal cases when the mother was not given information of birth defects, lawsuits have been brought against obstetricians (27). For not wanting to bear affected children, out of unreasonable fear some have opted for sterilisation.

Workplaces for their own interest are interested to check employees who are genetically susceptible to fumes and pollutants. Survival of the fittest? Emphysema is the scapegoat. The psychological trauma, the invasion of privacy, the loss in insurance policy and employment are some points to ponder in this process.

The benefits of becoming aware of one’s own health, to avoid children with deforms does not outweigh the disadvantages.

In pre-symptomatic screening, selected population for genetic susceptibility to environmental hazards is conducted e. g. Eastern European Jews for Tay Sachs which lowered the number of affected but carriers lost self esteem and social communication. Greek Thalassemia Carriers socially stigmatised and have difficulties in finding marriage partners. Blacks with sickle cell anaemia, ostracised. Having understood that life is suffering, carriers may not want to know the ”skeleton in the closet”. Even casual breast screening with X-rays may not worth the biological cost.

CLONING

(Gene Cloning, Genetic Engineering, Gene Manipulation, recombinant DNA technology)

Genetics is known to regenerate, replace and repair what is broken. But what became part of the current universal cultural debate was the cloning of Dolly, an epochal and cataclysmic creature, cloned from a cell of a 6 year old Finn Dorset Ewe and from an egg of a Scottish Blackface Ewe. This success came after 277 trials.

Cloning multiplies cells to produce discrete colonies. All the cells in a particular colony form a clone with the same genetic constitution of the founding cell. In other words, any two DNA fragments produced by cleavage, can be joined and the joint resealed for unrelated organism to be recombined to produce a rare combination. More of technology, less of biology.

In Dolly’s case the cell was not an embryonic one. A cell of a mammal reverted into embryonic stage, producing a full new being. Dolly did not reproduce herself but reproduced a twin, a carbon copy, a counterfeit so exact, a photocopy. Ten years of hard work of Dr. Ian Milmut, the embryologist with the funding of PPL Therapeutics, managed this nuclear transplantation. Invertebrates (starfish) do reproduce asexually. Amphibians (e. g. frog) from embryonic cell, successful. But from red blood cells of an adult frog not met with success. The value of this reproductive engineering is immense.

Kidney and bone marrow transplant, insulin, growth hormone, factor V III (for haemophilia), enzyme replacement ,tissue plasminogen activator (dissolves blood clot) etc... It could spare endangered species, have higher yields in engineered vegetables, resist diseases and have longer shelf life.

The technology is too real that critics consider it dangerous, unnatural and immoral. As chromosomes are manipulated there is some genuine concern. For no one wants another BSE. Highly dangerous micro-organisms may emerge. The desire of an U.S. scientist to clone wealthy patients prompted the U.S. President to call for a ban in cloning humans. As science is not able to clear the ethical high bar, laws and stringent codes must ensure the safety of moral beings. Poor sheep! Since Biblical times (28), beasts of our burden even after mad cows.

The greed for domination will certainly lead a human to be cloned. Arthur Caplan, Director of the Centre of Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania, predicts its manifestation in seven years (29). Diminishing all fears of Dolly’s health, four months ago she gave birth to a yet healthy winsome lamb, Bonnie, after mating with Polly: a lamb with a human gene in its genome (30). Polly is of a different breed. The Roslin Institute has received twenty over threats since Dolly and Eco activists are planning to kidnap her (31).

The Dutch government has banned the double freezing method of nuclear transfer but research continues in the U.S. Wee Bonnie may look cute and Dolly’s sweater may be attractive but the fear of new virus from inter-species tampering is reasonable. The dream of human hybrids, cloned armies, slave hatcheries, Aldous Huxley’s ”delta” and ”epsilon” sub-beings (Brave New World), a second existence to guide one’s own flesh, the demystifying of conceiving are some horrors, critics visualise. Dolly’s creator did categorically appeal ” ...any situation in which, even if strictly possible, the application of similar techniques in humans ” not to be envisaged. Even if he had an unconscious guilt his moral conscience was crystal clear (32).

Every child knew, that the lopped tail of a lizard grows back. But to go for motors behind differentiation (inducing molecules) which instruct cells to become liver, skeleton etc... is to read too far into the subject.

XENOTRANSPLANTATION

Genetically modified animal organs transplant safely in humans could introduce deadly viruses harmless in them. Prof. Robin Weiss identified two such viruses in pigs. Already 150 people are given pig tissues as skin grafts and pancreatic islet: cells for diabetes. Deprivation to Muslims and Jews. Judaism is the most genetic of all religions, for one is a Jew, if the mother was so, a biological descent.

Researchers in Melbourne claim the have discovered how to transplant pig organs without rejection problems. New DNA tech promises human insulin in cows milk. To date, 2.500 patients have been injected some form of altered genes as part of the more than 250 trials world-wide for 30 over diseases. Egoism, individualism and consumerism. A cloned herd is being bred to supply human factor IX to the world market (33) with an estimation of $160 million. The supply of recombinant proteins is expected to fetch $8 billion!

So, the ethical, legal, moral and economic involvement caused tremblers to trigger. Cloning a human is not only repugnant to the U.S. (34) but to France (35), Germany (36) ,Japan (37) and the Council of Europe (38).

As technology overpowers biology, principles of quality control and predictability will be needed to apply to human beings. The question of machine-centred or man-centred biology will remain as the bone of contention. If another soul’s chance is at your life, in a heart transplant, it has to be eliminated. John Fletcher (ex NIH ethicist) argued, ” The reasons for opposing this are not easy to argue.” For the floodgates may open, if permission is granted. Some ethical consideration and accommodation must be reached.

Could we resist a ”resurrection” of Christ whose blood has been identified as A-B in the Shroud of Turin, the cloning of an Einstein? Before conceiving becomes a mere act of photocopying, technology needs to be regulated. ”If cloning were perfect there will be no need for men.” (39) Virgin births, women giving birth to themselves can be commonplace. For you can outlaw technique, you can’t repeal biology... cloning will fail, .too simple...too replicable (40). Dolly’s Institute is now interested in a ’superchicken’, sheep ranchers and wool producers in top lambs, farmers in champion cows (more milk!)... If at all humans are cloned, in large numbers, the moral dilemma will be brainstorming.

In what we wish to call ”Biological Cloning” or ”Psychological Cloning” is found the practice of incest type of mating among (41) first cousins, brothers and sisters. Without a theological bias one has to look at the economic reason, tribal custom, grounds of sympathy (42) the of such inbreeding. Their subconscious: ’the same colony preserved, the same inheritance should pass on’. It took 46 parliamentary debates over 65 years before a bereaved was allowed to marry the woman most related to his previous spouse... the unnatural nature of science, that what is obvious is usually not true.

This gene pool among smaller races is a form of selection reproduction, if not Freud’s Oedipus Complex. In Egypt and Peru monarchs married their sisters with no records of illnesses. Some Japanese marry those of same blood group. The Shakyan’s (The Potential) of (43) Gautama Buddha married their cousins.

GENETIC COUNSELLING

This then is the sphere that alleviates pain and clears uncertainty. The direct method to avoid an inherited disorder, to discuss the outlook of an affected child, to bear the sense of responsibility in reproduction, options or in management. The counsellor needs meticulous accuracy to construct a pedigree in establishing whether the heredity is single gene, chromosomal or multifactorial. Two alternative possibilities are

1. Prior Probability (Mendelian Law)

2. Conditioned Probability (Family history)

But the third is established in cases of Muscular Dystrophy. Counselling helps to avoid still-births, cleft lip, congenital hear diseases, mental disability, miscarriages and abnormal sexual development. In an adoption, one needs to identify the relatives who are either unaware or misinformed of a disorder (44). This is the fastest growing field in Medical Science which transform it from a treatment based to a prevention based discipline. Creating public awareness is an act of altruism.

GENE THERAPY

This breakthrough in manipulation where stem cells (new blood cells) are injected to blood for migration to heal. At embryonic stage, a full cure is anticipated. Such repair helps the next generation. A preventive and curative measure of great potential counted as a modality in therapy.

The case of Ashanti DeSilva (U.S.A.) whose immune system’s deficiency (fault gene) was corrected became history.

THE PLANT AND ANIMAL KINGDOM

Since prehistoric times, Babylonians knew that in order to produce a fruit, pollen from a male date palm tree must be applied to the pistils of a female tree. Gene flow is not exclusive to humans. In breeding or self pollinating is common in wheat which remains strong unlike in human and in corn. But hybrid corns have more vigour.

Modified crops are more resistant to herbicides and insect depredation. The yields are higher. Environmentalists contend this as harmful to the environment. Nature scientists think they risk the habitat of the sky lark, the linnet, the corn bunting and insects. On the contrary, these crops reduce the need of pesticides. One problem arose, when the U.S. insisted on other countries to accept their overproduced soya, maize and other products. The Germans and Austrians considered these ’unnatural’ produce an ethical issue.

Manufacturers and farmers must care to avoid health risks. Despite malnutrition in the developing world, the so called developed nations produce in excess. Oxfam and Christian Aid disbelieve corporate claims that this will cure world hunger.

Activists in France and Ireland went up to the courts. The Dutch an the Danes disapprove largely. The Swiss referendum on biotechnology was approved only when massive lobbying took place and when the drug and chemical companies threatened to leave.

Indians are prepared for riots and Pakistan withdrew its venture with Monsanto which admitted that it went ‘too far’, ‘too fast’ (more than 100 million acres of modified crops on four continents) and under-estimated European Culture. The demand for a moratorium on Genetically Modified Crops continues (45).

To spare the agony of the dentist’s drill, a painless vaccine to prevent tooth decay have been modified from a tobacco plant (46). Experiments show its protection against decay for at least four months. On a different dimension, the pioneer of the human genome atlas Daniel Cohen hopes to bring teams of Palestinian and Israeli researchers to discover new techniques to boost agriculture; a peace project!

Within the technical capability of the present generation of scientists, inter-species collaboration (more advantage for humans) is at work. An enzyme essential for the human immune system function has been successful in mouse bone marrow cells (47) and in monkeys. Germline gene transplantation has given fertility to mice and corrected deficiency in haemoglobin. Cloning Dolly was testimony to many possibilities.

In transgenesis, a human gene is incorporated into the DNA of a fertilised egg of a sow. In the liver it tricks the immune system to accept the pig liver. The next step of the Roslin Institute ”is gene targeting, the ability to knock out and substitute genes”, says its Assistant Director, Dr. Harry Griffin. But, the probable, the attempt to eradicate malaria mosquitoes by DDT, resulted in DDT resistant mosquitoes.

Horse breeders are interested in winners.

IMPACT ENVIRONMENT

The environment modifies beings and plants. Heredity is not the ’dice of destiny’. The yield of milk in different breed of cows, the egg laying capacity, shape of the head, blood pressure and intelligence depend on the conditions of the environment. Beyond biological heredity, heritability of weight, stature, susceptibility etc. depends on economics and nutrition. Diversity in traits, physical cal, psychological or behavioural can be due to genes or environmental variables. By climatical variations or new food or new predator or because of prominent environmental changes, some genotype will become more favourable than others.

Directional natural selection will operate to reconstruct with the demands of the new environment. Seasonal changes are found in some Drosophilia plants in the U.S. The work of the Natural Law (48) provides space for Karmic Law within the ambit of the philosophy of change, adaptability, impermanence. After all, an induced life style could be a form of preventive medicine. Both nature (heredity) and nurture (environment) are interdependent.

Why are modern Japanese taller? After 50 year their mean IQ have increased from 100 to 112. It would be right to say that unless environmental factors are evaluated, mere susceptibility studies can be misleading. Environmental manipulation shifts genetic determinism, e. g. 90% cancers are related to environmental factors, and only 5% to genetic. Smoking and alcohol cause cancer, birth defects, slow development, lung disease, risk of heart disease, learning disabilities, mental retardedness, hyperactivity and the like. Can children later sue parents for smoking and alcoholism?

Very recently (49), the Scots identified a single gene that provides a defence against carcinogens in tobacco smoke, against lung cancer.

Children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) are a classic example of the influence of chemicals. In its extreme form when Tourette’s Syndrome manifests, bursts of swearing, spitting and disruptive behaviour is common. One fourth of Californian students (some) meet psychiatrists for therapy.

Multifactorial defects are partly because of the environment, e.g. Asthma schizophrenia, club-foot, etc... In such cases susceptibility is heritability. Nuclear accidents (e.g. Chernobyl) and radiation which shortens life are issues of moral evaluation. Hiroshima’s effect was felt more later.

We may have no ethical responsibility to the environment, but we surely have an ethical responsibility for it.

ETHICAL DRUGS ???

The cause for alarm in engineered bacteria as we saw earlier was that viruses may materialise, causing cancer, etc... Since the Berg letter of 1974 calling for a cessation on Genetic Engineering work, so far organisms by manipulation constitute no greater risk than the organism itself.

Pharmaceuticals are moving rapidly to create blockbuster drugs. Glaxo Wellcome targets antigen-strategies. Instead of targeting the errant gene, they aim at messenger RNA (MRNA) that carries messages to the cellular machinery, churning out the protein. Their drug plans to neutralise the messenger and halt the production of the defect protein. Pharmaceuticals will fight shy of becoming embroiled in the ethical debate on how to handle such explosive information.

Normally, one trial drug in every ten, reaches the market. Glaxo screens 500.000 chemical compounds weekly, as commercial considerations come first. That being the case, will science force the law to face moral dilemma?

A man stores his semen before chemotherapy, a woman her eggs before ovarian surgery, a widow (50) uses her dead husband’s semen, the utilitarian ethics certainly has a moral content. Psychological ethics unlike the double helix, no moral content.

The search to prolong life has reduced the death rate but not the birth rate which disturbs the homeostasis. The sanctity of life demands the dignity of the individual (51).

Lucretius saw ageing and death as the natural order to prevent over population. Descartes confessed that his own medical studies were means to find ways to alleviate the disabilities of old age and prolong life. Every hour our body makes tens of thousands of miles of DNA. The wear and tear with age accumulates mutations. If long life is achieved than expected, is it worth the salt? For some it may be the true moral way, others not.

If reason and logical arguments have a role in ethics, then one must reason well and detect errors in his own and in other’s reasoning. For everyone has a right to judge himself. There can be no moral expert, but an ethical one. David Hume elucidated, morality was more properly felt than judged of (52).

From a moralist’s point of view, one may contend that a moral sense and not reason that appeals to one’s conscience. This leads to a shared moral view despite the non-existence of a common morality or a consensus.

Matters of ultimate value are not susceptible of proof and the law itself is the embodiment of a common moral position.

REFERENCES

1. Dolly Parton
2. Genes, name given by Danish biologist, Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen 1909.
3. Charles Murray (Harvard), The Bell Curve, Best Seller, 1994.
4. 1994 , young American murderer saved from the electric chair in plea for mercy. Plea bargaining in law.
5. At the University of Munich in 1985. His Swedish team from Uppsala University extracted DNA from an Egyptian mummy dating back to 2.400 years old. Later an Oxford team extracted DNA from a human bone, 5.500 years old.
6. Identical twins have weight changes when reared in different environment.
7. TIME, Special Issue, Winter 1997-98.
8. Inherited genetic constitution from parents.
9. A. D. 100-300.
10. Epistatic Gene that masks the phenotype effect of another gene, e.g. Albinism (lack of pigmentation).
11. In cases like Cystic Fibrosis, Haemophilia, Down Syndrome, Epilepsy, etc...
12. See, Mary Warnock, The Warnock Report on Human Fertilisation & Embryology, Basil Blackwell, 1984, 0xford.
13. Red Purple Secret, John C. J. Rohl, Martin Warren and David Hunt, Bantarn, U.K. 1998. Injections of anti-Haemophilic globulin is now available in large amounts through Recombinant DNA technology.
14. Heir to the Throne, Prince of Wales.
15. A cousin of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. Dr. Henry Bellringer in 1968 found the symptoms in him.
16. e.g. Sri Lanka.
17. Genes present but not demonstrated.
18. Mum negative, if positive, permanent damage in subsequent foetus.
19. Bad effects in smoking, active and passive.
20. 25 July, 1935. See Medicine and Man, Nöel Poynter, The New Thinker’s Library series, London, C. A. Watts & Co.Ltd.,1971
21. Eugenics, term coined in 1883.
22. Law on Maternal and Infant Health, 1995. China.
23. 23. Carol Barnes,
24. Saarrje Bartmann, The savage creature. See in Steve Jones, In the Blood. God, Genes and Destiny, Harper Collins, London, 1996,p.203.
25. Dr. Cesare Lombroso, 19th century, Pavia,Italy. He found in the  skull of a brigand a very long series of atavistic nomalies.analogous to inferior vertebrates.
26. Term first used in the U.K. in 1984.
27. Genetic Screening, Will it be the survival of the fittest ? Dr. Sujeewa Wijesuriya, U.S.A.
28. Book of Genesis, e.g. Laban produced spotted or strip progeny in sheep by showing the pregnant ewes striped hazel rods (Superstition though)
29. See Ethics of cloning. (Webtime.com/cloning)
30. Its milk produces human factor IX, a blood clotting protein which may help haemophilia B patients.
31. Guardian, Wed., July 8, 1998 London).
32. TIME, Special Issue, Winter 1997-98.
33. At present human plasma is used.
34. Harold Varmus, Director of the National Institute of Health U.S.A.
35. Under-secretary of the French Government.
36. Minister of Research R Technology.
37. Embryologist expert, Prof. Akira of Kinki University in Osaka
38. Secretary General.
39. Ursula Googenough, (New York Times), cell biologist, Washington University in Missouri.
40. Charles Krauthammer, TIME, March 10,1997,Vo1.149.No:10.
41. First cousin marriages result in homozygosis of 6.25% of the genes of the progeny. Malformations depend on what deleterious recessive genes were carried by the common ancestor. It is customary for the uncle in some ethnicity to marry the niece in South India, e.g., Tamils.
42. In some cases the widowed sister in law is remarried to her husband’s younger brother, in the event of his death.
43. In The Blood, God, Genes and Destiny, Steve Jones, Harper Collins, London 1996.
44. One way is to check post mortem reports of dead relatives.
45. Trashing the Crops, John Vidal, Genetic Engineering (Analysis).  The Guardian, Friday, July 31, 1998.
46. The Express, Wednesday, April 29,1998.
47. ADA = Adenosinedeaminase.
48. Dhamma niyama and Kamma niyama in Buddhist thought.
49. TIME, May 11, 1998, Vol.151, NO:19. 49. Controversial news recently in the U.K.
50. Medical Ethics, Revised and enlarged edition, edited by A. S. Duncan, G. R. Dunstan and R. B. Welbourn, Darton, Longman & Todd London 1977, p. 76-77.
51. David Hume, Treatise of Human Understanding, 1738.

top

© 1997-2004 HERE-NOW4U

Home

mail to