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Re: Gene Tinkering: YOU Are The Mice And They Don't Want You to Know



I must speak up here because gene tinkering is something that has
bothered me for quite some time.

Don't you agree that biological systems are very complicated and that we
have only just started to scratch the surface of understanding them in a
scientific sense.  And obviously genetics is not much simpler.  So to
say that there is nothing in the scientific literature to support being
paranoid doesn't really carry much weight.  (e.g. Two hundread years
ago, there wasn't much in the scientific literature about germ theory
either.)  I think it's a reasonable to guess that there are many
concepts to be conceived and facts to be found.

From this Joe Blow layman's perspective, it seems to me that we are like
toddlers twiddling the knobs of a hifi sterio, with no concept of the
consequences of our actions.

This is important enough to me that I would get politically active if I
thought it would make a difference.  Unfortunately, the genie's out of
the bottle and banning gene twiddling in the U.S. would only push the
research off to other places which would be less monitored, less
controlled, and less reputable.

I do ask that anyone involved with genetic engineering think hard about
how serious the consequences of their actions could be.  I strongly
believe that nature will compensate for just about anything thrown at
her, it's just a matter of whether or not humans will be a part of the
equation when the dust settles.

(Yuk. That sure was depressing.)


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