Monkey business is serious business

Editorial / South Bend Tribune 25jan01

When genetic manipulation can produce a monkey that glows in the dark, should we embrace the brave new world or go screaming into the night?

Should we be fearful or fascinated?

The answer is both -- and at the same time. As breakthroughs in gene mapping and modification tumble one upon the other, let us humans (most of which were made the old-fashioned way) not be caught napping.

It was announced this month that scientists have produced a monkey that is endowed with jellyfish genes. The jellyfish genes in this monkey aren't functioning well enough to make him glow, as have mice and rabbits that were subjected to the same experiment. But he does have them throughout his body.

The implications are mind-boggling: Ability to alter a creature as genetically similar to humans as a monkey opens the door to creating monkeys with genetically-caused diseases -- and then to curing them with gene manipulation. If it works with monkeys, it ought to work with their human cousins.

Some animal rights advocates find fault with performing experiments on monkeys. But, as long as the animals are treated kindly and spared all avoidable suffering, that is not where the ethical dilemma lies. Rather, it lies in concerns about whether it is possible to restrain science so that it always acts in the physical and social interests of people -- all people.

Just as the Hippocratic Oath reminds doctors that they may do no harm, there needs to be an oath for genetic scientists -- perhaps a "Mendelian Oath" -- that spells out standards of conduct and defines the outer limits of ethics.

Besides the professional constraints of an oath, there ought to be the force of law. Congress should begin to study the implications of gene mapping and manipulation, with an eye not only towards protecting people from privacy invasion and discrimination, but also determining an ethical role for genetic science as it affects people.

It is clear that the United States will be the leader in this technology. Because science knows no political boundaries, this country also ought to be the leader in development of a world-wide ethical view on genetic manipulation.

The nature of science, to move forward, developing new knowledge from old knowledge, will not be denied. But science can be molded to benefit humans rather than harm them.