Today, Genetically Modified Food. Tomorrow, Genetically Modified Humans?

Human Genetic Engineering as a Critical Issue For Environmentalists

Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic Technologies Nov00

Over the past few years environmentalists have played a leading role in alerting global civil society to the risks of genetically modified foods. Now we face a campaign to apply the technologies of genetic manipulation to human beings--and to move inexorably toward a future that threatens everything environmentalists hold dear.

The technologies that would allow the creation of "designer babies" are closer at hand than most people realize.¹ Scientists routinely clone and genetically engineer animals with enhanced physical and behaviorial traits. Incredibly, some people want to apply similar techniques to the production of genetically engineered children. They are actively promoting a vision of the human future in which we embrace the genetic redesign of the human species and "seize control of human evolution."

This "techno-eugenic" vision of the human future calls for the mechanization, industrialization and commodification of human reproduction and human life. It eagerly anticipates a world in which parents select their children's gems, literally from a catalogue, It celebrates nothing less than the end of our common humanity, as we segregate into genetic castes and eventually into separate species.

The New Techno-Eugenics and Environmentalism

Many advocates of human genetic modification are openly dismissive of basic environmental values. Others look forward to what they call a "post-biological" future, one in which all life on earth-plants, animals, humans, and ecosystems-have become artifacts of technology. Here's Nobel laureate and founding director of the Human Genome Project James Watson:

"Ever since we achieved a breakthrough in the area of recombinant DNA in 1973, left-wing nuts and environmental kooks have been screaming that we will create some kind of Frankenstein bug or Andromeda strain that will destroy us all"²

And here's human genetic engineering advocate Gregory Stock of UCLA:

"Even if half the world's species were lost, enormous diversity would still remain ....When those in the distant future look back upon this period of history, they will likely see it not as the era when the natural environmental was impoverished, but as the age when a plethora of new forms-some biological, some technological, some a combination of the two-burst onto the scene... We best serve ourselves, as well as future generations, by focusing on the short-term consequences of our actions rather than on vague notions about the needs of the distant future ....[For example, i]f medical science develops an easy cure for cancer, [nuclear] wastes may not be viewed as a significant health hazard after all. If robots can be employed to safely concentrate and reprocess the radioactive materials, they might even be valuable."³

It is difficult to see how a world that accepts human germline genetic manipulation and cloning will long be able to maintain, much less deepen, any sense of humility, reverence and respect regarding the rest of the natural world.

Many people are understandably reluctant to oppose germline genetic engineering because they've been led to believe that this technology is necessary to prevent serious gene-related diseases. This is not true. Technologies of prenatal and preimplantaion diagnosis, and other options, are already available, and accomplish precisely the same goal more easily. The only reason for manipulating the genes in eggs, sperm or early embryos is to create a child with characteristics beyond those possessed by its parents.

Human genetic technologies have many potentially benign and beneficent applications, including the development of improved pharmaceuticals and diagnostic procedures. We need to adopt policies that support such desirable applications while proscribing those that could lead to a horrific human future. At a minimum, we need:

• A global ban on modifying the genes we pass to our children

• A global ban on the creation of human clones

• Effective and accountable regulation of all other human genetic technologies

Many countries have already adopted such policies. The U.S. and the rest of the world can and must do the same.

Over the past century the environmental movement has fostered a new, global respect for the workings and integrity of the natural world. It has shown that the commons can be harmed by otherwise well-intended individual actions. It has emphasized values of restraint, intergenerational concern, and precaution. These are precisely the perspectives and values that now need to be brought to bear regarding the application of genetic technologies to human life.

In the early 1970's, when the possibility of profound human genetic modification was first understood to be within our grasp, many environmentalists and others spoke out in opposition. As it became clear that such prospects were several decades away, and after the current set of regulatory structures were put into place, concern abated. Now those several decades have passed and the technologies of human genetic manipulation are upon us. Meanwhile the structures of regulation have become strop facilitation.

Environmentalists have begun to re-engage these issues. In 1999 , Dr. Brent Blackwelder, President of Friends of the Earth, and Robert Musil, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, signed a statement saying,

"While all of us seek to improve the quality of human life, we believe that certain activities in the area of genetics and cloning should be prohibited because they violate basic environmental and ethical principles... "We believe that germline manipulations, for their ability to change whole generations, not just individuals, go far beyond the boundaries of human scientific and ethical understanding and are too dangerous for human civilization to pursue... Being a product of scientific design and manipulation as opposed to natural chance will fundamentally change the place of the individual in society and would profoundly alter the relationship of human beings to the natural world."⁴

In February 2000, nearly 250 concerned leaders, including environmentalists Bill McKibben, Amory Lovins, Terry Tempest Williams, Gary Snyder and Mark Dowie, signed an Open Letter on human germline engineering, saying,⁵

"The prospect of human germline engineering represents a point of decision-one that ranks among the most consequential that humanity will ever make. We should acknowledge that human germline engineering is an unneeded technology that poses horrific risks, and adopt policies to ban it."

The coming years will be critical. Environmentalists and all others who value the vitality, beauty and wonder of the natural world have an interest in ensuring that human beings do not become artifacts of technological creation.

References and Notes

1. The technology used to produce designer children is called "germline" genetic engineering. It affects the egg and sperm cells ("germ" cells) and any modifications made are passed on to all succeding generations. Genetic engineering that only affects the organs or tissues of a single person, and that does not create heritable gene modifications, is called "somatic" genetic engineering.
2. In Gina Kolata, Cline: The Road to Dolly and the Path Ahead (New York: William MOrrow, 1998), p.113.
3. Gregory Stock, Metaman: The Merging of Humans and Machines int a Global Superorganism (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1993) pages 172, 220.
4. Cloning and Germline Manipulation Letter drafted by B. Blackwelder, July 1999.
5. "Say No to Human Germline Genetic Engineering," Open Letter to participants at the Asilomar Symposium on Science, Ethics, and Society, February 16, 2000.

The Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic Technologies is working to alert individuals and organizations to the urgent challenge that these technologies pose. By subscribing to our email newsletter you can be kept informed of important developments. To subscribe, or for other inquires, email Marcy Darnovsky at teel@adax.com

Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic Technologies, 466 Green Street / San Francisco, CA 94133 415-434-1403 / 415-986-6779 fax