GATTACA will never happen! (GM and cloning)

Member Name: Redhead23

Product:	GM and cloning
Date:	03/02/01 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Better knowledge of the human genome can help prevent genetic diseases and cure cancer etc.

Disadvantages: Most people don't have a clue about genetics and condemn it out of irrational fear

First off, hands up if you know what *GATTACA* stands for?
Answer: The name of the film is made up from the letters of the *Genetic Alphabet*!

.:. G .:. Stands for Guanine
.:. A .:. Stands for Adenine
.:. T .:. Stands for Thyamine
.:. T .:. Stands for Thyamine (Again)
.:. A .:. Stands for Adenine (Again)
.:. C .:. Stands for Cytosine
.:. A .:. Stands for Adenine (Once more)

A meaningless sniplet of genetic code, in an order which undoubtedly occurs in just about every living thing on earth (and wherever the first microbes came from Re: 'Fossilised microbes in a meteorite from Mars').
If you have some sort of detailed knowledge of genetics you'll have looked at example genetic code at some point realising that the name of this (quite good, don't get me wrong!) film is as simple as the alphabet, only a tad shorter - just like it dawned upon me a few years back in a genetics lecture at university.

But you don't need a background in genetics to know where the name came from, you might just have read one of the better film reviews around that goes into a bit more detail or is simply written by a critic who wants to show off his inexistent *knowledge*.
That's where my second question comes in: How many of you REALLY understand the connection between DNA (DesoxyriboNucleic Acid, carrier of this *Genetic Database* within each and every one of us) and the actual (for example) human being that results from it? I can't see many hands still up! How come?

The answer to this is simple: It is terribly difficult to even understand the process of how the genetic code is read (in 'triplets' by the way, which makes a total of 64 different 'triplets' available to play about with) and then translated into amino acids (There are 20 of them found in most living things, the rest of the 'triplets' either result in the same amino acids or code fo
r start and stop bits), which in term are put together to form proteins. Even if we do understand which protein is made by each gene in a living being's genome - understanding it's EFFECTS on the composition and development of the resulting body isn't all that easy.

Genetic research and manipulation are (bar a few mad scientist *G*) NOT about creating the *perfect human* from a scratch!
It will be decades or centuries (if ever!) before we fully understand the human genome, what has been found out about DIRECT effects of certain genes so far is only due to aberrations (differences as a product of mutation) in the genome of people who suffer from genetically transmitted diseases - simply because only when people (or plants and animals for that matter) show a CLEAR difference in appearance from ther 'normal' counterparts is it possible to pin down at least SOME of the genes responsible for that effect. But very rarely does ONE GENE have ONE CLEAR, DESIGNATED effect. Genes work TOGETHER, and even if one specific gene is found to have the same aberration in most, say, breast cancer patients this doesn't mean that that particular gene is SOLELY responsible for this effect. It could only be a small part in the effect of a whole range of genes, which can be spread over various chromosomes in your genome (we have 23 pairs of them by the way).

From a realistic, scientific point of view, the only thing we are capable of doing so far is cloning (although that provides a lot of problems already, because of the specific set-up of most species' genome) and transferring sniplets of DNA between or within certain species. Yes, a world like in GATTACA would definitely frighten me. But if you think about it, how big really are the chances that we will, at some point, COMPLETELY understand what every single gene in the HUMAN genome does exactly? (I'm talking about humans here, not fruit flies - the favourite pet of genetic scientists
due to its extremely short reproduction time)

Of course it would be fascinating to understand (and that's all I mean, I'm not talking about ABUSING it) all that completely, but it is, in my humble opinion, fairly unlikely. But what we CAN do is continue experiments to find out what exactly the genetic causes are for diseases like cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anaemia or cancer. In fact, ALL cancer goes back to genetics at the end of the day, considering that the uninhibited growth of cells is caused by faults in the DNA copying mechanism. Errors in the DNA copying (and thus the occurrance of cancerous cells) happen at least once a day, the only reason that we don't get cancer ALL THE TIME is that our bodies have a defense mechanism that seeks out these rebellious cells and kills them off before they get a chance to reproduce. Smoking, eating hot food (in the case of bowel cancer), old age (because cells are more likely to mutate after a whole lot of cell divisions) etc. just increase the LIKELIHOOD of these copying errors, as certain substances provoke DNA to deteriorate, thus invoking copying mistakes.

I personally believe that there should be STRICT rules about what exactly scientists are allowed to do, but generally making genetic research illegal would be a crime against humanity! And the ignorance of most people is currently endangering the future of genetic research.

Where do moral and ethics come into the game? Yes, I find it sad that so many expecting mothers choose abortion when they find out that their child is likely to suffer from Down Syndrome (Trisomy-21, where three versions of the chromosome 21 are present as opposed to the usual 2) , Sickle Cell Anaemia or other genetic disorders. But I do however understand that having a seriously ill or disabled child can be a huge stress, both mentally and financially. MOTHER NATURE, through natural selection (only individuals - of all species- with mutations that allowed t
hem to adapt better survived in big enough numbers to reproduce, thus handing their genes down to their children) has proven MUCH MORE cruel and intolerant of disability and sickness than our SOCIETY is nowadays.

Having a genetic 'defect', no matter how serious it is, does NOT make somebody less of a valid, important or intelligent human being, but it can seriously inhibit their ability to lead a 'normal' life, to communicate or to live without constant pain.
Scientists can, given enough time, track down the causes of such diseases to a specific set of genes or chromosome and correct that mistake before the egg first divides - resulting in a healthy but far from *perfect* (NOBODY is perfect, we are ALL indviduals!)child. This is, in my opinion, a far more humane way of dealing with genetic diseases than abortion or dumping an unwanted disabled child in a home!

Genetic qualities like 'intelligence' or 'beauty' on the other hand, which have a lot to do with your upbringing and surroundings, are a hell of a lot more difficult (if at all possible) to track down than specific genetic defects (and *a big nose* is NOT a genetic defect, it's just the way someone HAPPENS to look and there is NOTHING wrong with it-- *Ahem* I happen to have a fairly big nose myself and I can live with it ;) ), which are very often found to be errors in the coding for a specific PROTEIN that, if not present in the *normal* form, inhibits an individual's body to function properly.

And my point is exactly? Well, I have many points, but my main wish is that people get educated about a subject BEFORE they let their fear of the unknown lead them to sheer ignorance... GATTACA is NOT going to happen!

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