New York (NY) - Craig Venter, the U.S. scientist involved heavily in the effort to decipher the human genome, has made a startling announcement.  He intends to create the first artificial lifeform made from man-made, or constructed DNA, built entirely from laboratory chemicals.  Venter said, "...we are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before."  Venter will announce the official results of his work at a currently undisclosed exact time, but sometime within the next few weeks.


Point
Venter's current creation is an artificial chromosome comprised of 381 genes and 580,000 base pairs.  This places it close to the simplest bacteria which have about 600,000 base pairs.  The human genome has about 25,000 genes and 3 billion base pairs.

The fact that this artificial chromosome is very close to bacteria is likely to be of great concern for many.  Especially those who believe science is pushing too far too fast.  We have seen how damaging some natural bacteria can be to flesh, killing people within hours or days of contact.  And if we now consider a man made version, especialy one that will be the genome equivalent of some beta software, there are bound to be flaws, right?  Mistakes will be made.  And at this level, how much damage could a genetic flaw cause mankind?  Or the world?

In Canada right now, having introduced selective forms of genetically modified crops around the year 2000, there are no longer any fields, even those that were not seeded with genetically modified crops initially, which can be certified 100% organic.  The artificial genome spread into neighboring fields through the normal course of life and plant production, even those separated by a barrier such as a road.  This has become a matter of extreme concern for many farmers and activists in Canada and abroad.


Counterpoint
An outspoken physicist, author and activist in India, Vandana Shiva, has taken her message to the world stage.  And it's one against genetic engineering in all forms.  To back up her opinion, she also started The Navdanya Seed Farm in the Himalayan foothills to maintain the genetic integrity of various seed forms.  It is a physical seed storehouse isolated several miles from other farming areas.  It contains many different natural and traditional forms of rice, beans, peas and many other native and global vegetables.

She hopes to maintain seeds without genetic damage so that natural crops will continue.  She is very outspoken about the health benefits and healing properties of natural foods, and the dangers of the artificial foods we are buying in our supermarkets today.  She says we are losing more than we know, and it is a loss based on ignorance, complacency and a willingness to concede to the big business' desire to make more money using genetically modified crops.

She has cited the damage done through one example of recent genetic engineering in her own country.  A big seed company wanted to sell modified cotton seeds.  They were supposed to be resistent to a particular insect which often damages cotton crops.  Many farmers bought that seed because of its big advertising push and because it cost less to buy.  Later that year the crop was seen with the same insect damaging the plants.  The crops did not come in that year and many lost their farms as a result.  Many farmers even took to committing suicide in an effort to stave off the debt which remained on their family.  By killing themselves, a governmental loop-hole allowed the debt to be wiped clean so the remaining family could start again.  Shiva speaks passionately against the genetically modified seed industry and results like this.

Read more about this at  The Guardian.


UPDATE:  TG Daily has learned that a report being published later this week by researchers at Indiana University "suggests a widely planted variety of genetically engineered corn has the potential to harm aquatic ecosystems."  They further "[establish] that pollen and other plant parts containing toxins from genetically engineered Bt corn are washing into streams near cornfields."  Their research specifically states that caddisflies, acquatic insects related to the pests targeted by the toxin in Bt corn, have increased mortality and reduced growth rates as a result.  Caddisflies serve as "a food resource for higher organisms, like fish and amphibians," according to Todd V. Royer, assistant professor in the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs.  The study is being published online this week by the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.


UPDATE #2:  Several commenters have left posts indicating that the risks from this type of discovery are no more dangerous than the existing technologies we have which could already destroy the world many times over, including bio-weapons.  I think there is a fundamental level of understanding which is not had in those arguments, however.  And I think it's one which is beyond signifciance and needs to be stated.

Namely this:  life is self replicating.  This is something which can be let out in a very small quantity.  One bacteria, for example, in just a few hours, days or years, can have a world-wide impact.  It could destroy plants, animals and man without even batting an eye, so to speak.  And it doesn't have to be widely deployed at any given time because it is self replicating.  There are no other weapons which are self replicating, short of other modified genetic bio-weapons.  And once those other non-genetically modified weapons are released or detonated, they always diminish over time.  The damage will be initial, then carrying on, but always diminishing until reaching a state of equillibrium at some point in the future.  It may have destroyed all life on Earth initially, or during the carrying on time, but it will eventually diminish.  With a self replicating process that is harmful to life, that's isn't necessarily the case any longer.  It can continue to exist in small quantities, but after having destroyed so much en masse.  This means it can flare up again.  Look at the Polio epidemic which is just being reported on this week.

And when it comes to life, we (as mankind) have no idea what we are doing.  Not in the tiniest little bit.  We still haven't cured diseases.  We can take healthy family members, even identical twins, and sit them side-by-side with the other member who has Alzeheimer's Disease, for example.  And yet, between the two of them, with our best medical technology and scientists using our highest-end, most expensive tools today, we can't even determine what's different between the healthy person and the patient, and then fix it, let alone take that knowledge to the masses with a generic cure.  And now we believe we're intelligent enough to create life?  Even life on such a small scale as a simple bacteria?

There is a huge difference between developing the first nuclear bomb and test detonating it, not knowing wheither or not it would vaporize the atmosphere through a cascade chain reaction, and then comparing that to creating a new form of life.  The differences are huge.  Astronomical.  And mankind does not have enough of an idea of what's required to act in such a way.  Not enough responsibility.  Not enough experience.  Not enough knowledge.  Not enough shielding between the laboratory, which in this case would be our only home, the Earth, and the place where people can live in safety.  And not enough patience to be content in moving extremely cautiously in such areas.  Mankind's greed and avarice reaches out and blinds his logic, and that of his fellow mankind.

Consider that from the very point in time when this new lifeform is created, until all points in the future where it is still surviving, even in tiny quantities, it has fundamentally changed the lifeform makeup of this planet.  All it would take is the right ingredient, be it temperature, a newly found food source, a natural mutation, anything, for that new lifeform to then begin thriving and displacing other life.  Why?  Because it is self replicating.

I can't help but think about the farming family in the middle of the South American jungle who are trying desperately only to feed their families and survive.  And here comes a scientist from the western civilizations who believes he has the knowledge necessary to carry out such experiments, not really knowing beyond all doubt whether or not he truly does, attempting such an experiment.  All it would take is one mistake and that innocent family, along with several billion other people on the planet, are wiped out.

In my opinion, the stakes are too high to risk tampering with at this time.  And I feel it's very important that people who make arguments for the scientist to continue his research be aware of exactly what is at stake.  It is different than conventional forms of weaponry, even nuclear weaponry.  Bio-weapons, genetically modified organisms, and now man-made life, these are all so dangerous, with genetic modification being the most dangerous potential, that we should just stop.  Pause and reflect on what we're doing.  Give it a century or so to sink in.  If mankind is on his way to something great, then 100 years is not going to affect anything in the overall scheme.

Note:  These are my personal thoughts on the subject.  They do not, necessarily, reflect the position of TG Daily or any of its affiliates.  And if anyone would like to discuss my positions personally with me, either on the phone or in email, you can contact me using only my first name with the common trailing part for the TG Daily website placed after the at sign.



Author's opinion
If I consider the fact that these prior examples were only modifications to plants, and that we have seen several instances where genetically modified food either caused various problems or did not lived up to promise.  And then if I consider the possible dangers which could arise from mankind creating new lifeforms...  I feel I'm left with a no-brainer conclusion.  I mean, we can't even get medial drugs to work without a laundry list of possible side effects, often including significant damage to the liver.  And now we're going to start creating new life?  I don't think even our best scientists are good enough at the fundamentals to even consider tackling a project like this.  Certainly not yet, and likely not ever.  In fact, I can see this particular endeavor ending very badly.

We are curious to know what you think.  Please post a comment below.