Well, I can't seem to get much interest in this topic for some reason, so
I've been doing some reading and some thinking. At first I was not convinced
that GM was much of an issue for those of us interested in environmental
ethics, but I'm starting to change my mind. The recent "mapping" of the
human genome and resultant press has made me wonder if the scientists and
policy wonks really grasp the significance of all this. I believe, but I
could be wrong, that the human genome is only the second or third mapped
genome. I think the others are one bacteria (E. coli) and fruit flies
(Drosophilae), if there are others I'd be interested to know.
In other words, we are only on the edge of understanding the variety of
genotypes on Earth, and a long way from understanding the
inter-relationship. We don't yet know much about the inter-relationship of
species, let alone individuals, despite all the claims of ecologists. For
the most part the autecology of species is a mystery. We are mostly agreed
that human induced extinctions are a major issue of environmental ethicists,
which is why I posted the article about cloning an extinct species. So, my
attention and concern about GM has been directed there. Here is a quote from
"The Gold Bug Variations" by Richard Powers (if you haven't read this, do
so).
"The specter is more terrifying than mass extinction. The annihilation of
most of the globe seem survivable so long as some fraction of the message
remained interact. But if monstrous meaninglessness propagates with the
speed and exactitude of natural transmission, everything is over. The loss
of a great library to fire is a tragedy. But the surreptitious introduction
of thousands of untraceable errors into reliable books, errors picked up and
distributed endlessly by tireless researchers, is nightmare beyond measure.
Powers was, in fact, talking about induced mutations, but the idea remains
the same. The potential of GM to disrupt, massively, the evolved genomes of
thousands of species is, IMO, an issue we should be thinking about. I am a
scientist, and I'm not a luddite, in fact I'm pretty critical of that sort
of thinking. I guess the recent discussion about the unabomber got me
thinking about that. However, I'm beginning to wonder if GM is such a good
idea at this time. I have no doubt that the mapping of the human genome
will, in time, promote health and long life to most of humanity, but I worry
about the disruption of natural cycles, including disease and such, on the
rest of life.
Just a morning, not mourning, thought.
sb
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