I just happened to read a Richard HeinBerg book on Cloning the Buddha-The Moral Impact of Biotechnology . I like the views and doubts raised by the author against the tall claims made by Biotechnology and genetic engineering. I remember a saying "making money with biology is biotechnology"
There are no doubts that GE has been making various advances for the mankind especially in medicine and agriculture.But are we morally right in dissecting and moving the genes as we please? How does "MORAL" comes into the picture of this science? And what are the negative side of this technology?The book provides answers for these questions
Some points are worth pondering,before attempting to play with genes.
It is not that just by decoding DNA,we will know everything to know about life The situation is, there is more to life than just DNA. DNA ,infact is conditioned by organism itself and by the environment.
There is a lack of corelation between an organism's size and the amount of DNA.Also various researches have pointed out that each gene is not encoding the same meaning in different species ,as we thought earlier.Almost every gene studied in higher organisms has been found to affect more than one trait.So the genetic code is still ambiguous
There is no one-to one reading of the genotype onto phenotype.There are lot of intervening steps .DNA just influences the developmental process,not direct them.
Each living organism has an inner purpose.The intuition,perception or belief that other beings have a self with an interior experience comparable to one's own is the basis of ethics.In the deployment of Biotechlogy ,we are profoundly altering our relationship with the living world.
To put it in a nut shell,we should treat nature as the cooperative,interdependent,self directed activity of numberless creatures.It implies a respect for wholes,whole natural systems that arise from intertwined homeostatic relationships between and among living beings.
The entire genetic engineering and Biotechnology which functions around the reductionist view that genes are everything is against this holistic view.
Take a look.It is intriguing.