remaking eden cloning and beyond in a brave new world

In terms of the risk of birth defects, it is safer.īut IVF was denounced before it was ever done in humans. The procedure is as safe as the natural process. She is now almost 20 years old, the “pioneer” of a procedure that, through 1994, had already led to the births of 150,000 babies worldwide, according to one survey’s estimate. But the feat was just a logical, probably inevitable, progression from the first successful IVF procedure that made possible the birth, in England, of Louise Joy Brown. It took a long time for researchers to develop the skills that led to the cloning of Dolly, the history-making lamb born more than a year ago. These and most of the other major advances of molecular biology were all anathematized initially as dangerous, impractical, immoral and as attempts by scientists to “play God.” The last on this list of well-denounced techniques-fertilization in the test tube-is now so common that it goes just by its initials IVF. The list includes the first deliberate transfer of genes between microbes, the first transplantation of foreign genes into humans, the use of amniocentesis to find defects in a fetus and the use of in vitro fertilization to help infertile couples have children. Virtually every major advance in biology during the last 40 years has evoked that same knee-jerk outpouring of horror. News people contemplating the present eruption of “cloning” stories should bear the sequence in mind, particularly the second stage. Actually, I did it myself 10 years ago, but never bothered to publish.”

It must be banned!”įinal stage: “It’s no big deal. Second stage: “Sure, it can be done, but it violates all the most sacred laws of God and man. $25.Those biologists who tend toward irreverence say their conservative peers have one standard response to any really startling advance in science.įirst stage: “It is impossible. Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New WorldĪvon Books.

Remaking eden cloning and beyond in a brave new world