UP Ibalon Bicol: Man-made organism opens questions on the limits of genomic science

Man-made organism opens questions on the limits of genomic science

8/23/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

Controversial scientist Dr. Craig Venter, the noted American biologist who tinkers with the genetic code has announced scientists are on the verge of making a synthetic bacterium from a combination of genetic splices from certain organisms. Speaking from the J. Craig Venter Research Institute in Maryland, the visionary of genomic investigations said researchers have figured to circumvent a key obstacle in the production of simple biologic agents.

Venter says “within months” a vital breakthrough in gene manipulation will unfold to give way to the first man-made species of organism. His team brings a lot of hope to advance research and the potential uses of the genetic engineering. But it also summons doubts.

Laboratory-created organisms can be prodded to make antibiotics and vaccines to combat diseases. With synthetic biologic agents, researchers can build enzymes to fight pollution. A man-made species of algae can be tasked to gobble up pollutants and chemical debris in the ocean floor. Scientists can use tailored bacteria to produce drugs, proteins, and biologic agents of myriad uses.

Venter's Man-Made Organism & Curie's Radioactive Radium

The development of an artificial organism is akin to what Warsaw-born Nobel prize awardee Marie Curie came to know when she bumped on the uses of radium during her studies in a makeshift laboratory in Paris, France. As a result of her astounding scientific work, the radioactive materials became a beneficial agent to diagnose and fight cancer as we know today.

However, radium’s unleashed energy Curie understood, was the basis of something sinisterly horrific---like the dreaded nuclear bomb which killed untold number of innocent people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since then, the specter of the misuse of uranium energy stalked the survival of people.

Like radium and uranium research during Curie’s time, Venter’s technology, is not error-proof. With the good uses of their discoveries, comes danger which may put the human race in jeopardy. At present, relying mostly on suppposed credibility, there are very few regulations to oversee the safety of how scientists like Venter keep and manipulate the genetic code of living things. They practically have no accountability. Few people know how their new-found knowledge will be applied and where their discoveries will lead to.

Polar Uses of Scientific Research

While we focus on the positive sides of scientific researches, the experimentations on the basic unit of life can bring “angels” and “devils” flying. In spite of the assurances that studies are safe and are undertaken for “peaceful” purposes only, there is a cause of concern. Whether we are inspired by the universal benefits of these researches or we are stirred by self-gratification, there are moral and ethical questions that we have to grapple. To make an living organism is an ambitious science. Are we playing God?

The synthesized organism can generate precursors of deadly organisms that terrorists will love to get in waging a biologic warfare. On the other hand, it can produce disease-fighting immunoglobulins that can prevent or cure some of the world’s worst afflictions.

God silently watch over man’s folly and fancy. Without proper regulations and oversight, the production of synthetic organisms can be our next Pandora’s box. It teems with benevolent and evil surprises. =0=

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Labels: bacteria, biologic hazard, Dr. Craig Venter, genetic code, genetic engineering, genome, Marie Curie, nuclear hazard, organism, radium, science, Totie Mesia, uranium

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Man-made organism opens questions on the limits of genomic science

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