Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the fact that we are in the throes of a structure of biological obsession
underwritten by pictures of absolute self-possession.
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We are bombarded
daily with the promise that nearly every human ailment or condition can
be overcome if we just have sufficient will and skill and refuse to listen
to any entreaties from critics, who are invariably portrayed as negative
and antiprogress. For those whom philosopher Charles Taylor calls the
cultural boosters, our imperfect embodiment is a problem that must be
overcome. For example: a premise—and promise—driving the Human
Genome Project, the massive mapping of the genetic code of the entire
human race, is that we might one day intervene decisively in order
to guarantee better, if not perfect, human products.
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Claims made by
promoters and advocates of this project run to the ecstatic.
Take, for instance, Walter Gilbert's 1986 pronouncement that the
Humane Genome Project “is the grail of human genetics . . . the ulti-
mate answer to the commandment, 'Know thyself.' ”
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In the genome-
enthusiast camp, they are already talking about designer genes. Note, in
this regard, the following advertisement reported by the
New York Times
in early spring 1999—an ad that had appeared in college newspapers all
over the United States: “EGG DONOR NEEDED / LARGE FINANCIAL INCEN-
TIVE / INTELLIGENT, ATHLETIC EGG DONOR NEEDED / FOR LOVING FAMILY
/ YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 5¢10≤ / HAVE A 1,400+ SAT SCORE / POSSESS NO
MAJOR FAMILY MEDICAL ISSUES / $50,000 / FREE MEDICAL SCREENING /
ALL EXPENSES PAID.”
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As
Commonweal
noted in an editorial occasioned
by this advertisement, this brings back eerie reminders of earlier adver-
tisements that involved trade in human flesh (the reference point being
the slave trade), and suggests that “we are fast returning to a world
where persons carry a price tag, and where the cash value of some
persons . . . is far greater than that of others.”
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Soberer voices, like that of scientist Doris T. Zallen, find themselves
struggling to gain a hearing above the din of the rhetoric of enthusiasm.
Having observed that the early promises of genetic intervention to fore-
stall “serious health problems, such as sickle-cell anemia, cystic fibrosis,
and Huntington disease,” have thus far had only the meagerest success,
Zallen takes up this booming genetic enterprise that promises not pre-
vention of harm but the attainment of perfection. It is called “genetic
enhancement.” One starts with a healthy person and then moves to
perfect. Zallen calls this the “genetic equivalent of cosmetic surgery.”
