Destiny is in our grasp, say scientists

FROM MARK HENDERSON, SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT

MANKIND will have the ability to control and alter its evolutionary
destiny within 30 years using secrets unlocked by the mapping of the human genetic
code, one of the architects of the Human Genome Project said yesterday.

Rapid advances in the understanding of human DNA will allow the
development of drugs that use personal genetic fingerprints to target disease,
therapies to repair defective genes and, ultimately, the manipulation of
man s genetic future, according to Francis Collins, director of the
National Genome Research Institute in the United States.

By 2010, scientists will have developed accurate tests for a dozen common
genetic illnesses, and preventive treatments to match, he predicted. By
2020, doctors will be able to alter the genes passed on to children,
leading to the first genetically engineered human beings. By 2030, genetic
medicine will mean most Britons will live to the age of 90.

However, Dr Collins cautioned against relying too much on genetic
manipulation. The human genome will not help us to undertand the spiritual
side of humankind, or to know who God is or what love is, he said at the
Biovision world life sciences forum in Lyons. The well-heeled couple who
decide they want to use genetics to have a child that is a gifted musician
may end up with a sullen adolescent who smokes marijuana and doesn t talk
to them.

But he said that advances in screening technology, genetic engineering and
new therapies to repair defective genes will allow medical researchers to
eradicate DNA variations that cause fatal diseases such as Huntington s
chorea, a neurological condition, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a
wasting disease.

It will be possible for mankind to set its own evolutionary path and build
a fitter species, Dr Collins said.

I wouldn t be surprised if in another 30 years . . . that some people will
begin to argue, as Stephen Hawking already is, that we ought to take
charge of our own evolution and should not be satisfied with our current
biological status and should as a species try to improve ourselves, Dr
Collins said.

Oryginal: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-81232,00.html

See also  http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4130720,00.html
[arguing that we must employ genetic engineering to counter the deterioration of our genes by mutations since harmful mutations are no
longer reliably eliminated by natural selection]

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