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Title: Issues/Science and Technology/Biotechnology - Prometheus Bound: Cloning Bears Identical Reactions Fred L. Smith's commentary on the public's reaction to the announcement of Dolly and GM foods. (May, 1997)
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Prometheus Bound: Cloning Bears Identical Reactions
Prometheus Bound
Cloning Bears Identical
Reactions
by Fred L. Smith Jr.
Fred
L. Smith Jr. ispresident of the
Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
The ink had barely dried on
the Washington Times’ clever headline on the
Scottish sheep cloning story, "Hello Hello, Dolly,
Dolly!" before politicians were calling for bans.
President Clinton was first to express "serious
concern." Repre-sentative Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), a
physicist by training, echoed his sentiments. He reasoned
that to prevent horrible regulation, we should impose bad
regulation.
The response to
cloning was predictable and indicative of the troubled
political history of biotechnology. The discovery of the
double helix structure of DNA and later, the ability to
recombine DNA, made many uneasy. Technophobe Jeremy
Rifkin described biotechnology as "a form of
annihilation every bit as deadly as nuclear holocaust,
and even more profound." Repetition of the
"mistake" of unleashing nuclear power had to be
avoided. Scientists could no longer allow others to
decide how to use new and potentially destructive
discoveries. They assumed the role Olympians, deciding
whether the technology would be released or suppressed.
Thus in the early
1970s, James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA double
helix, and several microbiologists urged a moratorium on
further research until the dangers of gene-splicing could
be assessed. At a meeting in Pacific Grove, California in
1975, scientists urged the National Institutes of Health
to impose guidelines governing DNA experiments.
Congress, led by
then-Congressman Al Gore (D-Tenn.), among others, was
poised to codify the NIH guidelines when it was
discovered that gene splicing occurs spontaneously in
nature regularly. Scientists realized that they had been
a little hasty. Watson admitted "Scientifically, I
was a nut. . . . There is no evidence at all that
recombinant DNA poses the slightest danger."
Biophysicist Bill Zimmerman, an early advocate of
legislation, concluded, "In looking back, it would
be hard to insist that a law was necessary, or perhaps,
that guidelines were necessary."
But fear of biotech
has done much greater harm than would ever be likely from
new discoveries. For example, Advanced Genetic Sciences
developed a product, Frost Ban, to reduce frost damage to
plants. A common bacteria, Pseudomonas syringae,
found on many plants, produces chemicals which facilitate
ice crystal formation. Researchers were able to delete
the responsible gene, providing some protection to
delicate strawberry plants. Rationalizing that the
modified bacteria might replace the "ice plus"
bacteria which can be viewed as a "pest," the
EPA asserted that it was pesticide; even though no new
genetic material was introduced to the environment.
Unfortunately, the state of California required
protective moonsuits to be worn during testing and the
industry went along. Thus while industry press releases
noted that the microorganisms being applied to the
strawberries were completely safe, the visual message of
the moonsuits was, "This stuff is dangerous!"
The public relations debacle forced the company to drop
attempts to market the product.
Some genetically
engineered foods met the same fate. Anti-biotech
activists frightened the public away from the Flavr Savr
Tomato, modified to resist softening, and bST, a hormone
which increases milk production in cows.
Against this
backdrop, there is still hope that the response to
cloning will be a lot more staid. While politicians
pontificate about the dangers of cloning, press stories
point out the potential benefits from such a
breakthrough.
The scientific
community is also avoiding past mistakes. Harold Varmus,
director of the National Institutes of Health, in
testimony before Congress, warned against hasty
regulation that may block important cloning research. And
in the 6 March 1977 issue of Nature, geneticist
Steve Jones warns that our political leaders are unable
"to differentiate between the plausible and the
impossible."
Technological
innovation does pose risks, but so also does
technological stagnation. Political bans on human cloning
research would slow and possibly halt many promising
developments in medical research; it could drive research
to countries less equipped to balance safety with
development. The biotechnology revolution has already
yielded enormous benefits, notwithstanding the
obstructionist tactics of the doomsayers. It is essential
that the mistakes of the past be avoided and that
scientists check rather than inflame the passions of
politicians.
Regulation is published four times a
year by the Cato Institute. Editorial and business offices are
located at 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.,
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Fred | L. | Smith's | commentary | on | the | public's | reaction | to | the | announcement | of | Dolly | and | GM | foods. | (May, | 1997) |
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