Apart from the issue of interaction with the so-called ‘Junk’ DNA which
makes up around 98% of the genome (which was only considered to be junk because
no one had worked out what it did), splicing powerful genetic functionality
together from disparate sources is alien to the diverse genepool of life that
has evolved over billions of years, and if unleashed upon this genepool it
will, over time, distort and mutate myriad species as it propagates through the
delicate mesh of interconnected systems which maintain our very existence. The threat of unintended consequences has
never been so clearly etched upon the hubris of mankind…
Thus, just as with other keys to fundamental powers of nature such as
nuclear fission and fusion, genetic manipulation has the power to kill or cure
on a vast scale. One could be easily
argue that its potential to heal or harm is even more extreme. It is clearly up to man to ensure that he has
the wisdom and long-sightedness to avoid the existential threats that genetic
manipulation can pose through unintended consequences over the longer term in
particular.
DNA is the fundamental code that defines all lifeforms, providing the
framework and tools which have allowed the evolution of life into its myriad
interconnected forms over hundreds of millions of years. Even seemingly minor alterations of the
genetic code of life can produce potentially catastrophic unforeseen
side-effects which can then be faithfully transmitted down the generations and
propagated out into the genepool over millennia as life continues to evolve and
adapt.
Unlike the natural random mutations which act as ‘dither’ signals,
allowing organisms to delicately and sensitively evolve within ever changing
environments, these manually purposed ‘mutations’ have the potential to distort
and degrade the evolutionary process over time and propagate like ripples
through the environment. The resultant
adjustments effectively imprint the distortion – which is often completely
unrelated to the organism’s environment – upon the DNA of other organisms which
come into contact with it.
Clearly this process has the potential to degrade the fitness and
biodiversity of other lifeforms; first in the local environment and then
spreading out year on year into other bio-systems worldwide. In the highly non-linear and complex web of
interactions that is normally manipulated by the environment driving evolution
through random mutations, the manual ‘mutation’ itself is attempting to drive
the environment, with the resultant disturbance potentially propagating out
chaotically via the so-called ‘butterfly effect.’
The manual modification of genes is powerful indeed, but the full true
cost and impact upon the integrity and stability of life could take many
millennia to unfold or just a few years.
With this is mind, it is quite literally vital that extremely stringent
and robust control mechanisms are put in place in order to prevent
contamination of the world’s genepool by ill thought out expressions of man’s
stupidity and short-sightedness.
