How long can we survive on the planet or is it all over?

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Biological manipulation.

The fact is we can scarcely open a newspaper or turn on the television without learning of a new procedure that cross matches animal and human tissue. Pigs hearts in humans! Lungs of oxen considered as human substitutes, and a whole new area of spare parts surgery made possible from animal organs! In addition to this, cloning of animals through biological manipulation is now a distinct possibility, and there is no doubt these are remarkable times.

Real risks.

What is not so widely appreciated are the very real risks that such research involves. Risks that even make hardened scientists express alarm at the rate at which this research is developing. For while genuine progress is a wonderful thing, unscrupulous tampering with the forces of nature could eventually conspire to wipe out the whole of humanity.

As one Harvard scientist observed: “The ability to manufacture, transplant, and combine genes is at the heart of a potential catastrophe that threatens the entire human race with a biological doomsday!”

The Good and the Bad.

In his book The Science of Catastrophe, Fred Warshofsky believes gene engineering holds incredible benefits for humanity, but also great hazards. He considers there is a real danger “we may unleash a biocatastrophe far worse than any natural disaster could ever achieve.” Warshofsky claims this catastrophe will occur with bewildering rapidity. In his opinion, “not by the forces of nature, but by the hand of man.”

Alarming spectre.

One of the most dramatic aspects of genetic research was the cloning of a sheep called Dollie. This incredible feat inevitably opens the door to so much more. Because as the history of the human race has shown - once open, doors like this never close. This also gives rise to the alarming spectre of the cloning of humans. Despite restrictions prohibiting this kind of research, there is little to prevent unscrupulous scientists from doing so in secret. And if this holds no scruples how long before a human and an animal are combined?

Significant dilemmas.

These questions, and many more like them illustrate that science is far outstripping our ability to adjust to the dilemmas that it poses. We have to remember that barely fifty years ago nuclear energy was considered the wonder fuel of the future. In their headlong dash to adopt it, some nations ignored the long term dangers and are now dealing with the consequences. It shows that apparently harmless discoveries can possess a substantial risk element. In the case of genetic research these risks are huge. One apparently trivial mistake can set in motion an unstoppable chain of events that would prove disastrous within a very short time!

Merciless Reality.

The fact is that when we probe the boundaries of the unknown - particularly the world of genetics - we run the risk of invoking a truly merciless reality that has the power to destroy us all.