Does this remind anybody of the movie Gattica? In case you haven't seen it, the population of the world is genetically engineered, each person made perfectly to perform their job and "naturally" born individuals are despised in the society. I'm not trying to say that fooling around with the genetic code of the human race is a bad thing if it is used to treat serious things such as cancer, or various genetic diseases, in fact I have lost three family members to various cancers and my family has a history of unfortunate genetic diseases (of course, all genetic diseases are unfortunate) and I do wish that there could have been a cure for their ailments, but I wouldn't want a switch in their genetic code swiched off that could possibly cause more problems for them. I don't think that "dumping chemicals into the human body to turn genetic switches on/off is a good thing eitgher, I would hope that they would have a better system to do this than I have been told about. Other people who have posted say that the uman race has aways altered it's surroundings to suit it's own needs, for example domesticating plants and animals. This may be true but if these things are left to their own they will eventually return to the wild ways that their ancestors lived by. We have no idea whether or not we will be able to reverse what we have done to the human race.
Re:I usually find your articles interesting, but..
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Planet Gattaca
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If you had better read my reply you would have seen that I stated that HIV is a retro virus, which eans that it changes the genetic code of the cels that it attacks. If scientists knew what part of the virus' code changes the host cells code, then they could develop vaccines (this is the best word that I could find to describe it) that could stop the virus from changing the hosts genetic code, thereby stopping the virus in it's tracks.
Re:I usually find your articles interesting, but..
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Planet Gattaca
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Even if scientists can find out everything about the human genome, which is the genetic code that makes us what we are, there would be many diseases that would remain uncured. Cancer is not a programed genetic defect but a mutation caused by environmental conditions. However, I will admit that the potential to eliminate retroviruses such as H.I.V. means that there is a valid reason to continue the research.
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wow, its amazing, thats the first thing that popped into my and my roommates mind when we say the headline!
Does this remind anybody of the movie Gattica? In case you haven't seen it, the population of the world is genetically engineered, each person made perfectly to perform their job and "naturally" born individuals are despised in the society. I'm not trying to say that fooling around with the genetic code of the human race is a bad thing if it is used to treat serious things such as cancer, or various genetic diseases, in fact I have lost three family members to various cancers and my family has a history of unfortunate genetic diseases (of course, all genetic diseases are unfortunate) and I do wish that there could have been a cure for their ailments, but I wouldn't want a switch in their genetic code swiched off that could possibly cause more problems for them. I don't think that "dumping chemicals into the human body to turn genetic switches on/off is a good thing eitgher, I would hope that they would have a better system to do this than I have been told about. Other people who have posted say that the uman race has aways altered it's surroundings to suit it's own needs, for example domesticating plants and animals. This may be true but if these things are left to their own they will eventually return to the wild ways that their ancestors lived by. We have no idea whether or not we will be able to reverse what we have done to the human race.
If you had better read my reply you would have seen that I stated that HIV is a retro virus, which eans that it changes the genetic code of the cels that it attacks. If scientists knew what part of the virus' code changes the host cells code, then they could develop vaccines (this is the best word that I could find to describe it) that could stop the virus from changing the hosts genetic code, thereby stopping the virus in it's tracks.
Even if scientists can find out everything about the human genome, which is the genetic code that makes us what we are, there would be many diseases that would remain uncured. Cancer is not a programed genetic defect but a mutation caused by environmental conditions. However, I will admit that the potential to eliminate retroviruses such as H.I.V. means that there is a valid reason to continue the research.