ABSTRACT
Chapter 2, “The Dawn of GM Humans,” describes the emergence of some of the technologies anticipated by postwar scientists, their promise, their limitations, and their challenges, both technical and social. We relate the historic and scientific significance of the sequencing of the human genome, including its effect of culturally reinforcing the fallacy of genetic determinism (the erroneous “one-gene, one-trait” correlation, but also its more sophisticated but equally misleading replacements based on genetic circuits and networks). We then consider three emerging biotechnologies with serious implications for genetically modifying humans: cloning (including the prospect, realized in nonhuman animals, of bringing clones to full term), embryonic stem cells, and embryo gene modification. The chapter outlines how, through implementation of these biotechnologies, we are approaching an era in which experimental systems and therapeutic materials, consisting of tissues derived from human embryos or embryo-like stem cells, while plausibly serving human health needs, will eventually come to blur the boundary between humans and industrial products. The role of bioentrepreneurs in redefining scientific terminology to disguise the controversial aspects of the biotechnologies they pursue is discussed.
