ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 offers an update on human genetic engineering, analyzing the “three-parent IVF” technology and the gene “editing” CRISPR/Cas9 technology. “The Road to Gattaca,” parses the language used to describe these technologies and recognizes the use of two strategies observed throughout Biotech Juggernaut to be persistently employed by stakeholders interested in propelling controversial technologies into broad acceptance: first, using terminology that appears neutral but which actually masks controversial aspects of the methodologies in question and second, framing all discussion in terms of guarantees of cures. These strategies pay little attention either to the potential scientific barriers to obtaining such cures or, even if cures should be found, to very troubling developments that accompany such agendas, e.g., the increased demand for human ova and the risks to young women that this demand entails (Chapters 3 and 4), the promulgation of gene-centric solutions to societal problems: “techno-eugenics,” and the creation of quasi-human beings for utilitarian purposes. Specifically, we discuss the chimera technique developed in the 1980s, whereby embryos of different animal species were blended together to yield new kinds of composite organisms. When co-author Stuart Newman used the patent application process to bring to the public’s attention the implications of this technique for blurring the human–nonhuman barrier, his concerns were largely dismissed, but the predicted uses have come to pass in the intervening decades. We also revisit the crucial distinction between somatic cell modification and germline genetic modification with respect to the quest for cures. Finally, we reflect on possibilities for robust advocacy on behalf of preserving a human future.
