9. Eden Redux
But what about the environmental crisis – pollution, toxic waste, the devastation of the rainforest, the greenhouse effect, a sixth mass species extinction (as postulated by Richard Leaky in his book The Sixth Extinction)?[1] Can one be considered wealthy without a clean, healthy environment?
It is widely accepted as fact that economic pressures are the primary cause of environmental havoc. People who are poor and hungry will clear cut a rainforest without hesitation to earn a dollar (or peso). Only the well-fed, as according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, can afford to be concerned about the long-term effects of these methods. Just as with population control, a rising standard of living makes for good (Earth) citizens.
Is it too late to prevent catastrophe? Is the damage irreversible? Education and abundance may forestall future environmental damage, and indeed already are to some extent. Science may reverse the damage that has already been done. Nanotechnology can be directed towards disassembling toxic molecules into inert harmless substances; can disassemble the primary greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), which results from any combustion process, into harmless carbon (C) and beneficial oxygen (O2); and may even be able to recreate pristine natural environments, all one atom at a time.
The fantasy in the movie Jurassic Park, where dinosaur DNA, obtained from the blood in the stomach of an ancient mosquito that was preserved in amber, and was cloned to reproduce an extinct species, may in the near future be a reality.[2] Genetics and biotechnology are making gains at an astonishing pace. The following news article which announces the recent complete mappping of a human chromosome illustrates progress to date:
Thursday December 2, 1999
Momentous Gene Breakthrough Heralded As Milestone
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) – A team of international scientists has deciphered the genetic code of a human chromosome in a scientific milestone that could herald new treatments for diseases ranging from heart disease to schizophrenia, researchers said Wednesday.
Researchers from Britain, the United States and Japan have mapped the entire sequence of the protein-coding genes of chromosome 22, the second smallest of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes.
They said they identified 545 genes, 298 of which were unknown, giving new insights into how genes are arranged on DNA and how they can be used to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases.
“It is both an exciting and momentous occasion. Exciting because what the scientists have achieved has enabled the world to see for the first time what the make-up of an entire human chromosome is,” Dr. Michael Dexter, of the Wellcome Trust, told a news conference.
“It is momentous because this provides a model for the remaining 22 chromosomes to be completed,” added Dexter, head of the world’s largest medical research charity, which funded some of the research.
Scientists from the Sanger Center in Britain, Keio University in Japan, the University of Oklahoma and Washington University in St. Louis all collaborated on the research reported in the latest issue of the science journal Nature.
It is the first step in the Human Genome Project, which plans to sequence the entire human genome, all of the more than 100,000 genes in human DNA, by 2003.
“One thousand years from now what is being reported today will be considered one of the true milestones of scientific research” Dexter said.
Each chromosome is made up of a molecule of DNA in the shape of a double helix that is composed of four chemical bases represented by the letters A (adenine), T (thymine), G (guanine) and C (cytosine). The arrangement, or sequences, of the letters determines the cell’s genetic code.
Dozens Of Diseases Linked To Chromosome 22
The scientists have mapped out the 33 million base pairs of chromosome 22. Thirty-five diseases and syndromes, including some cancers, schizophrenia, deafness and heart disease, have a genetic component linked to the chromosome, they said.
The human genome contains three billion base pairs of DNA.
Dr. Ian Dunham of the Sanger Center, who led the international team, emphasized the strong collaboration between the four major genome sequencing centers.
“It is that strength which has let us to be able to reach this milestone” he said.
In addition to the genes already identified, Dunham estimates there are about 100-200 more that may still emerge. Forty-two percent of the chromosome is composed of junk DNA, which does not code a protein and has no known function.
“This is the first time we’ve really been able to see a whole human chromosome in all its detail — the organization of all of the genes and how they relate to each other, Dunham added.
The sequence will enable scientists rapidly to design new experiments, identify new genes involved in disease and study their function.
Dr. Peter Scambler, of the Institute of Child Health in London, said the sequencing will accelerate understanding of diseases linked with chromosome 22.
“The sequence data will be used to increase our understanding of genetic influences on more common diseases, for example genes conferring protection from or a predisposition to heart disease, stroke and psychiatric diseases,” he said.
It also will give doctors new information on treatments, including side effects, diagnosis and prognosis, Scambler added.[3]
Science fiction has a strange habit of becoming science fact. The possibility, indeed the likelihood, exists, that the Earth can be restored to its pre-homo sapiens glory and environmental activists will have to find something else to protest and obsess about. The point here is not to minimize the threat of ecological damage, but to balance the argument and allow the visualization of solutions and a positive bright future.
A famous quote of Mark Twain, after a newspaper prematurely published his obituary, was “the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” I would like to adapt this quote for all of humanity: the reports of humankind’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
[1] Richard Leaky & Roger Lewin, The Sixth Extinction (New York: Doubleday, 1995).
[2] Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg, MCA, 1993.
[3] Patricia Reaney, Momentous Gene Breakthrough Heralded As Milestone, Thursday December 2, 1999, London (Reuters).