So we learned in microbio about this group working on synthetic genomics: trying to 'create' a synthetic microbe based on a minimal set of genes. Here's a news item from just a few months ago:
ROCKVILLE, MD—January 24, 2008—A team of 17 researchers at the J. CraigVenter Institute (JCVI) has created the largest man-made DNA structure bysynthesizing and assembling the 582,970 base pair genome of a bacterium,Mycoplasma genitalium JCVI-1.0. This work, published online today in the journalScience by Dan Gibson, Ph.D., et al, is the second of three key steps toward the team’sgoal of creating a fully synthetic organism. In the next step, which is ongoing at theJCVI, the team will attempt to create a living bacterial cell based entirely on thesynthetically made genome.
http://www.syntheticgenomics.com/
Is this ethical??
There's something a little unnerving about us trying to 'create' a living cell. But at the same time, there could be a lot of benefits to people come from this (see Venter quotation below). We shouldn't play God, but as a Christian I don't need to worry about the human race getting totally out of hand because God just won't allow it. I mean, sin can and does abound but God's not going to be caught off guard by us and accidentally let us figure out his inscrutable mysteries...
So in learning about bio and organic chemistry and cases like this, I'm thinking about the dividing line between chemicals and life... it gets kind of blurry! Obviously, human life is different, because we have minds and souls, but we are also instilled with a certain respect for life in general, which is pretty cool. (Even these scientists value the living over the non-living, to they think this is only because of the potential benefit to themselves and/or the human race?) So if we do eventually manage to create a synthetic living cell, will we lose some of that respect? Will it be a loss only of respect to microbes, or will it start creeping up the chain to plants, animals, people...? One thing is for sure, it would definitely boost our already disgusting confidence that the 'unknown' is really just the 'not-yet-known' (to use Wendell Berry's idea).
But we could turn the idea back around and say that if we even were able to 'create' life, it ought not to decrease our respect for life but increase our respect for the inanimate world. Increase our love for the minerals, as it were (of which, we must remember, we are stewards). If we don't praise God, the rocks will cry out... maybe God is laughing at us for making such a thick line between the 'living' and the 'inanimate'. Maybe the final lines are between things such as existence and non-existence, or good and evil (We could think about the connections here between good-existence and evil-non-existence... see George MacDonald and St. Augustine).
Anyway, if our final achievement in science is to realize that the natural world can all be put into one category, well, we've circle back to Genesis: "And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (Gen. 1:31).
Here is a statement from the founder of the synthetic genomics company, Craig Venter (who has done lots genomics):
"Work in creating a synthetic chromosome/genome will give us a better understanding of basic cellular processes. Genome composition, regulatory circuits, signaling pathways and numerous other aspects of organism gene and protein function will be better understood through construction of a synthetic genome. Not only will this basic research lead to better understanding of these pathways and components in the particular organisms, but also better understanding of human biology. The ability to construct synthetic genomes may lead to extraordinary advances in our ability to engineer microorganisms for many vital energy and environmental purposes."
- J. Craig Venter, 2003
