GMO BLOG: From Franken Fish to Franken Ape

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The grand debate about genetically modifying plants has expanded to fish, and is on the verge of entering the human domain, now that we are inserting human DNA into animals.

The American USDA is about to allow a Genetically Modified (GMO) salmon, dubbed the Franken Fish, to enter our food supply. The moral problem with GMO engineering, when scientists mix DNA from different species to create new life forms, is not the next incremental step, but where we will end up. It seems that inserting human DNA into animals may be one small technical step for scientists, but a giant moral leap for mankind. Our future could very well turn into a moral nightmare far more threatening to the core of our existence than what we’ve seen in the worst science fiction horror movie.

There are currently three forms of DNA mixing:

• Cross breeding: donkey plus horse makes a mule. Nature has set its own natural limits on this; a cat and a dog don’t make a cadog.
• DNA manipulation: a small piece of DNA from one organism that is responsible for a very specific trait is inserted into the DNA string of another, unrelated, specie. The second specie now has the feature of the first. This was done with corn, soy beans and the Franken Fish.
• Animals Containing Human Material or ACHM: Insert and grow human (stem) cells in animals.  

Scientists are dabbling into this new third ACHM domain where human cells and DNA are implanted in animals.  Today (September 2011) there are two experiments ongoing that are just doing that. This new field of experimentation is called ACHM for "animals containing human material". The acronym ACHM will one day be as hotly debated as GMO (for Genetically Modified Organism).

1. Human brain tumor cells have been implanted into mice for research on new cancer chemo chemicals. This is done in the US. While controlled, and noble in its objective, the ethical consequences go well beyond the wellbeing of the mouse.
2. In China researchers have transferred human DNA to goats to study blood clotting.

The ethical Frankenstein consequences of these experiments are profound. The question to be discussed is, where will we humans stop? Here are some questions that progressively and shockingly raise the moral bar:

1. Is it ok to use human cancer cells in animals to save human lives?
2. Is it acceptable to grow human organs and tissue in animals, harvest them for transplants? We have already transplanted pig hearts. Is it a stretch to improve the pig heart with human, or better the recipient’s DNA?
3. Is it acceptable to re-engineer animals so that they become more productive for us? We have done this the “natural” way for millennia by cross breeding animals. If it is ok to mix DNA from related mammals, such as a donkey and a horse, is it o.k. to insert human DNA, by genetically modifying the animal’s DNA, or by injecting human stem cells into other mammals?
4. Does the purpose of the Frankenstein ACHM creature matter? Is there a moral difference between harvesting the modified animal for human food consumption, or for tissue transplants? Can we transplant human DNA to animals to make them more productive for us? Is it acceptable to transfer human brain stem cells to apes and make them smarter?
5. If a great ape receives a modified human like brain, develops self-awareness similar to humans, and demonstrates human like psychology, then what in hell is this hybrid? Is it an ape or is it a human?
6. Can these genetically modified animals work for humans? If they don’t have the same rights as us, are they slaves?
7. If it is morally o.k. to have these modified apes work in factories and mines, then what about turning them into soldiers? Can they fight our wars?