March 15, 2013 (Friday)
“Genetic engineering is to traditional crossbreeding what the nuclear bomb was to the sword”–Andrew Kimbrell
Quoting from a scientific article:
Researchers from the University of Wyoming have developed a way to incorporate spiders’ silk-spinning genes into goats, allowing the researchers to harvest the silk protein from the goats’ milk for a variety of applications. Goats that produce spider silk protein in their milk could enable researchers to collect large quantities of the silk. In the future, the scientists plan to incorporate the silk genes into alfalfa plants, which they say could produce even larger quantities of silk.
The advantages of abundant silk are many, but the dangers of life forms created by human beings are potentially horrifying. Just take a look at what has already happened in our world as previously unknown species of plant or animal life are introduced into places where they upset the ecological balance of the area. The results have been disturbing and, in some cases, devastating. Examples are the Pythons in the Everglades, the Fire Ants in the Southern USA, the rabbits that overrun the Outback, and
Kudzu in the southeastern USA, not to mention the annual appearance of the “Wooly Worms” here in Aransas and San Patricio Counties (results of a researcher’s work in Ingleside).
The issue today is not only the introduction of a species that was previously living elsewhere; it is the creation of a brand new life form.
Sort of reminds me of the creation of a monster by Dr. Frankenstein.
The maniacal screams of the previously intelligent and sensible scientist could be heard thorughout the peaceful little village: “It’s alive! It’s alive! It’s alive!” And so it was. After it broke its restraints and made its way from the laboratory to the village and countryside, death followed it. “It” was a “man,” but a kind of man never known to this world before. The story is fiction. The genetic experiments and procedures in today’s world are very real.