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Article: Bad axioms in genetic engineering.
- Article from:
- The Hastings Center Report
- Article date:
- August 1, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Hastings Center. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Bad Axioms in Genetic Engineering
The parade of wonders mounted by biological science marches by at an increasinly rapid race. In a kind of mimicry of Genesis, we have synthesized a living, functioning gene from shelf chemicals in the laboratory. Through improved cloning techniques we are able to produce exact copies of lower life forms--genetic replicas down to the very shape and location of spots on the backs of leopard frogs. Even more significantly, recent techniques for gene mapping and recombination ("gene splicing") are throwing open doors to the treatment of diseases, ecological control, and the technological production of a wide range of goods from ...