MadSci Network: Genetics
Query:

Re: Scientific Genetic Manipulation for the purpose of creating a superior human

Date: Fri Mar 6 14:48:18 2009
Posted By: Billy Carver, Grad student, Biomedical Sciences, Vanderbilt University
Area of science: Genetics
ID: 1236254602.Ge
Message:

The Eugenics Wars

Gary,

These are very interesting questions and I have to admit, they gave me pause.  Let me first start out by asking for a clarification – what does “genetically superior” mean, per se?  Historically people who claimed to be interested in genetic superiority tended to be more interested in racial purity.  Since you’ve abandoned that idea in your question’s clarification let me stipulate that for me, genetic superiority would imply a genetic complement that makes an organism especially fit in their environment.  To extend the argument a little further, we might include the pseudo-Darwinian concept of reproductive fitness – so that the fitness of an organism is most easily measured by how able they are to pass on their heritable traits through breeding.  If these are our conditions for fitness and genetic superiority, then evolution itself represents genetic tampering to result in genetically superior organisms…you can find some smug satisfaction in this fact, perhaps, when your grandparents tell you about how good life was “back in the day.”

It is difficult, then, to look at one trait and use it as a measurement of genetic superiority or inferiority; your suggestion of using the immune system, for example, is an interesting idea.  Immunity is a necessarily complex biological process.   Because one person tends not to be sick much can be caused by a variety of factors.  Perhaps they are in better health in general – eat better, exercise more frequently, etc.  Thus they may have an immune system that is similarly encoded genetically to a more illness-prone friend, but their otherwise healthy lifestyle makes them less susceptible to disease than that friend.  Indeed, for certain illnesses such as influenza, the strain of virus you are exposed to first in your life – your first bought of flu – dictates to an extent how you respond to other strains of influenza.  So I do not think it is the best measure of genetic superiority, so exposure can also play a factor.  This argument against a single marker of superiority can be extended to other benchmarks, such as IQ and physical strength.  Therefore the most you can interpret from the girl who does not get sick is that she seems to have significant immunity to whatever illness is affecting her friends.  To sum this up, people are like snowflakes – each person has a strength or weakness, and often those strengths and weaknesses are relative: genetic superiority is in the eye of the beholder.

As for your second question, it sounds to be like you are talking about a theory called “eugenics.”  Eugenics is sort of like dog breeding.  When dogs were first used for human use, they were all essentially domesticated wolves.  Over thousands of years humans intervenes in their mating to produce certain breeds with desirable characteristics.  If a small dog for companionship was desired, then two smaller dogs were mated and genetics dictate that their offspring will tend to be smaller.  If a hunting dog is desired, then medium-sized dogs noted to have a strong sense of smell might be mated together to produce offspring that tend to be of medium size with strong noses.  Eugenics has unfortunately been practiced in people, with similar terrible results each time.  Wikipedia has a nice article on the topic and I highly suggest you read it.  One prominent example comes from American slavery – large, powerful slaves suited for strenuous farm work were often “encouraged” to mate, so that they could have large, powerful, and thus more valuable children.   Similar programs were instituted in Nazi Germany during the 1930’s and 1940’s.  While there are many terrible examples of this brutality, I am not aware of any scientific study meant to demonstrate its effects – no scientific study of that nature would be allowed to happen in any civilized society today.

For your third question, I do not quite know.  There are many people in the world who are adamantly against cloning for any reason.  There are also people, including many prominent scientists, who believe that limited cloning (of just certain organs, for example) could lead to cures for many of our illnesses.  At this time I do not know of any credible scientist or organization that supports cloning for the purposes of creating “supermen.” I do know that even genetically altered corn raises such a great deal of concern among the public that any group trying to introduce genetically altered people would face a strong uphill political battle. 

I hope I answered at least some of your question!

Billy.

Here are some articles and links to some sources I used.  Remember that Wikipedia, while great for background and general knowledge, is not always accurate and therefore not appropriate as a primary citation.

Woodland, David.  “Jump-starting the immune system: prime-boosting comes of age.”   Trends in Immunology.  25(2).  2004.

Wikipedia Article, Eugenics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenicist#History

Wikipedia Article, Survival of the fittest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_fittest

Wikipedia Article, Selective breeding (about animals, but still interesting and germane). 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_breeding

Wikipedia Article, Genetic engineering.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_manipulation

Golden Rice homepage (this is a genetically engineered rice crop meant to produce vitamin A for starving people around the world).
http://www.goldenrice.org/

Kevles, Daniel.  “In the Name of Darwin.” PBS.org.  1995, accessed 6 March 2009.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/darwin/nameof/index.html


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