2023 FUTURE OBSERVATORY
2023 FUTURE OBSERVATORY
Beyond human cellular engineering, the real impact of the human genome project - or of the technologies it embodies - will come in the form of our increasing ability to change the genetic make-up of other organisms.
This is already evidenced by our ability top produce new animals, for instance, which deliver products that are compatible with those of humans - such as the blood product, Factor VIII , in cows' milk. It has been evidenced longer in the manipulation of plant species which, at least in part, heralded the green revolution - saving the Third World for a generation or so. But it has been around much longer as, for example, in the manipulation of yeast in the brewing industry; and, even more spectacularly, in our manipulation of the wolf's gene pool to produce the Chihuahua at one extreme and the St Bernard at the other! There is nothing new about the principles underlying genetic manipulation.
What is new is our ability to produce the changes we seek; on the scale of these and, in particular, on the speed with which we can make them. One outcome of this is that bio-chemical processes are increasingly taking over from purely chemical ones - on the industrial scale - with consequent improvements in efficiency. As one result, the new chemical factory may well look more like a small brewery than a massive oil refinery.
Genetic engineering has existed for many centuries, What is new is our ability to interfere in the process much more directly; producing changes on a large scale over short time periods. As one result, traditional chemical factories are being replaced by breweries!
9 May 2003
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