“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” ~Albert Einstein
While the above quote could easily be dismissed as the “progress-denying” sentiment of a disgruntled anti-GM activist, it comes from a scientist who represents the very epitome of Western rationality and achievement.
Perhaps Einstein was reflecting on the inevitable existential consequences of the so-called “technological imperative”: whatever can be done, will be done. Fundamentally amoral and irrational economic and political forces drive the feverish pace of technology, infusing a certain arbitrary cruelty and imbalance into everything it touches.
In our continuing drive to “improve Nature” in the name of much-heralded “life-saving” biotechnological innovations, the line between the humane and the inhumane is eventually crossed, and there seems to be no turning back. Biocontamination caused by defective or dangerous GMO genes, for example, is virtually impossible to undo once released into the biosphere; you cannot “remove” a defective gene like you can a car.
Nor can we rid our bodies of clandestine viruses (e.g., simian virus #40 (SV40) that contaminated millions of first-generation polio vaccines). In many ways, our moral fibre suffers from the same susceptibilities.
Once we have crossed a certain line – be it theft, lying, or worse, etc. – it is difficult, if not impossible, to “go back” and regain our innocence. Such is the human condition.
And that is why we must carefully consider the medico-ethical implications of new technologies, whose developments we must first be aware of in order to guide, regulate, and sometimes eliminate.
The scientific community is moving to embrace embryo cloning for medical purposes.
For example, few know that the cloning of human embryos for “therapeutic purposes” was legalised in the UK in January 2001 by an amendment to the Human Embryology Act[i].
Shortly afterwards, in August 2004, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) approved the first licence to clone human embryos in the UK. The media at the time claimed that the legal changes would lead to the use of cloned human embryos to create “replacement body parts”.
In an article published in 2000 entitled “Biotechnological Cannabalism”,[ii] Dr. C. Ben Mitchell reflects on the pro-cloning movement by quoting the justification of one of its advocates: “If human embryonic tissue can be used to save hundreds of lives, there must be a moral imperative to do so”. Mitchell disagrees: “[C]reating a human being for the purpose of killing that person for the health of another human being sounds an awful lot like cannibalism, only worse”.
Call vaccinations of aborted foetuses what they are: Cannibalism
While cannibalism is considered by most modern societies to be the ultimate expression of uncivilised or barbaric behaviour, it is intrinsic to many of the Western world’s most prized biotechnological and medical innovations. Probably the most taken-for-granted example is the use of live aborted foetal cell lines from induced abortions to produce vaccines.
Known as diploid cell vaccines (diploid cells have two (di-) sets of chromosomes inherited from the human mother and father), they are not continuous (unlike cancer cells) and therefore must be continually replaced, i.e. new live aborted foetal tissue must be harvested periodically. Much of the CDC’s vaccination schedule requires the use of these human foetal vaccines, including rubella, measles, mumps, rabies, polio, smallpox, hepatitis A, varicella (chickenpox) and shingles.
In addition, so-called “abortion-contaminated vaccines” grown in transformed foetal cells (293, PER.C6) are under development, including: “influenza, respiratory syncytial and parainfluenza viruses, HIV, West Nile virus, Ebola, Marburg and Lassa, hepatitis B and C, foot and mouth disease, Japanese encephalitis, dengue, tuberculosis, anthrax, plague, tetanus and malaria”. [iii]
Unfortunately, for millions of people who find it morally objectionable to inject biological derivatives of live aborted foetal cells into their bodies, or those of their children, an increasingly draconian biomedical establishment is pushing, coercing or forcing this to happen, using the flawed concept of “herd immunity” and concomitant biosafety concerns to override the individual’s right to refuse. And most are completely unaware that aborted cells are being used and injected into their bodies, because the medical ethical principle of informed consent remains just that: a principle, not standard practice.
Moreover, beyond the obvious moral/religious/philosophical reasons for rejecting vaccines derived from aborted fetal cells, there are real health problems associated with the introduction of this type of biological material into the human body that is largely considered taboo to discuss. I addressed this irresolvable moral contradiction in greater depth in my article Pro-life AND pro-vaccine?
Biopharmaceuticals: The end of choice for those who don’t want to ingest human proteins
Another way in which the dark spectre of cannibalism is re-emerging in our lives is through biotechnology’s heavy investment in bio-manufacturing technologies. Also known as molecular farming, biopharming involves creating “drug-producing” GMOs by inserting a gene encoding useful pharmaceuticals or biologics (e.g., antibodies, lactoferrin) into host plants, insects or animals that do not naturally express those genes.
Concern about the unintended adverse effects of this technology is growing, not least because once genes are inserted into organisms tested in the laboratory or in the field, their escape into the biosphere is not only possible, but statistically inevitable. As we have seen with GM crops, contamination is a default business strategy for biotech stakeholders, whose GM plants pollinate (some say “bio-rape”) organic or wild plants, making them GM as well.
This means that, unless “terminator technology” is used, which renders plants unable to reproduce, foolproof containment of GMOs is impossible. Eventually, we will all be exposed in one way or another to these genetically modified plants, insects and animals.
Currently, intensive work is underway to create biopharmaceutical “edible vaccines” containing lethal viral or bacterial vectors. Obviously, the biocontamination created by inserting these genes into plants traditionally used for human consumption that might find their way into the human food supply could cause potentially deadly health problems.
But edible vaccines are only a subset of the biopharmaceuticals in development. A wide range of human proteins are being “farmed” using genetically modified animals expressing human genes as “bioreactors”.
The following is a small sample of biopharmaceutical organisms in development that could at some point in the future result in the inadvertent ingestion of human proteins (technically, cannibalism):
*OMG Bulls expressing human lactoferrin in their tissues, intended for human consumption[iv].
*GMO Mice expressing human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor under the control of a goat gene (goat alpha-S1-casein gene) [v].
*GMO Bovine milk expressing human breast milk proteins α-human lactalbumin (TC-LA), lactoferrin (TC-LF) or lysozyme (TC-LZ) [vi].
*GMO pigs engineered to express human α-galactosidase [vii].
*GMO isolates engineered to express human urokinase-type plasminogen activator [viii].
*GMO chickens engineered to express human parathormone [ix].
*GMO flies expressing human taste receptor genes [x].
*GMO silkworm cells expressing human glycoproteins [xi].
*GMO tomatoes expressing a human brain protein (human beta-secretase) [xii].
*GMO tobacco expressing human erythropoietin for the treatment of tissue damage [xiii].
*GMO Tobacco expressing human interferon alpha for medical use [xiv].
*GMO Yeast expressing human Apolipoprotein A-II for study [xv].
*GMO lettuce and chicory expressing human interferon alpha for medical use [xvi].
*GMO oilseed rape expressing human interferon alpha for medical use [xvii].
*GMO rice expressing human serum albumin (blood protein) for medical use [xviii].
*GMO rice expressing human lactoferrin for medical use [xix].
*GMO GMO rice expressing human CYP1A1 enzyme (present in placenta and liver), intended to help remediate pesticides in soil [xx].
*GMO GM rice expressing the human amyloidβ peptide, “Alzheimer’s brain protein”, intended for the production of oral vaccines [xxi].
With biotechnology weaving arbitrarily placed human genes and their biological products into the web of life, cannibalism (human consumption of human proteins) will become inevitable in the future. The question is whether we will tolerate this reshaping of the very molecular and genetic infrastructure of life, or whether we will pretend that it will not also lead to the genetic modification of our own bodies.
[i] BBCNews.com, Scientists given cloning go-ahead, 11 August, 2004
[ii] The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, Biotech Cannabalism, 4 April, 2000
[iii] José Luís Redondo Calderón. [Vaccines, biotechnology and their connection with induced abortion]. Cuad Bioet. 2008 May-Aug;19(66):321-53. PMID: 18611078
[iv] Jie Zhao, Jianxiang Xu, Jianwu Wang, Ning Li. Nutritional composition analysis of meat from human lactoferrin transgenic bulls.
[v] GMI-Cite:
I A Burkov, I A Serova, N R Battulin, A V Smirnov, I V Babkin, L E Andreeva, G A Dvoryanchikov, O L Serov. Expression of the human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (hGM-CSF) gene under control of the 5′-regulatory sequence of the goat alpha-S1-casein gene with and without a MAR element in transgenic mice.
[vi] Ran Zhang, Chengdong Guo, Shunchao Sui, Tian Yu, Jianwu Wang, Ning Li. Comprehensive assessment of milk composition in transgenic cloned cattle.
[vii] J Zeyland, B Gawrońska, W Juzwa, J Jura, A Nowak, R Słomski, Z Smorąg, M Szalata, A Woźniak, D Lipiński. Transgenic pigs designed to express humanα-galactosidase to avoid humoral xenograft rejection.
[viii] Sung Ho Lee, Mukesh Kumar Gupta, Young Tae Ho, Teoan Kim, Hoon Taek Lee. Transgenic chickens expressing human urokinase-type plasminogen activator.
[ix] S H Lee, M K Gupta, D W Han, S Y Han, S J Uhm, T Kim, H T Lee. Development of transgenic chickens expressing human parathormone under the control of a ubiquitous promoter by using a retrovirus vector system.
[x] Ryota Adachi, Yuko Sasaki, Hiromi Morita, Michio Komai, Hitoshi Shirakawa, Tomoko Goto, Akira Furuyama, Kunio Isono. Behavioral analysis of Drosophila transformants expressing human taste receptor genes in the gustatory receptor neurons.
[xi] Jia-Biao Hu, Peng Zhang, Mei-Xian Wang, Fang Zhou, Yan-Shan Niu, Yun-Gen Miao. A transgenic Bm cell line of piggyBac transposon-derived targeting expression of humanized glycoproteins through N-glycosylation.
[xii] H-S Kim, J-W Youm, K-B Moon, J-H Ha, Y-H Kim, H Joung, J-H Jeon. Expression analysis of humanβ-secretase in transgenic tomato fruits.
[xiii] Farooqahmed S Kittur, Mamudou Bah, Stephanie Archer-Hartmann, Chiu-Yueh Hung, Parastoo Azadi, Mayumi Ishihara, David C Sane, Jiahua Xie. Cytoprotective Effect of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin Produced in Transgenic Tobacco Plants.
[xiv] I M Gerasymenko, L O Sakhno, M G Mazur, Y V Sheludko. Multiplex pcr assay for detection of human interferon alpha2b gene in transgenic plants.
[xv] Manman Su, Yitian Qi, Mingxing Wang, Weiqin Chang, Shuang Peng, Tianmin Xu, Dingding Wang. Expression and Purification of Recombinant Human Apolipoprotein A-II in Pichia pastoris.
[xvi] N A Matveeva, Iu I Kudriavets, A A Likhova, A M Shakhovskiĭ, N A Bezdenezhnykh, E Iu Kvasko. [Antiviral activity of extracts of transgenic cichory and lettuce plants with the human interferon alpha-2b gene].
[xvii] L O Sakhno, O Y Kvasko, Z M Olevinska, M Y Spivak, M V Kuchuk. Creation of transgenic Brassica napus L. plants expressing human alpha 2b interferon gene.
[xviii] Qing Zhang, Hui Yu, Feng-Zhen Zhang, Zhi-Cheng Shen. Expression and purification of recombinant human serum albumin from selectively terminable transgenic rice.
[xix] Chaoyang Lin, Peng Nie, Wei Lu, Qing Zhang, Jing Li, Zhicheng Shen. A selectively terminable transgenic rice line expressing human lactoferrin.
[xx] Hiroyuki Kawahigashi, Sakiko Hirose, Hideo Ohkawa, Yasunobu Ohkawa. Transgenic rice plants expressing human CYP1A1 remediate the triazine herbicides atrazine and simazine. J Agric Food Chem. 2005 Nov 2;53(22):8557-64. PMID: 16248553
[xxi] Taiji Yoshida, Eiichi Kimura, Setsuo Koike, Jun Nojima, Eugene Futai, Noboru Sasagawa, Yuichiro Watanabe, Shoichi Ishiura. Transgenic rice expressing amyloidβ-peptide for oral immunization. Int J Biol Sci. 2011;7(3):301-7. Epub 2011 Mar 25. PMID: 21448341
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