If you’ve been following the sci-tech section of any major news site over the past few years, chances are you have seen more than a few stories discussing the possibility of extending the highly problematic act of genetic modifications onto the human race. A step that has been foretold by science fiction novels and simultaneously discounted as conspiracy for years. According to one leading synthetic biologist with a passion for eugenics (meaning ‘selective breeding’) and cloning technology, it may be just around the corner.Scientist George Church envisions a world where traits are pre-determined by parents for their offspring — children created via cloning technology to create ‘better’ humans. He also claims to be creating Neanderthal cells within his laboratory, holding an inventory of Neanderthal ‘parts’ across the lab space. In the near future, he even plans to ‘create’ a Neanderthal baby within his lab.
You may think that Church is just some mad scientist cooped up in his lab experimenting with genetics in his spare time, but he actually is heavily recognized within the scientific community where like-minded eugenicists seek to push cloning technology into the moral and social stratosphere in order to fulfill their visions. Working as a professor at Harvard Medical School and an adviser to more than 20 major corporations, Church thinks that it’s only a matter of time until someone injects an argument into the mainstream media that allows for full-scale cloning technology to be unleashed upon the world.
In an interview with Bloomberg, he said: “At some point, someone will come up with an airtight argument as to why they should have a cloned child. At that point, cloning will be acceptable. At that point, people will already be choosing traits for their children.”
But the madness doesn’t end there. According to George Church, they also may create various ‘types’ of cloned children such as Neanderthal babies. He stated: “We are creating Neanderthal cells. Let’s say someone has a healthy, normal Neanderthal baby. Well, then, everyone will want to have a Neanderthal kid.”
It is concerning enough that genetic modification within crops has led to the onset of tumors, organ damage, and other serious concerns. The health implications alone surrounding the direct genetic modification of humans is enough to sound the alarm. When considering the Orwellian aspects of reproduction control and rampant cloning mixed in with outlandish hybrid experiments, it’s easy to see that there’s simply no place for the unscrupulous usage of such biotechnology. And if George Church is right, such a scenario could be right around the corner.
