table talk / By Joseph Byrd

The Future of GMO, Cloning and Other Controversies: Part II

The most recent advances in cloning are not creating fully functional cows that give birth to healthy calves, the discovery is that we can grow almost anything from a piece of DNA. Yes, it’s still in the early stages, but combined with genetic manipulation, we seem a short time away from being able to create - well, what?

A science-fiction story I read several years ago takes place on Ganymede, largest of Jupiter’s moons, and the site of a colony attempting to “terra-form” the satellite. It is a shoestring operation, and the only meat-generating program is one for “Turkey.” Larger colonies have “Lamb,” “Quail,” “Salmon,” “Lobster” and so on. A common complaint of the Ganymede colonists is the monotony of their diet. How likely is this scenario?

Actually it is not only likely, but with some reflection, inevitable. Given our increasing ability to modify genes and clone animals, it requires not a lot of imagination to project that it will be possible to eliminate all functional parts, such as cognitive and sensory organs, bone and tendon, and grow only the edible portion of food animals, (which are then of course no longer “animals,” but products of food technology).

Or to grow cowhide for leather. Or, indeed, to grow human skin for burn transplants, or grow kidneys, or lungs.

Anyone who has had to kill an animal - I don’t mean hunting, I mean hands-on slaughtering - knows how unpleasant it is. And distancing it to a chore done by others invites cynicism. Eliminating killing from our society cannot be other than a mitzvah.

If technology - genetic modification combined with cloning — can accomplish this, shouldn’t we embrace, rather than battle it? Shouldn’t we be telling our representatives to fund research into how these technologies can be made safe and productive?

So we have two issues, GMO and cloning, both opposed by sincere but misguided activists, who claim to be acting in the public interest. At this point, we must separate philosophical/religious dogma from serious solutions. As I see it, true public interest lies in seeing what is possible and safe before objecting to it, and that means encouraging research of any and all means for sustaining both the planet and humanity

Joseph Byrd teaches music at College of the Redwoods. His most recent food-related project was reverse engineering the flame raisin liqueur he described in a previous column on Mexican food.

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