Liberation Biology

Scientist Lee M. Silver on cloning wars, bioethical battles, and new and improved genes

From the May 1999 issue

(Page 4 of 5)

Reason: I've been reading a lot about bioethics lately and it struck me that many prominent bioethicists apparently hate biotechnology. Do you get that feeling too?

Silver: Of course, of course. Because if they didn't, they would have nothing to argue against. I mean, if you agree with everything, nobody is going to ask you for interviews. They have to be against biotechnology to get attention. I think many also see themselves as playing a role in society as the brake. For some reason they assume that we need brakes. They think their role is making everybody stop and look [at] what is going on before we go anywhere.

Reason: Leon Kass of the University of Chicago fears what humanity might do with increased control over our own evolution. He would prefer to put up with the random events of nature than be subject to human whims. How do you respond to Kass' arguments?

Silver: I respond by saying that he should have the right not to use this technology when he has his own children, but that he doesn't have the right to tell other parents how they should have their own children. I think that children don't belong to "society," or to the world. Children come out of parents and parents can do what they want with their children--as long as what they are doing is not going to hurt their children, of course. Leon Kass pretends to be a secular bioethicist, but he is not. I believe that his point of view is grounded in religion. Kass has written, "We are repelled by the prospect of human cloning because we intuit and feel immediately and without argument the violation of things that we rightfully hold dear." This is not an ethical argument but a religious one. It is the same one used by the church to persecute Galileo in the 17th century and by current religious leaders who still rally against the teaching of evolution. There is no logic to it. Kass and others are saying, "It is unnatural; we are repelled by it; therefore we shouldn't do it." That is not a valid ethical argument. Kass has written an essay called the "The Wisdom of Repugnance" which is so easy to dismantle. I'm surprised that somebody of his stature can make such a weak argument.

Reason: Do you think that religious points of view have no place in the public debates over genetic technologies?

Silver: I think that people should be allowed to hold their religious points of view and to practice their own religions. I think people should be able to do what they want with themselves and with their children. I am not against that. I am completely for that. That leads me to say that Leon Kass can believe what he wants about biotechnology. That's fine. He doesn't have to use the technology. But morally, he can't stop other people from using the technology.

Reason: What do you think of the argument by Boston University bioethicist George Annas and others that cloning and germ line enhancements are really experimentation on the unborn without their consent?

Silver: I think that is total nonsense. A one-cell human embryo is no different than another human cell. Now if you want to turn that one-cell embryo into a human being, it is unethical if the technique has not been proven. I would agree that if you don't know what is going to happen, you don't do it. But that is no different than any other medical experimentation protocol. Obviously, you want to test it before you do it in a way that brings forth a child.

Reason: So you aren't very concerned about the possibility that cloning and other biotechnologies will be abused?

Silver: No. I think that what people are going to want to do is make their children more likely to be happy, more likely to succeed, more likely to be healthy. That is the way I think it will be used. Parents are going to be able to give their children genes that other children get naturally, such as genes that increase athletic ability, genes that increase musical talents--talents are innate--and, ultimately, genes that affect cognitive abilities. Why shouldn't parents be able to give their child something that other children already get? The parents are going to say, "Why can't I do this for my children? I am not hurting my children."

Does that mean that there is no possibility that somebody might misuse the technology? No. We can't say that it will never happen. But I don't think that is an argument to say that nobody should be able to use this technology.

Reason: When your children marry and they come to you, their father who is a molecular biologist, and say, "Dad, we are thinking maybe we want to get some of the genetic advantages that you have been talking about for our children," what would you advise your children to do about your grandchildren?

Silver: I would ask a technical question first: Has the technology been validated? Is it safe? Assuming that it is going to work, I'd say, "Go ahead. I have no problem with it."

Reason: Do you think that will be the common view one day?

Silver: I think what is going to happen is what happened with in vitro fertilization. When the first test tube baby was born, people were asked, "Would you use this technology?" Nearly everybody said, "No, I would never do this even if I was infertile; there is no way I would go this far." And then, what happened? A small number of people started using it and they had babies and suddenly, you saw other people have babies and basically, people said, "It can help them; what is wrong with it?" The first response is negative, but I think it will become acceptable in our society. The question is, just how long that will it take? And the answer is that these changes can happen very quickly and society just zooms ahead.