quotations about genetic engineering
It is logical to assume that if methods to produce genetically superior individuals are available, and they certainly will be by the time man learns that he has to control his population size, they will be used. In the meantime, we must remember that man is not a product of genetics alone; his genes must act in some sort of environment. The more conducive to human development that environment is, the greater will be the degree to which all men will realize their genetic potential.
JAMES J. NAGLE
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 1971
We do 'custom-tailor' mice. We view them as the canvas upon which we do these genetic transplantations.
HOWARD B. ROSEN
"Biomedical Researchers Scurry to Make Genetically Altered Mice", San Jose Mercury News, February 8, 1993
There is no such thing as offensive and defensive technology when it comes to DNA research. The manipulation of genes can be used for either purpose.
MICHIO KAKU
Physics of the Future
Genetic engineering has never been about saving the world, it's about controlling the world.
VANDANA SHIVA
attributed, GrowTest
In the twenty-first century, genetic engineering will do more than merely eliminate Siamese twins and alligator-skinned people. It will make it hard to find a person with even a slight overbite or a large nose. I can see that future and it makes me shudder.
LES MARTIN
Humbug
When one adopts a theological perspective, one can certainly understand the qualms that religious leaders might have about genetic engineering. The Judaeo-Christian tradition has been staunch in its belief that God created living things "each according to its own kind," with the clear implication that species are fixed, immutable, and clearly separated from one another. Nineteenth-century and contemporary opposition by religious factions to Darwin and Darwin's notion of the origin and flux of species illustrates the significance placed upon fixed kinds of religious groups. For humans to meddle with species, to possibly create new species, to blur the lines between species, and, indeed, as Darwin did, to argue that humans and animals are continuous, is to erode the special place of humans and to trade comfortable predictability and order for uncertainty.
BERNARD E. ROLLIN
The Frankenstein Syndrome