Cloning is playing God?

By Ben Bova

"The scientists are trying to play God!" Ever since a sheep named Dolly was produced by cloning, that has been the knee-jerk reaction to almost any biomedical breakthrough: cloning, tissue regeneration, cures for lethal diseases.

Now, researchers are nearing the day when the secrets of human aging will be uncovered. Lifespans will lengthen to centuries. Aging will be reversible; we will be able to become young again. Human immortality will be within our reach.

"The scientists are trying to play God," some will say again.

People tend to fear new possibilities. The easiest thing to do with something that frightens you is to banish it. Get rid of it! Then it can't hurt you. Yes, but it can't help you, either.

Think I'm kidding? Congress has before it proposals that would totally ban or place a moratorium on human cloning research. Similar proposals have been introduced in at least 23 states. The expressed concerns come from both parties.

Pope objects

They also come from the Vatican. But when Pope John Paul II inveighed against cloning, fearing that scientists will attempt to "play God," he overlooked the fact that the medical attention that has more than once saved his own life is surely "playing God." Otherwise he would be among the angels now.

Every time we take an aspirin or an antibiotic we are "playing God." What else is the coronary bypass procedure that saves a heart attack victim from imminent death?

When anesthetics were first introduced in the early 19th century, moralists railed against their use in childbirth. The Bible commands that women bear children in pain, they thundered, therefore giving the laboring mother something to ease her pain was against the dictates of God's expressed will.

But when Queen Victoria, no wild-eyed radical, decided that she would use anesthesia in childbirth (she had nine children) the moralists were silenced. A blow had been struck for the advance of medicine and science. And feminism. Even earlier, the famous Massachusetts preacher and writer, Cotton Mather, was nearly killed by a bomb in 1721 because he supported the idea of inoculation against smallpox.

When Mather's son came down with smallpox, he inoculated the boy with puss from a smallpox victim. He had heard of that African practice from his slave, and had read about its use in Turkey. The son nearly died, but ultimately survived.

Many in the Boston area were outraged. Mather's fellow ministers proclaimed that smallpox was a punishment from on high, and any attempt to circumvent it was interfering with divine will. There were riots, and threats of hanging. A crude bomb was hurled through a window of Mather's house; fortunately, it did not explode.

The New England Courant ran a series of satirical essays against Mather and inoculation, written by "Silence Dogood," pen name for Benjamin Franklin. At age 16, it was Franklin's first published writing. Franklin grew wiser with age, and became a respected scientist.

People fear new ideas. Resuscitating a patient whose heart has stopped may be "playing God" the first few times it is done; afterward it becomes a standard part of emergency medical treatment and we take it for granted.

Human immortality will stir debate

The same emotional objections will be raised when human immortality becomes a public issue. These objections boil down to a choice between pessimism and optimism, a struggle between hope and fear.

The pessimists fear that the new knowledge will be used in harmful ways; they are willing to forego the possible benefits for fear of the possible harm. And make no mistake about it: human immortality will shatter our society. Social security, insurances, medical benefits, retirement, marriage, religion - all our social systems will be forced to change drastically.

The optimists look forward to the possible benefits from new knowledge, and believe (perhaps naively) that the possible harm can be avoided, minimized or controlled. They believe that we are striving for perfection, and we can achieve it.

The first immortal human beings are living among us now. You may be one of them. In your lifetime, science will discover how to banish and even reverse the process of aging.

Playing God? Humans have been doing that since they harnessed fire. We're not going to stop now.

Ben Bova's book, 'Immortality', shows the scientific basis for extending human lifespans, and the social consequences of this research. His Internet site is www.sff.net/people/benbova. He also is a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.

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