From the Family Research Council:
Genetics researcher Craig Venter has announced that his team has created a completely artificial chromosome, and he will use it to create a new, artificial life form. This first artificial life (patent application has already been made) will be a very simple type of bacteria, not significantly different from existing bacteria, but its genome will be artificially sewn together to render it a completely new species. The idea of genetically manipulating organisms is not new. The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded today to three scientists who developed techniques to alter mice genetically. The idea of creating genetically new organisms, including humans, is a short step away. The scientists seem unconcerned about possible inadvertent creation of hazardous organisms, and completely without ethical moorings (but with plenty of hubris) when it comes to potential engineering of designer humans. Venter says, "We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it," and notes that "we are trying to create a new value system for life." Such a new value system is moving forward in the United Kingdom. Today the government replied positively to the idea of creating human-animal hybrids by the cloning process. It might be time for us all to seriously contemplate whether this is a direction in which human society should go.
