by
Amy Bowler
Monday, February 11, 2002
Biotechnology—good or evil? Recently, a friend told me of a story featured on the CBS Evening News about goats being bred with spiders to create bulletproof vests. Obviously, he was mildly intoxicated at the time and I didn't believe him right off—the physics of it just didn't work for me. That would have to be one big spider or one tiny goat.
Later, I checked it out on CBS.com and what do you know, he was right. Spider-goats—the latest in biotechnology. Granted, some lucky little spider and goat didn't "breed" exactly, but my friend had the basics down.
A company called Nexia has managed to put a spider gene into goats. The "spider-goats" (honest to God, that's what CBS called them) produce milk with a silk protein that is so strong and lightweight that the U.S. Army wants to make bullet proof vests out of it.
Now, I believe in technology and bettering the world we live in, but there's something missing from this happy little feature story that bothers me tremendously: All this spider gene does is make a silk protein in the goat's milk? Are we sure there are no other side effects? All I can picture are tiny eight-legged goats spinning spider webs. And with this I have a problem.
As our nation debates the rights and wrongs of human cloning, perhaps we should broaden our views to include animal rights as well. I've never been a particularly vocal animal rights advocate, but this is getting out of hand. Do you think Dolly the cloned sheep doesn't have some identity issues? I bet she does. And these spider-goats are even worse off... Am I goat? Am I a sheep? What the hell am I?
And we all know this won't be the end of it. Great, we can make super-strong silk. Fine. But what about when some comedian scientist decides to make giraffe-aardvarks or something. Zoos and circuses around the world will be hiring bioengineering companies to make freak-show animals and cart them around for people to laugh at.
Regulations must be set before these things happen. The government must look ahead, consider the possibilities, find out what scientists are considering and set regulations on how far they are allowed to go.This world is really getting sick and crazy!
END
This will be every transgenic cat's dream, glow in the dark mice. Don't think for one moment that fluorescent humans aren't around the corner, mark my words...you'll see it, along with spider humans and every other godless monstrosity of mad scientists. Man's good intentions are often a Pandora's box. Even so, come Lord Jesus!
AFTER ANOTHER KIND...
The Bible plainly teaches in Genesis 7:14 that God intended for every living thing to reproduce “after his kind.” Genesis 7:14, “They, and every beast AFTER HIS KIND, and all the cattle AFTER THEIR KIND, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth AFTER HIS KIND, and every fowl AFTER HIS KIND, every bird of every sort.” Yet, men in their arrogance and unrestrained curiosity have crossed the line with God, creating mutant species AFTER ANOTHER KIND...
 |
||
 |
|
|
Transgenics: The Coming Genetics Nightmare!
Scientists have recently engineered a genetically modified cow that produces human insulin proteins in its milk, which could potentially address global insulin supply issues for diabetes management. This breakthrough marks the first successful production of human insulin in a transgenic bovine, paving the way for future advancements in insulin production methods. READ MORE
George Soros is Selling Gold to Buy Farm Land
(the
handwriting is
on the wall)
