Scientific advances - Is man ready to play God?

WHETHER mankind is on the verge of playing God, following claims of a major breakthrough by US scientists, is already the subject of the kind of heated debate that has accompanied every advance in the history of science. The dispute is focused on whether the claimed test-tube discovery is genuine or merely a public relations stunt.

At issue is the alleged generation of an artificial living cell in the laboratory by controversial geneticist Craig Venter. If real, the implications for genomics are enormous, raising the possibility of new life forms, vaccines with the potential to cure such killer diseases as cancer, bacteria that could mop up pollution or the production of non-carbon fuel sources.

What is beyond dispute is that the march of science is unstoppable. If the latest claims stand up to rigorous analysis, then mankind could have the power of playing God tantalisingly within grasp.

There can be no doubting the inevitability of such a breakthrough. And that prospect underlines the urgent need to impose strong regulations in an area of human endeavour that holds out exciting possibilities but is equally fraught with danger, including the risk of bio-terrorism, with all that implies. Unless binding rules are drawn up now it will be too late to act if and when the genie is really out of the bottle.