GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRIZE FISH CAUSE CONCERN

SCIENTISTS are genetically engineering "trophy" fish to make them bigger than ever for competition anglers. But the experiments have be­come caught in a wrangle over the ethics of such manipulation.

Angling authorities are concerned over the ultimate size of artificially produced catches and environmentalists fear the effect on natural eco­systems of the ones that get away.

Scientists say the most serious risk is that genetically engineered fish might be more competitive than natural fish, upsetting balances be­tween predator and prey populations.

So far, results of only a couple of field trials have been published. Research has concentrated on adding genes to enhance growth by lift­ing controls on growth hormones. Similar work on pigs and cows pro­duced unexpected side effects, including rheumatism.

Genetic manipulation in fish is even less predictable, since little is known about their molecular make-up, according to Dr David Penman, a research fellow at Stirling University's Institute of Aquaculture.

"All this work is very much at the basic research, or speculation stage," he said, "but the technology is there, or almost there."

Exploration by the fishing industry includes the possibility of giving Atlantic salmon "anti-freeze" genes from cold-tolerant fish to extend their range into colder waters.

Other scientists are working on fish with delayed breeding seasons that allow them to get farter earlier.

Dr Penman has been commissioned by the Department of the Envi­ronment to produce a report on transgenic fish, due for publication next spring. He said the main brake on commercial interest was consumer acceptability and ethical concerns. "People are not so worried about eating engineered plants, but when it comes to animals that is a bit dif­ferent."

The Independent

ТЕКСТ 6

THE AGE OF GENES

The winsome, sable-haired 4-year-old didn't even know she was making history, or care. By the time of the injection last year, she had been poked and prodded so often that she could not be bothered to take her eyes off the cartoon she was watching on TV.

The injection marked the first human trial of gene therapy, a revolu­tionary means of treating a disease by giving a patient new genes. The girl suffers from an extremely rare, inherited disorder in which faulty genes have crippled her immune system, leaving her vulnerable to the slightest infection or illness. To treat it, her doctors removed immune cells from her blood, fitted them with a new gene, and reinjected them into her body. Today, four months after her last dose of the ground­breaking therapy, the girl's immune system appears to be fending off in­fections normally.

In the nearly 40 years since James Watson and Francis Crick eluci­dated the twisting structure of DNA, scientists have probed deeply the workings of the molecule that governs all living cells. Just in the last month, researchers have announced the discovery of at least four new human genes responsible for ailments ranging from deafness to sterility. And while finding a new gene is only a step toward vanquishing a dis­ease, says Nobel laureate David Baltimore, president of Rockefeller Uni­versity, "every disease we know about is either being attacked with ge­netics or is being illuminated through genetics."

Experiments with gene therapy represent a giant step into the medi­cine of the future.

Yet for all the good molecular medicine will do, the ethical dilemmas are grave. The advances bring closer the day when parents can endow children not only with health but also with genes for height, good balance or lofty intelligence. Of more immediate concern is the possibility that health insurers, employers and the government will gain access to ge­netic information and unfairly discriminate against people on the basis of their genes.

Charlene Grable, U.S. News & World Report

ТЕКСТ 7

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1123