HUMAN GENES -- THE NEXT 'RACE'? 

FOUR YEARS AGO JAPAN STARTLED THE WORLD BY ANNOUNCING THAT THEY WERE EMBARKING ON WHAT THEY TERMED THEIR "FIFTH GENERATION PROJECT", AN "ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE" COMPUTER THAT IN EFFECT WOULD BECOME "THE WISDOM MACHINE". THAT DEVELOPMENT IS WELL UNDERWAY AND THEY HAVE A CLEAR LEAD. ONLY EUROPE, WITH THEIR LATE-STARTING PROJECT "EUREKA", OFFERS EVEN WEAK COMPETITION.

NOW, WHAT COULD BE AN EVEN LARGER THREAT - DECIPHERING OF THE HUMAN GENOME. AND, LIKE THE FIFTH GENERATION PROJECT THE FIRST OUT OF THE GATE IS - JAPAN !

GENOME IS THE TERM SCIENTISTS GIVE TO THE SET OF COMPLETE CHROMOSOMES CONTAINED WITHIN EACH ONE OF US. TO "READ" THIS COMPLICATED BIOLOGICAL EQUIVALENT TO EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS WILL NOT BE EASY. CURRENT KNOWLEDGE ESTIMATES THAT BETWEEN 100,000 AND 300,000 GENES ARE INVOLVED, MAKING UP 3.5 BILLION SEPARATE COMPONENTS CALLED BASE PAIRS. ALL OF THIS IS ON A STRING ABOUT ONE YARD LONG, THAT SERVES, LIKE INSTRUCTIONS ON A MAGNETIC TAPE, TO INSTRUCT THE BODY AT BIRTH TO BUILD YOU AND NOT A GIRAFFE. AT THIS POINT IN TIME WE ONLY KNOW HOW A FEW HUNDRED GENES OPERATE AND BUT .04% OF THE FULL GENOME.

COST ESTIMATES FOR SUCH A PROJECT WILL BE ASTRONOMICAL. THEY RANGE FROM $300 MILLION TO $6 BILLION. JAPAN APPARENTLY HAS DECIDED IT'S SO BIG A JOB THEY WILL SPLIT IT AMONGST THEIR GOVERNMENT, FUJI FILM, HITACHI AND SEIKO. IT WILL START WITH THE PRODUCTION OF A "SUPER DNA SEQUENCER PROJECT" WITH WHICH THEY HOPE TO EVENTUALLY PROCESS ONE MILLION BASE PAIRS OF GENES A DAY. NOTHING LIKE THIS HAS EVER BEEN ATTEMPTED BEFORE.

NOT ONLY JAPAN RECOGNIZES JUST WHAT IT WILL MEAN TO THE COUNTRY THAT IS FIRST TO CRACK NATURE'S TOP SECRET. ACCORDING TO HARVARD PROFESSOR WALTER GILBERT, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER IN CHEMISTRY, THE SEQUENCE WILL FILL "A THOUSAND LARGE TELEPHONE BOOKS". AND EVERY LINE WILL BE VALUABLE AND PROFITABLE INFORMATION TO THOSE WHO LEARN HOW TO USE IT. ONCE THIS MASTER SEQUENCE IS COMPLETED, MANIPULATION OF THE DNA GENESE WILL PERMIT TRANSFER OF ABILITIES FROM ONE SPECIES TO ANOTHER. SOMETIMES EVEN ACROSS ANIMAL/PLANT BARRIERS - LIKE HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE IN, MOVING THE GLOW FROM FIREFLIES TO TOBACCO PLANTS. YOU CAN LOOK FORWARD SOMEDAY TO HAVING CHRISTMAS TREES THAT GLOW IN THE DARK - EVEN AFTER THEY ARE CUT!

WHY THE SUDDEN RUSH INTO THIS FIELD? WELL, JUST LAST YEAR TOTAL SALES IN THE U.S. IN THIS FIELD TOTALLED $144 MILLION - FOR JUST TWO GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS. INSULIN FOR DIABETICS AND THE HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE FOR DWARFISM. THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING. NATURE, OF COURSE, IS MANIPULATING GENES ALL THE TIME. EVERY BABY BORN IS DIFFERENT. HOWEVER, TODAY'S SCIENTISTS ARE DOING IT A LOT FASTER.

THEY ARE ALSO CORRECTING INHERENT GENETIC DEFECTS IN ANIMALS AND GROWING THEM WITH LESS FAT SO WE END UP WITH HEALTHIER HUMANS. THEY ARE ALSO REPLICATING ENDANGERED ANIMALS THIS WAY. THE CLEVELAND ZOO IS TACKLING SOME INTERESTING CHALLENGES IN THIS FIELD.

IN THE DAYS TO COME,YOU CERTAINLY WILL BE HEARING ABOUT THE ETHICS INVOLVED. THEY WILL BE MORE EXPLOSIVE THAN ANYTHING THAT CAME UP DURING THE NUCLEAR CONTROVERSIES.

LOOK FOR ADVOCACY GROUPS TO SUPPORT AND OPPOSE ELONGATED PIGS, TALKING SHEEP, SCUBA-DIVING PIGEONS AND NON- DEFECATING PETS. LIFE SURE IS INTERESTING.

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