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This is a topic that is old news to the scientific community, but raises some good questions. How many people have heard of Alba the rabbit? Alba is the creation of a Chicago artist named Eduardo Kac and a team of French genetic researchers. She was created for artistic purposes as well as to be integrated into society. (Or, at least, Eduardo’s family. She never left the lab in her lifetime.) She was a mutant bunny, may she rest in peace. Her DNA is a cross between a rabbit and a phosphorescent jellyfish; she glows only under ultraviolet light. Researchers regularly insert fluorescence into the tumors of laboratory rats or mice, so they can study them without surgery.
The question that we need to ask ourselves is, where do we draw the line in genetic engineering? It seems to be an important question to ask, for not everyone is ethical. Will we start creating “designer children?” In India, for example, they test fetuses for gender, abort the females, and call it cultural diversity.
It is important to note that humans have been modifying plants and animals for thousands of years. It has become evident recently that all dogs came from the wolf. Cows were chosen because they are docile, and the cows with traits that we preferred were bred more often.
What were Kac’s goals with this project? First, he wants to create a character at once lovable and alien, which society must confront.
“The artist makes it evident for the general public that molecular biology is not a rarefied language spoken by experts beyond the reach of ordinary citizens,” Kac said.
He also wants to show that science is nothing more than a cultural entity dominated by the social views of a given period. This is an interesting aspect, given the advances of genetic engineering as of late. Hopefully the scientists that are leading the way keep ethics in mind.
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