Some Recent Developments in Genetics

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INFORMED DISCUSSION of the ethical aspects of the application of discoveries in molecular genetics to human society requires a reasonably detailed understanding of the current and future technical possibilities. Yet, understandable descriptions of the technical possibilities are frequently difficult to come by, especially in an area which is changing as fast as molecular genetics. While newspaper reports of the latest scientific break-throughs are common, they are not always accompanied by sufficient information to enable the reader to put this latest revolutionary development in perspective. This paper is an attempt to describe in simplified terms some recent developments in the areas of molecular and human genetics, with special emphasis on developments which are already finding medical application, or which seem to me to be likely to do so in the near future. In order to focus this paper specifically on recent developments in genetics, I have not described work in other important areas such as in vitro fertilization and cloning. A review of recent developments in these areas, as well as an ethical critique of the experiments, can be found in the recent paper by Kass. While I have attempted to sketch the realm of the currently possible, and to extrapolate current trends a little into the future, nothing could be more deceptive than to assume that this is anything more than a highly selective snapshot as of early 1972. The pace of discoveries in the area of molecular genetics and the rate of development of our ability to synthesize, alter, and manipulate genetic elements in vitro is currently very rapid, and problems which looked like barriers to further development of genetic technology are rapidly disappearing.