Lee Silver, Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World (Avon Books: New York, 1997). Review by Tom W. Miller

In his prologue, Lee Silver creates a chilling scenario. It is the year 2350 A.D., and three centuries of genetic enhancement have led to the point where two separate species of human beings now exist--the "GenRich" and the "Natural". The two groups occupy different classes in society and have lost the ability to crossbreed. What can be done to stop this possible future, or one like it? According to Silver, nothing. Americans do not need to fear totalitarian governments using a combination of reproductive and genetic technologies to create a Brave New World. The problem will stem from America's free, individualistic structure, where people and couples, not governments, will sieze these new procedures in order to have children of their own. Ethicists will not be able to draw moral lines between acceptable and unacceptable uses of this technology. Moreover, people will make use of these techniques regardless of ethics. In the end, the increasing use and power of reprogenetics will have long-term, unintended consequences for humanity. This slippery slope began with the practice of in vitro fertilization. By having conception take place in a petri dish, IVF provided access to eggs, embryos, and genetic material. IVF serves as a telling case study in the evolution of a reprogenetic technology. While much of society was initially horrified by science's intrusion into God's realm, IVF is now a familiar and accepted procedure. The technique continues to grow in popularity, despite considerable expense and uncertain outcomes. IVF has also led to other reprogenetic practices, such as Intra-Cytomplasmic Sperm Injection, in which a sperm is directly injected into an egg. IVF has brought the future closer; Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, suggests that the future is now. Like IVF in the late 70s, many people now find the prospect of human cloning reprehensible. Silver, though, takes a closer look at the reality of human cloning. Cloning would result in latter born identical twins, not synthetic humans or soulless entities. Governments would not gain any strategic advantages from cloning, even if one could force women to be surrogate mothers. Human cloning even could be ethically defensible in certain situations. Even if bioethicists never embrace cloning, the marketplace, not law, will control the technology. In reality, a small percentage of Americans would move to clone themselves, but even a small percentage translates into a large number of people. Like IVF, human cloning would also serve as a gateway to still more reprogenetic technologies that could have a eugenic outcome. Such a move to improve the gene pool is not always a top-down, repressive phenomenon. Artificial insemination (or donor insemination) has had this kind of eugenic effect on the million or so people born as a result of this procedure. Sperm banks competing for customers offer their clients a wide variety of multi-talented donors. Parents choose what is best for their future child without thinking about the effects of this choice on society as a whole. People will act no differently when given the ability to select embryos with different combinations of genes. Surely nobody would deny parents the right to choose embryos free of terrible diseases like Tay Sachs or sickle cell anemia, but who decides where to draw the line? Why not allow parents to choose against genes for alcoholism, or depression, or average intelligence? Why not allow parents to have genes inserted into their children that would convey positive traits? Even if somebody does decide to draw an arbitrary line between what is acceptable and what is not, somebody, somewhere, will be available to give individuals and couples what they want and are willing to pay for. Silver's lack of answers is frustrating, but after all, the lack of answers is one of the main points of the book. Silver's thesis feels compelling in light of the last century of American History. A constituional amendment did not stop people from drinking. Women obtained abortions despite lack of judicial sanction. Why should reprogenetics be any different? Seven years have passed between the publication of Remaking Eden and the writing of this essay. How have Silver's predictions played out in practice? The technology has continued to proceed at an amazing rate. The Human Genome Project was conpleted in 2003, though analysis of this data will continue for many years. Some Japanese scientists recently documented the first instance of mammilian parthenogenisis. These scientists created Kaguya the mouse by combining the genetic material of two egg cells--no sperm necessary. Furthermore, neither cost nor ethics have prevented those who want to clone from doing so. Genetic Savings and Clone--a company that commercially clones cats--claims as of November, 2004, that six people have paid the $50,000 fee for the procedure. Clonaid also continues to thrive. The company, orignially located in the Bahamas, simply moved to a more friendly location after discussions with U.S. governemt representatives. Despite the ethical and safety concerns that still surround human cloning, Clonaid claims that in its first three years of operation, it had a list of 250 serious potential clients. As of the writing of this essay, the company asserts that it has facilitated the birth of five clone babies. "GenRich" and "Natural" humans, here we come.

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