TRADING HUMANITY FOR A PIG LIVER :

Interview With a Humanoid (NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, 7/23/02. NY Times)

Biotechnology faces crippling obstacles, including a drought of venture capital that will kill off plenty of companies. But eventually, genetically modified pigs (perhaps slightly human in their genetics) will be able to produce livers, kidneys, hearts and pancreases for ailing patients.

These technologies could help the 80,000 Americans now on waiting lists for organ transplants. But there are also ethical and philosophical questions about whether it is wise to blur the distinction between what is human and what is not.

Francis Fukuyama, in his brilliant new book on cloning, "Our Post-Human Future," warns that we could face a future "in which any notion of `shared humanity' is lost, because we have mixed human genes with those of so many other species that we no longer have a clear idea of what a human being is."

My instinct is that the benefit in saving lives outweighs the risks.

That's a staggering statement. It's one thing for folks who are in denial about the possible effects of biotechnology on our sense of a shared humanity to dismiss the concern as the raving of Luddites, but for Mr. Kristof to acknowledge the possibility and then to say he'd accept the risk in exchange for tacking a couple of years onto peoples' lives is truly frightening. Do we really believe that we can blithely dispose of the delicate strands that tie us together, however tenuously, and not face horrific consequences? The history of human interaction where one group is considered other than human--the Jews of Europe, African blacks, etc.--does not give us cause to be sanguine about this kind of thinking. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 23, 2002 8:20 AM