d they now are used safely in high school experiments" (Davis, Rouche 69). Scientists have also devised other methods of preventing bacteria from escaping their labs, such as modifying the bacteria so that it will die if it is removed from the laboratory environment. This creates a shield of complete safety for the outside world. It is also thought that if such bacteria were to escape it would act like smallpox or anthrax and ravage the land. However, laboratory-created organisms are not as competitive as pathogens. Davis and Roche sum it up in extremely laymen's terms, "no matter how much Frostbran you dump on a field, it's not going to spread" (Davis, Rouche 70). In fact Frostbran, developed by Steven Lindow at the University of California, Berkeley, was sprayed on a test field in 1987 and was proven by a RAC committee to be completely harmless (Thompson 104). Fear of the unknown has slowed the progress of many scientific discoveries in the past. Many diseases are influenced, at least in part, by genetic factors. Through the HGP, genes that are linked with various cancers, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes have been pinpointed. Through such progress, geneticists hope to discover new ways to fight disease. Some believe it will be possible in a few years to develop custom-made drugs for the best fit to an individual's body chemistry.These possibilities excite scientists. Not only will this new knowledge deliver the potential to treat diseases, it will bring the possibility of preventing the diseases in the first place.But, with the possibility of obtaining a readout of our individual genetic makeup, we may be presented with a Pandora's Box of choices. Genetic testing and screening could arm parents or prospective parents with the foreknowledge that they have the potential to beget a child with a serious physical impairment. As more disease-causing genes are identified, this will present painful choices, such as whether to abort o...
