wfn.org | Focuses on the Nature of Human Life

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March 31, 2001
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

Scientific Breakthrough Focuses on the Nature of Human Life

Washington, D.C., USA.    Scientists have released
results from their first full look inside the human
genome--or human DNA--and some say that the data has
the potential to change the way scientists view
human life. The surprisingly low number of genes in
the human genome, compared with other life forms, is
one of the significant findings of this initial
analysis, scientists say.  According to the results
released February 12, humans possess approximately
30,000 to 40,000 genes, just twice the number of
genes of a fruit fly, or 10,000 more than a
roundworm.

This is an important reminder that human life cannot
be adequately described by reference only to genes,
suggests Svante Paabo, an anthropologist in Germany
who is associated with the study.

"It's delusional to think that genomics in isolation
will ever tell us what it means to be human," writes
Paabo, whose article about the Human Genome Study
will be published in this month's edition of Science
magazine.

The mapping of the human genome is a "fantastic
scientific achievement," says Dr. Ronald Carter,
chair of the Natural Sciences department at Loma
Linda University, a Seventh-day Adventist institution
located in Southern California. He says that in spite
of the fact that "geneticists have 'opened the
genetic book of life,' we are still far from
understanding the multi-dimensional nature of life
itself."

According to Carter, it is not the number of genes
that is the most significant difference between
sophisticated and less-sophisticated life forms.
"What really counts is how genes interact with each
other, their products, and their environment; and how
genes are differentially regulated throughout an
organism's life."

"Whenever I look at the results of the human genome,"
adds Carter, "I'm impressed with what appears to be
tremendous design and the vast amounts of information
derivable from a simple linear biochemical sequence."

As a scientist who is also a Christian, Carter says
that his scientific appreciation for the complexity
of the human genetic makeup encourages his faith in a
creator God.

While the Human Genome Project has opened up new
vistas in scientific understanding of human life, it
also "brings a heavy weight to bear on the system of
human morality," says Dr. James Gibson, director of
the Adventist-sponsored Geoscience Research
Institute.

"The deeper we delve into human genetics and the
greater the ability we have to alter genetic matter,
the more pressing the need for a code of scientific
ethics that can deal with these new scenarios," says
Gibson. "I see great potential for good, but also
great potential for evil."

The Human Genome Project combines the efforts of
geneticists around the world with researchers at
Celera Genomics, a private research company. In late
2000, the team completed the mammoth task of
producing a first complete "map" of human DNA.
Scientists hope this knowledge will one day be
harnessed to cure diseases ranging from diabetes to
cancer to Parkinson's disease. [Editor: Bettina
Krause]