Genetic engineering

            Medical technology is growing more and more these days. But where can we draw the line? Do humans really want to become more and more artificial? .
             Medical technologies are risky and many are performed too often. People tend to focus on the achievements of modern medicine rather than the uncertainty of many medical procedures. (Mike 1987).
             Princeton University microbiologist Lee M. Silver says that he can see a day a few centuries from now when there are two species of humans - the standard "naturals," (Deneen 2001) and the "gene-enriched" (Deneen 2001) an elite class whose parents bought for them designer genes, and whose parents before them did the same, and so on for generations.
             It will all start innocently enough - birth defects that are caused by a single gene, such as cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs disease, will be targeted first, and probably without any controversy. Then, as societal fears about messing with mother nature subside, Silver and other researchers predict that a genetic solution to preventing diabetes, heart disease and other big killers will be found and offered, as well as genetic inoculations against HIV. Eventually, the mind will be targeted for improvement - preventing addiction to alcohol and drugs, curing mental illness ad improving intelligence. Even traits from other animals may be added, such as a dog's sense of smell or an eagle's eyesight. (Deneen 2001).
             What parents would see as a simple, although pricey, way to improve their children would result, after many generations of gene selection, in a large change by the year 2400 - humans would be two distinct species, related as humans and chimps are today, and just as unable to interbreed. People now have 46 chromosomes - the gene-enriched would have 48 to accommodate their added traits, as Silver predicts. (Deneen 2001).
             A lot of people are against human genetic engineering as they believe that it is wrong in principle to interfere so blatantly with nature.