Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: A map, but to where?

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

WOW! The Human Genome Project. Wow!

I have been so excited since I first heard about the map of the human genetic code that I haven't been able to think straight. And everyone else I have talked to about the map feels exactly the same way. The only problem with the way we feel is that, while we understand that we should be like 2-year-olds in a candy store, we haven't got a clue what to do with all of that candy!

Guys like President Clinton know what a genome map is. He's been talking about it to me for months now and I, like a fool, never took the time to study up on the subject so that I'd have an inkling what it was about when the big announcement came. Guys like Vice President Al Gore know all about this genetic mapping stuff because they have the intellectual capacity to not only comprehend what it means but, in the Veep's case, probably had something to do with inventing it!

Guys like me, though, and the hundreds of folks I have talked to about this since the first stories started to pop, remain clueless. But we know enough to understand that what we don't know will not only not hurt us but, in a very real sense and in a very real way, will help all of us live better, stronger and longer lives.

I have known this day was coming for a long time because it had to happen. Ever since man started walking the Earth he has looked for ways to prolong his stay, to prevent the "ashes to ashes" stuff for as long as he could. Ponce De Leon tried to find it in the water, Dr. Frankenstein through a lightning bolt. The rest of us have tried vitamins, minerals and any other fad that promised long and healthy lives.

And, now, at long last, the fountain of youth may be upon us. I don't know whether the scientists who are completing the map will figure it out in one year, one decade or one more lifetime, but the fact remains that science has provided the human race with a road map to wellness. It started with DNA which, in itself, was a concept difficult for many of us to fathom, and moved right through to the potential of a map containing over 3 billion subunits of the DNA, which only yesterday was a really big deal. Whatever science uncovered in the 20th century -- which was the greatest high-tech explosion known to mankind -- will pale in comparison to this genome thing. And while we don't know what will follow, we have to know it will be bigger than all we have come to know to date.

So the outlook looks good for those of us who yearn for good genes and disease-free lives. It looks encouraging for those children born with problems that yesterday could not be fixed and tomorrow will be just one more thing this world takes for granted. A human genome map. I still don't have a clue what it is, but it sounds better every time I say it.

Could there possibly be a downside?

If you listen to the president, this is "a day for the ages." He likened it to Galileo's celestial searchings and the mapping of the American wilds by Lewis and Clark. He said, "Today we are learning the language in which God created life. We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, the wonder of God's most divine and sacred gift."

Great Britain's Tony Blair was equally effusive. "Let us be in no doubt about what we are witnessing today: A revolution in medical science whose implications far surpass even the discovery of antibiotics, the first great technological triumph of the 21st century."

Well, they've certainly got my attention. And all of my friends, you know the ones I told you about who are excited as heck but they just don't know what about, are anxious, too, to learn which way this map is going to lead the human race. That's because some of them, while they haven't a clue about what the map is going to show, are concerned about where it might take us.

For sure, they are excited about the prospects of saving people from the ravages of genetically induced diseases and infirmities. And they really like the idea of living longer and healthier lives. That's when reality bites.

What will the world do when everyone is living longer? From where will the food come when the world is overrun with healthy, hungry people? Who will get the benefits of this great discovery? Will it go only to those who can afford to pay or will people who can least afford a map of their own but who are in the greatest need for its enlightened approach have a chance at the brass ring of longevity? And who will determine how the map and its wonderments are deployed? Will this be another for-profit effort that will determine its course at the outset, or will it be pursued by the governments of man for the benefit of all human beings?

These are just a few of the questions that come to mind when we start thinking about what the mapping can do and for whom it can do it. Mind you, not one of the answers to any of these questions should provide a reason to stop the progress that science has made and continues to make each day. But, depending upon how the world views this extraordinary effort, the questions should provide reason enough to seek the answers ahead of time.

Science and discovery have always had their detractors and, if the naysayers had had their way, most of what we know and what has allowed us to progress would not yet have been discovered. Those same people will make themselves heard on this one, too.

Our job is to listen to the criticism and pay close attention to that which makes good sense. Like everything else in life, this genome thing won't be all peaches and cream. But it will be something profound enough and good enough that it must be pursued, regardless of the seemingly good reasons to thwart its completion.

To stop the progress is to turn away from the light and back into the darkness of the unknown. The human race owes it to the future to proceed down the course of enlightenment. We don't need a map to tell us that!

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