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Biotech in the Garden of EdenPersons of diverse religious heritage know the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Cutting to the chase, the evil serpent convinced Eve that the secrets of life could be known if only they would partake of the Garden’s forbidden fruit, the apple of knowledge. It seemed like a good idea that man should share the knowledge known previously only to God, so Adam took the first juicy bite. Yummy? According to the Bible, however, theirs was a sinful act and the original humans were immediately thrown out of the Garden for violating the house rules. The story seems to indicate that God knew what was going to happen when His creations got their first glimmer of hidden knowledge. So why call it a temptation? Surely man would want the full story of what made the world go round. One wonders why something so obvious would be portrayed as sinful, since the natural curiosity of man would foreordain that the apple was just too good to pass by. Whether one accepts the idea that God knew the answer in advance as to whether or not man would take the first bite, the fact is that we did and have been biting into the apple ever since. That also seems natural. In the past, man has gotten a pretty good taste of the apple and has learned much about the grand design of things; in physics, chemistry, biology and so on. For many, that knowledge has brought them closer the God of the Garden. Now comes the mapping of the human genome, and for the first time we know more than Adam would ever have guessed possible way back then. Who does not celebrate the prospect of cures for disease and faulty genes made healthy? Even Jesus took great stock in healing the sick, curing the leper, raising the dead. That we one day may pick up our crutches and walk, be once again made whole, is an honest hope for genetic technology, Without doubt, potentials for misuse of science and the diminishment of man’s better nature is to be guarded against. Even the most vocal of religion’s media spokespersons, however, concede willingly that science can be used for good purposes. In the case of the potential cure for the disease of drugs and the blight it brings upon the entire world, men of good will must determine whether or not conquering the curse of narcotic drugs is a dehumanizing act, or an act of moral defiance against the serpent’s evil tongue.
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