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Message: Note the last few paragraphs on the human genome project

The Globe and Mail, Monday, June 26, 2000

Houston, we have hype

By 


 We have an unusually politicized science question for you. What do P.T. Barnum, the new NASA evidence for waterways on Mars and the completion of the first rough map of the human genome have in common?

Hint: It isn't brainpower. Rather, it seems that some of the scientific community has bought into Mr. Barnum's maxim that people will buy whatever you sell so long as you promote it hard enough.

Last week, the world was told that an analysis of Martian satellite photographs found an increased likelihood of liquid water existing on the planet. This finding in turn "greatly increases the likelihood of life on Mars," said news reports.

"On Earth," added Bruce Jakosky, an atmospheric physics professor at the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- tration's news conference, "wherever you find liquid water below the boiling temperature, then you find life."

The new interpretation of Martian gullies has to overcome the stubborn physics of a planet whose -70 to -100 C temperatures should mean that water exists only as ice. But even if there isn't water-borne life on Mars, enthusiasts say, this could-be, would-be discovery is still miraculous. Space colonists might break down water into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen and make either rocket fuel or a breatheable atmosphere for domed habitats.

Even if we overlook the uncomfortable fact that we haven't actually seen any water on Mars, only signs of erosion, something is obvious here. How the Mars data have been framed looks a lot more interesting than the data themselves.

Scientists don't know how life came into being. Even with water they haven't been able to recreate something as simple as one species of bacteria from raw materials. Nor is it clear what people who went to live on Mars would do there except slowly go mad in what non-space enthusiasts might view as the ultimate prison camp.

What space scientists do know is that their findings will have a greater resonance with the general public if they are connected to something extraordinary. Headlines that say "Likelihood of life on Red Planet" or "Potential rocket fuel found on Mars" sell space exploration. "Water on Mars a little less unlikely" isn't even news. So if you are a P.T. Barnum of a space scientist, you sell what sells.

The first rough mapping of the human genome is a true accomplishment, but what the accomplishment really means isn't obvious. "It will," said news reports anticipating an announcement being made today, "enable doctors to treat the underlying genetic causes of hundreds of diseases . . . and to perhaps [correct] gene flaws from birth."

Maybe. But before that happens we have to know what human genes do, and all today's news tells us is that we know, more or less, where genes are. That's akin to finding a way to play a record of songs from an extinct culture. Knowing what a language sounds like is hardly the same as knowing what the words in the language mean.

Heretofore, there has been no rapid-fire way to decipher what the human genes do. Even without a map, it has been estimated that 40 per cent of newly discovered genes bear no resemblance to anything seen before.

And up to now, fixing broken genes (so-called gene therapy) has proved remarkably difficult. There are no successful examples of researchers doing it in single gene diseases, much less in conditions such as heart disease where a hundred genes might interact.

So why emphasize the revolutionary medical aspect of completing our species' genetic jigsaw puzzle? Because doctoring is what ordinary people can relate to. Miracle medicine transforms brute biochemistry into the promise of a pain-free life. True genetic repair may be a long, long way off, but, as Mr. Barnum might have put it, "there is someone ready to believe the most extravagant scientific promise born every minute. Give 'em what they want."



Copyright 2000 | The Globe and Mail

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