Word: code
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...acquisition of the power to eliminate genetic imperfections and engineer entirely new characteristics for humans is, for all of its promise, a frightening prospect for those who believe that man should not tamper with his inheritance. Yet even before the structure of DNA was defined and the genetic code broken, doctors had begun, mostly by trial and error, to develop techniques of genetic medicine...
...significance by a technique that may well be practiced before the end of this century: genetic surgery, or correction of man's inherited imperfections at the level of the genes themselves. When molecular biologists learn to map the location of specific genes in human DNA strands, determine the genetic code of each and then create synthetic genes in the test tube, they will have the ability to perform genetic surgery...
...root of the ethical dilemmas posed by molecular biology. In one sense, the new findings have continued the work of Newton, Darwin and Freud, reducing men to even tinier cogs in a mechanistic universe. At the same time, it was man himself who deciphered the code of life and who can now, in Teilhard de Chardin's phrase, "seize the tiller of the world." If he is only a bundle of DNA-directed cells, more sophisticated but hardly dissimilar from those of animals and plants, he can at least use that knowledge to improve, even to re-create himself...
...alone share control of what they do. The matters, they contend, are technical and should be decided by the technical men who understand them. Even if government does enter the field, points out Daniel Callahan, much of the success of any ethical policy will depend on a responsible professional code. "If you depend solely on laws, sanctions and enforcements," says Callahan, "the game is over." Molecular Biologist Francis Crick is confident that basic morals and common sense will prevail. Some of the wilder genetic proposals will never be adopted, he claims, because "people will simply not stand for them...
...beguiled, bullied and often bamboozled by a fury of hard-sell promotions featuring vigorous pitchmen like Captain Crunch, Tony the Tiger and Fred Flintstone. On Saturday mornings about half of the nation's children aged two to eleven watch television cartoon shows. The National Association of Broadcasters' code allows these nonprime-time programs to be freighted with up to 16 minutes of plugs an hour; on prime-time features for adults, the limit is ten minutes. Lately, not only the quantity but the quality of TV sales spiels for children have become targets of reform-minded parents...