Imagine for a moment if you went to a zoo tomorrow and, sandwiched between the polar bears and the penguins, there was a woolly mammoth lumbering around in an arctic habitat.
This may not be as impossible as you think. An recent article in The New York Times highlighted scientists’ current reconstruction of mammoth DNA – all for very the modest fee of $10 million. By piecing together the genome of the animal and modifying it into an elephant egg, it would be feasible to
produce a living mammoth.
This is a fascinating but ultimately unnecessary discovery. It’s wonderful that scientists are advancing technology and progressing the scope of what science can accomplish. However, just because we are able to do something doesn’t mean that we should. What possible reason could there be for bringing a mammoth back into the world? Not to mention how the woolly mammoth might disrupt an ecosystem that has evolved for millennia if it were re-introduced into the wild.
What gives us the right to recreate a species that, for whatever reason, was killed off by natural selection? It is a slippery slope when it comes to playing God. Natural selection occurs when one species is more equipped to deal with the environment, and obviously mammoths were not. Scientists cannot even agree how mammoths became extinct. There is no clear consensus on whether it was due to disease, or simply early Neanderthals over-hunting these creatures. A lot has changed in the world since mammoths became extinct. The environment has evolved into a much different place, filled with different diseases and wildlife.
It is also unclear what the reason for recreating the mammoths is. It seems the woolly mammoth is likely a stepping-stone for more ambitious projects. For example, scientists have said they hope to tackle restoring the Neanderthal genome if the mammoth proves successful. But first, shouldn’t we at least consider the ethical angle of recreating primitive humans?
I am far from against the improvement of science, but our time and money could be better spent on more fruitful studies. In 2007, President-elect Barack Obama introduced a Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act, which details an ethical research plan for stem cells. If scientists were able to research human cloning, it would be more beneficial to understanding and preparing for future situations. Human DNA testing could uncover copious amounts of gene comprehension, and stem cell research would use genomes to accelerate the understanding and diagnoses of diseases.
Scientists should realize that spending millions of dollars on reconstructing the genome of a prehistoric creature diverts from potential projects that are more immediate and need our attention. We need to initiate studies to fully grasp the extent that efforts such as cloning and stem cell research could benefit society, as it makes much more sense to work toward improving existing human lives rather than recreating an obsolete animal.
Why mess with something that has been extinct for thousands of years? I say, focus on the human, and let sleeping mammoths lie.
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