KU Law News
Nov. 24, 2008
Geneticist probes power, problems of new DNA technologies at biolaw symposium
Developments in genetics that Princeton University scientist Lee Silver could only speculate about in his 1996 book “Remaking Eden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning Will Transform the American Family” all have been superseded in the past decade.
With those discoveries comes power and problems, Silver told an audience attending “Biolaw: Law at the Frontiers of Biology.” Silver delivered the keynote address for the annual Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy symposium, hosted Nov. 13-14 by the University of Kansas School of Law.
Last year, new technology became available to quickly analyze an individual’s DNA and compare it with the DNA of others, allowing researchers to associate differences in DNA with differences in the traits that people express. The DNA chip, as it’s called, will read out to about 4 million spots in a person’s DNA – roughly 95 percent of an individual’s genome. The data can then be plugged into a computer model and analyzed. Studies have already begun to isolate genes associated with particular diseases.
After sending his own DNA to a lab, Silver was able to determine that one of his genetic variations doubled the number of dopamine receptors in a certain part of his brain, explaining why he is fueled by the excitement of discovery. The analysis also can trace the ethnic lineage of individuals of European descent, for example, to within a few hundred miles of their ancestral origins.
“Hitler would have exterminated all Jews if he had this information,” Silver said. “This is very powerful information.”
Silver’s lecture, titled “The Clash of Biotechnology and Religion: Choosing My Child’s Genes, Probing the Edge of Humanness and Considering the Post-Human Genome,” also raised questions about what it means to be alive, what it means to be human and what human descendants will become in the future. For example, he predicts there will come a time when parents will use these technologies to ensure that their children are, for example, resistant to cancer and have mathematical aptitude. A panel of legal scholars commented on Silver’s talk, discussing what role the law will play in a world where such options are available for just a few extra dollars.
“The only limitation is money,” Silver said. “If you have enough money and you want to know why somebody likes to wink – like the governor of Alaska – and there’s some genetic component to it, you can figure out where it is.”
Other scholars at the two-day symposium spoke about subjects ranging from the environmental sustainability of genetically modified foods to patenting human genes to developing biotechnology. Michele Goodwin, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, gave the lunch keynote address on Nov. 14, discussing the black market for human body parts.
“She not only demonstrated that there was an active and thriving black market for human body parts, but also challenged the audience to consider legal and ethical means to resolve the issue,” said Katie Morgan, a third-year law student who served as co-editor of the symposium with fellow third-year student Andrew Shaw. “Long after her address, audience members discussed her ideas and expressed their desire to read her book and hear more from her in the future.”
Several area attorneys who took part in the symposium to obtain continuing legal education credit commented that it was the most interesting CLE they had ever attended, Morgan said. The inaugural biolaw conference was hosted last year by the Kansas Law Review, and the law school plans to continue organizing an annual symposium on the topic.
Additional sponsorship for the symposium was provided by the law firm of Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus, as well as the campus groups Health Law Society, Phi Beta Delta and Student Senate.
