Synthetic Biologist: Cloned Children, ‘Handpicked Genes’ Right Around the Corner

If you’ve been following the sci-tech section of any major news site over the past few years, chances are you have seen more than a few stories discussing the possibility of extending the highly problematic act of genetic modifications onto the human race. A step that has been foretold by science fiction novels and simultaneously discounted as conspiracy for years. According to one leading synthetic biologist with a passion for eugenics (meaning ‘selective breeding’) and cloning technology, it may be just around the corner.

Scientist George Church envisions a world where traits are pre-determined by parents for their offspring — children created via cloning technology to create ‘better’ humans. He also claims to be creating Neanderthal cells within his laboratory, holding an inventory of Neanderthal ‘parts’ across the lab space. In the near future, he even plans to ‘create’ a Neanderthal baby within his lab.

You may think that Church is just some mad scientist cooped up in his lab experimenting with genetics in his spare time, but he actually is heavily recognized within the scientific community where like-minded eugenicists seek to push cloning technology into the moral and social stratosphere in order to fulfill their visions. Working as a professor at Harvard Medical School and an adviser to more than 20 major corporations, Church thinks that it’s only a matter of time until someone injects an argument into the mainstream media that allows for full-scale cloning technology to be unleashed upon the world.

In an interview with Bloomberg, he said:

“At some point, someone will come up with an airtight argument as to why they should have a cloned child. At that point, cloning will be acceptable. At that point, people will already be choosing traits for their children.”

Of course over 40,000 patents currently exist on human genetics, granting the very ownership of the human genome to major corporations who have been seeking to secure a monopoly over the human coding for over 100 years. Altogether, more than 20 percent of the human genome belongs to corporations. This would give major corporations the ability to actually ‘sell’ genes to parents for their new cloned offspring, generating an entire new market for biotechnology giants.

‘Faulty Genetics’ Means no Right to Fertility

And as for those with ‘faulty’ genetics, they may actually not even be allowed to reproduce. In a similar fashion to the rampant eugenics campaign that ran from 1929 to 1974 and claimed a ‘better society’ through forcing sterilizations upon criminals and those with mental health disorder. All in all, more than 60,000 were sterilized nationwide. But now modern technology exists to actually claim that certain individuals will be criminals or suffer from disease in the future. This, in the mind of the eugenicists, gives them the authority to preemptively sterilize certain sectors of the population. This is the same thinking that is used to remove body parts preemptively in those with a particular cancer gene to avoid the onset of cancer.

But the madness doesn’t end there. According to George Church, they also may create various ‘types’ of cloned children such as Neanderthal babies. He stated:

“We are creating Neanderthal cells. Let’s say someone has a healthy, normal Neanderthal baby. Well, then, everyone will want to have a Neanderthal kid.”

It has already been revealed that many scientists have already secretly created human-animal hybrid experiments in the lab using similar technology. In fact, the ‘horrendous’ creations actually led to some scientists to call for new rules on the subject. Creations that Church asserts will eventually be commonplace if he and his group of Monsanto-esque scientists get their way.

It is concerning enough that genetic modification within crops has led to the onset of tumors, organ damage, and other serious concerns. The health implications alone surrounding the direct genetic modification of humans is enough to sound the alarm. When considering the Orwellian aspects of reproduction control and rampant cloning mixed in with outlandish hybrid experiments, it’s easy to see that there’s simply no place for the unscrupulous usage of such biotechnology. The argument will, however, be thrown right into the mainstream media using a heartwarming story about how cloning can help fuel research for heart disease and cancer — yet another scam.

And if George Church is right, such a scenario could be right around the corner.