by Denis Noble

About the author: Denis Noble is a professor of cardiovascular physiology (the study of the functioning of the heart and blood vessels) at Oxford University in England. He is co-editor of the UNESCO publication Ethics of Life and a founder of the Save British Science Society.

The natural world is a very dangerous place for human beings. If evolution had taken even slightly different directions at various stages, we would not be here to contemplate the results. We may literally owe our existence to the crash of a meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs. Another one could well wipe us out in the future.

Istart with these startling thoughts because it is important to put into perspective the debate about the social and ethical dilemmas posed by recent developments in genetics and biotechnology. We...