A State Of Truth

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Posts for Tag: playing God

CRISPR-cancer link suspected

DNA the code of life itself

Crispr Therapeutics led gene-editing stocks lower after new studies published by Nature Medicine found that cells whose genomes are edited with the CRISPR-Cas9 technology have the potential to cause cancer, Stat News reports. Editing cells’ genomes with CRISPR-Cas9 might increase the risk that the altered cells, intended to treat disease, will trigger cancer, two studies published on Monday warn — a potential game-changer for the companies developing CRISPR-based therapies. [Full article]

Something strange is happening to our DNA


At the beginning of 2019, it was reported that over 26 million individuals had taken an at-home DNA test, but the companies seeking to profit off of the most unique thing about us still remain largely a mystery. So who are the two superpowers harvesting the largest trove of human DNA? What do they do with your DNA after they send you the test results? And most importantly, why should you care?

"We are going to become gods, period. If you are going to interfere…you’re going to have trouble." - Richard Seed


Richard Seed, a physicist with a Phd from Harvard University has had a life full of great achievements and controversy. In the 1970′s  he founded a company that put efforts towards the transference of  cow embryos. He later co-founded Fertility & Genetics Research Inc. with his brother  Randolph Seed, a surgeon based in Chicago. The goal of  Fertility & Genetics Research Inc. was similar to Richard’s former company, only this time the practice would take place  with a healthy inseminated woman (inseminated a few days prior) to a infertile surrogate woman, this resulted in a healthy child birth reported by The Journal of the American Medical Association (vol 251, p 889) . The practice soon hit the wayside as competing fertility treatments took a superior role such as In-vitro fertilization.

In the 1990′s Richard declared to the world his goal to create human clones, mass hysteria and outrage followed sue, so much so that President Clinton acknowledged him and shorty after urged congress to impose a five-year moratorium on the practice. Richard reaffirmed his goals after shrugging off Clinton’s remarks, announcing that he would take the operation off shore to Tijuana if congress banned the practice. Richard later told the press that he had a support from infertile couples and that with in 2 years an operation would be underway. He claimed to have enough money to start the project but was in need of an extra 2 million to complete it. It was later reported that he had acquired a team of scientists to do the job before congress passed any laws banning the practice, Richard said that they had 8 volunteers ready for testing. No announcement has been made on the status of the purported claim.

In 1998 Seed made claims that he would clone himself saying that Gloria, his wife, agreed to carry an embryo of a donor egg that would be combined with the nucleus of one of his cells. Despite Gloria being  ”post-menopausal”, claimed by Seed, he refused to talk any further about how the pregnancy would take place.  “I have decided to clone myself first to defuse the criticism that I’m taking advantage of desperate women with a procedure that’s not proven” he claimed after widespread criticism after his statement on making baby clones for infertile couples.

In 2001, at a scientific forum in Rome guided discuss the ethical concerns of cloning, Seed made another controversial claim  saying that he wanted to clone his wife.

Here are some more quotes to understand where Mr. Seed is coming from: 
  1. ”God intended for man to become one with God. Cloning, is the first serious step in becoming one with God.”
  2. ”Man,” he said, “will develop the technology and the science and the capability to have an indefinite life span.”