Genetic Dreams, Genetic Nightmares - Episode 1

Biologist Matthew Cobb presents the first episode in a series
which looks at the fifty year history of genetic engineering:
from the concerns around the first attempts at combining the DNA
of one organism with the genes of another in 1971, to today’s
gene editing technique known as Crispr.


The first experiments to combine the DNA of two different
organisms began at Stanford University in California in 1971. The
revolutionary technique of splicing genes from one lifeform into
another promised to be a powerful tool in understanding how our
cells worked. It also offered the prospect of a new cheap means
of manufacturing life-saving drugs – for example, by transferring
the gene for human insulin into bacteria, growing those
genetically engineered microbes in industrial vats and harvesting
the hormone. A new industrial revolution based on biology looked
possible.


At the same time some scientists and the public were alarmed by
disastrous scenarios that genetic engineering might unleash. What
if microbes engineered with toxin genes or cancer genes escaped
from the labs and spread around the world?


In early 1974, responding to the public fears and their own
disquiet about how fast the techniques were developing, the
scientists leading this research revolution called for a global
moratorium on genetic engineering experiments until the risks had
been assessed.


This was followed by an historic meeting of 130 scientists from
around the world in February 1975 in California. Its purpose was
to decide if and how the genetic engineering research could be
done safely. It was a rancorous affair but the Asilomar
conference is held up as an idealist if imperfect example of
scientists taking responsibility as they developed a powerful new
technology.


First broadcast on Tuesday 20 July 2021.