By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com
A British biologist named John Gurdon won a Nobel Prize for discovering that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become “pluripotent.” That means mature cells can be converted into stem cells, so brain cells can be changed into heart, foot, or skin cells. That enabled Gurdon in 1962 to clone the first vertebrate in his lab, an African clawed frog, now considered an invasive species in most of Europe, China, and the U.S.
This was interesting mainly to scientists until 1996 when a Scottish lab cloned the first mammal, a sheep named Dolly, an overnight global media sensation. It proved that the nucleus from an adult cell, transferred into an unfertilized egg, can divide and develop in the same mysterious way it does in a real womb.
Since then, many other mammals have been cloned, including deer, pigs, horses, and cattle.
It was only a matter of time before geneticists decided to try the same technology to bring back an extinct species, too. For years there has been speculation about recreating the wooly mammoth, for example, because there are frozen carcasses to work with.
One of the nation’s most famous pioneers in this field is Dr. George Church, a Harvard genetics professor whose team has now broken the technological barrier, announcing the rebirth of the extinct prehistoric dire wolf, made famous in the Game of Thrones series, and in games like Dungeons and Dragons. It is now the world’s first successfully “de-extincted” animal.
The dire wolf was extinct for centuries, but now three pups have been “born,” starting with DNA from a 13,000 year old tooth and a 72,000 year old skull. Dr. Church’s company, created for the specific purpose of “de-extinction,” calls the dire wolves’ birth “a critical step on the pathway to the de-extinction of other target species.”
What species might that be? Or perhaps even more fundamentally – who will decide what extinct species should be brought back?
The company plans eventually to restore the dire wolf on “expansive ecological preserves potentially on indigenous land.” What land where, and again, who will decide?
The ethical questions accompanying mankind’s ability to recreate extinct species are profound.
Some projects involve expanding populations of species that are endangered but not yet gone, including red wolf populations Church’s company is already augmenting. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum expressed “excitement” about the possibility of someday eliminating the concept of endangered species.
That isn’t much different, ethically, than captive breeding and release programs, which Colorado helped pioneer, especially with endangered fish.
But cloning animals long extinct feels different. It seems obvious that the public might want something to say about whether their state is turned into Jurassic Park. Under the clear legal precedent that wildlife belongs to the states, it is highly doubtful that some private lab should be allowed to decide that it’s time to bring back Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Just because they can do something does not necessarily mean they should.
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT GREGWALCHER.COM
Greg Walcher is president of the Natural Resources Group and author of “Smoking Them Out:
The Theft of the Environment and How to Take it Back,” now in its second printing.
He is a former head of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and former President of Club 20.
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.