kevin p. siu

Okay, I’ve been really bored lately (am I the only one without a job?)… so I’ve decided to spend my time reading massive amounts of books until I find something better to do. Here’s the first one I read.

Let me first begin by saying that I think Michael Crichton is a genius, and that I have read more of his books than any other author. He is, of course, the famous science fiction writer who wrote Jurassic Park (though I think that was actually one of his less well-written books), as well as the classic tv show ER.

Now then, I just finished reading his latest book, Next (thanks to the good old library’s bestseller express 7-day borrowing!). Now, most of Crichton’s books deal with controversial scientific issues (his last book, State of Fear, was a great thriller based on climate change science – yes, it’s actually interesting). This one is no exception. It deals with some very eye-opening details of current genetic research, and showcases some of the greatest problems facing future advances in genetics.

I was particularly drawn into the subject as I’ve just taken a full blown university biology course which was 75% genetics (now that’s my kind of course). Most of the stuff we learned was, unfortunately, highly technical, and much of it also involved ongoing research. So this book, Next, filled in the gap between technical detail to social context. You don’t have to have any biology knowledge to read the book, but of course, if you do, it’ll put things in better perspective.

Now, I’m not really going to summarize the book here – the style is a little different than his usual ‘adventure’ type science fiction thriller. This book was more of an exposé on the field than an adventure – which took a while to get used to, as there were no real ‘protagonists’ in the story. It interweaved about 4 or 5 different plotlines, and at the same time exposed some of the greatest ethical problems facing genetic research.

What made this book a shocker to me was that it exposed one of the greatest flaws in modern genetic research. The flaw? Genes have been patented. This fact perhaps would have been lost on me if I wasn’t fresh off a biology course, but as we’ve learned, there are two major issues with this. First, there really is no clear meaning of a single gene. There are strict textbook definitions, of course, but our course has shown that each ‘genetic trait’ is controlled by so many different factors that the term gene must really be used carefully. For example, there is no single “diabetes gene” or “blond gene” or “smart gene“. Each trait is controlled by so many ’sets’ of genes and environmental factors that these popularized terms really have no meaning. The second major problem is that ‘genes’ as they are used and defined, are literally just sequences of letters. They’re pure information that is inherent in nature. So the question is, how can anyone propose to patent a ‘gene’, when they’re patenting pure information, occurring in nature, and represented by a sequence of letters? Logically, it can’t be done. But – it has.

Universities and big corporations have been busy patenting human and animal genes that they ‘discovered’ in their research. This is quite a concept. The rationale is that the genes can be used to create new drugs and therapies to fight disease – which it can. Unfortunately, it also means that a great many of us are walking around with patented information inside us. In the strictest sense, it means you don’t have ownership over your own genes. Some big corporation, or university, or researcher, owns that part of you. This has apparently been a major point of dispute in genetic therapies – patients have been refused treatment, or asked to pay ridiculous prices, for stuff made from their own cells.

Shocking.

Anyways, I won’t go into too much detail, because that’d involve a lot of technicals… I’d also start going on a rant about capitalism and its flaws, but that’s for another article… just go read the book. I recommend it to anybody interested in biology, or science in general, or indeed, the human condition. It’s interesting, and shocking, at the same time. (It might not, however, be the best foray into Michael Crichton or science fiction if you’re new to any of those… try State of Fear or any of his earlier novels instead).

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Next on my reading list… The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. (Been meaning to read this for a year)