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September 09, 2007

Fat gene discovery - global boon or bane?

Listening to NPR's regular Science Friday show a couple days ago I was intrigued by the last segment. It was about a newly published study on Adipose - AKA the "fat gene".

Apparently this gene essentially controls how efficiently the body converts and stores fats from the food we eat. The less efficiently we store fats the less excess weight we gain. Which appears to largely explain why two people can take in the same amount of calories from the same kinds of foods and one will struggle with excess weight while the other will remain skinny or even struggle to put on weight.

But what does this discovery portend for humanity? The health benefit implications are significant - diabetes could potentially be eradicated or very nearly so and I should think that heart disease would be impacted as well. Healthier, more fit workers would probably be capable of increased production and perhaps marriage statistics could even improve. And just imagine how much simpler and more efficient military Boot Camp will be when the recruits are already reasonably fit. But what about the flip side of the coin?

As the population of planet Earth continues to climb and global weather conditions appear to be becoming more erratic, with droughts and other phenomenon affecting crop production, starvation and malnutrition continue to be a significant global problem.

I foresee a day in the not so distant future when gene therapy becomes a routine part of the childhood immunization process in Western countries. People will be able to consume more foods without suffering negative health consequences from it. But will that be a good thing or will it consign 3rd world populations to even worse conditions?

Of course this doesn't have to be our future. Medical science could track down how to control appetite and combine that with gene therapy to allow us to eat less rather than more.

Am I my brother's keeper? Or do we continue with the modern variant on Manifest Destiny and grab everything that we can get on the premise that God wants us to do so, consigning the parable of the Good Samaritan to the no longer relevant dustbin of history?

Posted by Kevin at September 9, 2007 06:41 AM