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25 www.hplusmagazine.com Colorblindness is well known but there is no treatment. The colorblind simply learn to accommodate. As with all human conditions, the degree of colorblindness varies, so its impact varies widely. With a mild case, a fella might come off as just a bad dresser, while in a severe case life becomes an adventure. Say there's a Christmas sign with red letters on a green background, and such a situation is typical during the holiday season. To the man with red-green colorblindness, such a sign would look all one color, sort of a grey all over. One presumes he would still somehow find his way to Santa, but you can readily see why red and green would be poor choices for commonplace street signs. The good news here is that these folks are simply missing a patch of DNA… which is just the kind of challenge this Millennium is made for. Enter science. While eight percent of human males are colorblind, all male squirrel monkeys are colorblind, so that makes them perfect guinea pigs — so to speak — to study potential solutions. The September 16, 2009 online edition of New Scientist reports that scientists from the university of Washington modified a virus to carry the missing patch of red-green-distinguishing DNA as a payload. Then they found a way to introduce this modified virus into the eyes of the male squirrel monkeys. And then… they waited. During this time, they hoped, the virus would take up happy residence and start multiplying. It took 20 weeks, but eventually the monkeys started distinguishing between red and green. It was clever how they got the also-clever monkeys to reveal what colors they could and could not see. (It turns out male squirrel monkeys like video games! Who knew? See Resources) But the point I want to make here starts with the ability to easily introduce new strands of DNA into living, breathing creatures — which would include you and me. Who would deny a person the richness of a glorious sunset? The vision of the world's greatest paintings? The diversity of the Internet? The fullness of the faces of our loved ones? In this situation, science is applauded for trying to fix a capability that the great swath of the human race enjoys. But could it be viewed differently? Are we trying to "normalize" humans to a threshold of experience? What if things were different? What if, for example, over 99% of humans were colorblind, so that there were only a handful of people in the world who could distinguish between red and green? (For starters … they'd be keeping their mouths shut. The accusation "You're seeing things!" has special meaning here.) One could even imagine scientists trying to correct the ability to see both red and green. They would be trying to eradicate what would be generally considered an annoying problem. But if one person in the general population figured out that they could gain an advantage by simply adding that little patch of DNA, would that be an enhancement? It exists naturally in some humans, so it's not some creation of a genetic mad man… and yet it moves that person away from the norm. And there you have it: one man's fix is another man's enhancement. Now is the time to ask these questions: How should we view this, individually and collectively? What is our responsibility as a society? What is the responsible way to proceed? So here's my new sign, in colors neither green nor red: "Slippery Slope. Enter here. Watch your step." Indeed, welcome to the slippery slope of DNA. It's as slippery a slope as there ever was. Moira A. Gunn, Ph.D. hosts "BioTech Nation" on NPR Talk and NPR Live. She's a professor of global information systems and biotechnology in the School of Business and Professional Studies at the University of San Francisco, and the author of Welcome to BioTech Nation… My unexpected Odyssey into the land of Small Molecules, lean Genes, and Big Ideas. Copyright 2009 Moira A. Gunn to the slippery slope of DNA. It's as slippery a slope as there ever to the slippery slope of DNA. It's as slippery a slope as there ever to the slippery slope of DNA. It's as slippery a slope as there ever to the slippery slope of DNA. It's as slippery a slope as there ever who would deny a person the richness of a glorious sunset? the vision of the world's greatest paintings? Gene therapy cures colour-blind monkeys http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17799-gene-therapy-cures-colourblind-monkeys.html resources