Seizure by Robin Cook Read Free Book Online Page B

injected.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd there are no problems with that?”
    â€œNo, not at all,” Daniel said. “There’s already been considerable experience using this technique on humans for other therapies. The injection must be done carefully, under controlled conditions, but there’s generally no problem whatsoever. In our experience, the mice have had no ill effects.”
    â€œAre the mice cured soon after the injection?”
    â€œIn our experience, the Parkinson’s symptoms begin to subside immediately,” Daniel said. “And it continues rapidly. With the mice we’ve treated, it’s been truly remarkable. Within a week, the treated mice cannot be distinguished from the well controls.”
    â€œI suppose you are eager to try this on humans,” Ashley suggested.
    â€œExtremely so,” Daniel admitted with a series of nods for emphasis. “After we complete our animal studies, which are moving ahead rapidly, we’re hoping for a fast track with the FDA to begin human trials in a controlled setting.”
    Ashley saw Daniel glance at his companion and even grip her hand for a moment. Ashley smiled inwardly, sensing Daniel was thinking the hearing was going well. It was time to rectify that misconception. “Tell me, Doctor Lowell,” Ashley began. “Have you ever heard the saying: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t ?”
    â€œOf course.”
    â€œWell, I think HTSR is a prime example. Putting aside for a moment the semantic argument about whether or not embryos are being dismembered, HTSR has another major ethical problem.”
    Ashley paused for effect. The audience was completely still.
    â€œDoctor,” Ashley said patronizingly. “Have you ever read that classic novel by Mary Shelley called Frankenstein ?”
    â€œHTSR has nothing to do with the Frankenstein myth,” Daniel said indignantly, implying he knew full well where Ashley was headed. “To imply as much is an irresponsible attempt to take advantage of public fears and misconceptions.”
    â€œI beg to disagree,” Ashley said. “In fact, I think Mary Shelley must have had an inkling that HTSR was coming down the pike, and that’s why she wrote her novel.”
    The spectators again laughed. It was apparent they were hanging on to every word and enjoying themselves.
    â€œNow I know I have not had the benefit of an Ivy League education, but I read Frankenstein, whose whole title includes The Modern Prometheus, and I think the parallels are remarkable. As I understand it, the word transgenic, which is part of the confusing name of your procedure, means taking bits and pieces of various people’s genomes and mixing them together like you’re making a cake. That sounds to this country boy pretty much the same thing Victor Frankenstein did when he made his monster, getting pieces from this corpse and parts from another and sewing them up together. He even used a bit of electricity, just like you people do with your cloning.”
    â€œWith HTSR, we are adding relatively short lengths of DNA, not whole organs,” Daniel retorted heatedly.
    â€œCalm down, Doctor!” Ashley said. “This is a fact-finding hearing we’re having here, not a fight. What I’m driving at is that, with your procedure, you’re taking parts of one person and putting them in another. Isn’t that true?”
    â€œOn a molecular level.”
    â€œI don’t care what level it is,” Ashley said. “I just want to establish the facts.”
    â€œMedical science has been transplanting organs for some time,” Daniel snapped. “The general public does not see amoral problem with that, quite the contrary, and organ transplantation is certainly a better conceptual parallel with HTSR than Mary Shelley’s nineteenth-century novel.”
    â€œIn the example you gave concerning Parkinson’s