Seizure (4 page)

Ashley hesitated and leaned forward, squinting at the sheet. “Bear with me for a moment,” he said, obviously departing from his prepared text. “This procedure is not only scary, but it's a mouthful, and maybe the good doctor will help me if I stumble. It's called Homologous Transgenic Segmental Recombination, or HTSR. Wow! Did I get that right, Doctor?”

Daniel sat up and leaned forward to his microphone. “Yes,” he said simply and leaned back. He too had his arms folded.

“Why don't you doctors speak English?” Ashley questioned, while peering over the tops of his glasses at Daniel.

A few of the spectators tittered, to Ashley's delight. He loved to play to the crowd.

Daniel leaned forward to answer, but Ashley held up his hand. “That question is off the record, and there's no need to answer.”

The clerk made the adjustment on her machine.

Ashley then looked to his left. “This is off the record too,
but I was curious if the distinguished senator from Montana agrees with me that doctors purposefully have developed their own language just so that half the time we mere mortals have no idea under the sun what the dickens they are talking about.”

There was more laughter from the spectators, as the senator from Montana looked up from his reading and nodded an enthusiastic yes.

“Now, where was I?” Ashley questioned, as he looked back at his prepared opening statement. “The need for this legislation lies in the problem that biotechnology in general and medical science in particular in this country have lost their moral and ethical underpinnings. We here on the Senate's Health Policy Subcommittee feel it is our duty as concerned and moral Americans to reverse this trend by following the lead of our colleagues in the House. Ends do not justify means, particularly in the medical research arena, as was unequivocally stated as far back as the Nuremberg Trials. This HTSR is a case in point. This procedure once again threatens to create poor, defenseless embryos and then dismember them with the dubious justification that the cells derived from these nascent, tiny humans will be used to treat a wide variety of patients. But that's not all. As we will hear in testimony from its discoverer, whom we are honored to have here as a witness, this is no ordinary therapeutic cloning procedure, and I, as the bill's principal author, am shocked that this procedure is poised to become mainstream. Well, I say only over my dead body!”

A modest level of applause issued from a smattering of audience members. Ashley acknowledged it with a nod of his head and a short pause. Then he took a deep breath. “Now, I could go on about this new technique, but I'm not a doctor, and I respectfully defer to the expert, who has graciously come before this subcommittee. I would like to proceed with the witness, unless my eminent-ranking colleague from across the aisle would like to say a few words.”

Ashley regarded the senator seated to his immediate right, who shook his head, covered his microphone with his palm, and leaned toward the chairman. “Ashley,” he whispered. “I hope you are going to be expeditious about his. I've got to be out of here by ten-thirty.”

“Have no fear,” Ashley whispered back. “I'm going for the jugular here.”

Ashley took a drink from the glass of water in front of him and peered down at Daniel. “Our first witness is the brilliant Dr. Daniel Lowell, who, as I've already mentioned, is the discoverer of HTSR. Dr. Lowell has impressive credentials, including M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from some of our country's most august institutions. Somehow he even found time to do a residency in internal medicine. He has received countless awards for his work and has held prestigious positions at Merck pharmaceuticals and Harvard University. Welcome, Dr. Lowell.”

“Thank you, Senator,” Daniel said. He moved forward in his chair. “I appreciate your kind remarks about my curriculum vitae, but, if I may, I'd like to take immediate issue with a particular point in your opening statement.”

“By all means,” Ashley responded.

“HTSR and therapeutic cloning do not, I repeat, do not involve the dismemberment of embryos.” Daniel spoke slowly, emphasizing each word. “The therapeutic cells are taken before any embryo has started to form. They are taken from a structure called a blastocyst.”

“Do you deny these blastocysts are incipient human life?”

“They are human life, but when disaggregated, their cells are similar to the cells you lose from your gums when you brush your teeth vigorously.”

“I don't think I brush that vigorously,” Ashley said with a short laugh. A few spectators joined in.

“We all shed live epithelial cells.”

“Perhaps so, but these epithelial cells are not going to form embryos like a blastocyst.”

“They could,” Daniel said. “That is the point. If the epithelial cells are fused with an egg cell whose nucleus has been extracted, and then the combination is activated, they could form an embryo.”

“Which is what is done in cloning.”

“Precisely,” Daniel said. “Blastocysts have a potential to form a viable embryo, but only if implanted in a uterus. In therapeutic cloning, they are never allowed to form embryos.”

“I think we're getting bogged down in semantics here,” Ashley said impatiently.

“It is semantics,” Daniel agreed. “But it is important semantics. People have to understand that embryos are not involved in therapeutic cloning or HTSR.”

“Your opinion regarding my opening statement has been duly recorded,” Ashley said. “I'd like to move on to the procedure itself. Would you describe it for us here at the hearing and for the official transcript?”

“I'd be happy to,” Daniel said. “Homologous Transgenic Segmental Recombination is the name we have given to a procedure that involves replacing the portion of an individual's DNA responsible for a particular illness with homologous disease-free DNA. This is done in the nucleus of one of the patient's cells, which is then used for therapeutic cloning.”

“Hold it right there,” Ashley interrupted. “I'm already confused, as I'm sure most of the audience is. Let me see if I have this straight. You're talking about taking a cell from a sick person and changing its DNA before doing the therapeutic cloning.”

“That's correct,” Daniel said. “Replacing the small portion of the cell's genetic material that's responsible for the individual's illness.”

“And the therapeutic cloning is then done to make a bunch of these cells to cure the patient.”

“Correct again! The cells are encouraged with various growth hormones to become the type of cells the patient needs. And thanks to HTSR, these cells will not have the genetic predisposition to reform the illness being treated. When these cells are put into the patient, not only will the patient be cured, he or she will not have the genetic tendency to come down with the same illness.”

“Perhaps we could talk about a particular disease,” Ashley suggested. “It might make it easier for us nonscientists to understand. I gather from some of the articles you've published that Parkinson's disease is one of the illnesses you believe will be amenable to this treatment.”

“That's correct,” Daniel said. “As well as many other maladies, from Alzheimer's and diabetes to certain forms of
arthritis. It's an impressive list of illnesses, many of which have not been amenable to treatment, much less a cure.”

“Let's concentrate on Parkinson's for a moment,” Ashley said. “Why do you think HSTR will work with this ailment?”

“Because with Parkinson's, we are lucky enough to have a mouse model for testing,” Daniel said. “These mice have Parkinson's disease, meaning their brains are missing nerve cells that produce a compound called dopamine that functions as a neurotransmitter, and their illness is a mirror image of the human form. We have taken these animals, carried out HTSR, and have cured them permanently.”

“That's impressive,” Ashley commented.

“It's even more impressive when you see it happen in front of your very eyes.”

“The cells are injected.”

“Yes.”

“And there are no problems with that?”

“No, 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.”

“Are the mice cured soon after the injection?”

“In 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.”

“I suppose you are eager to try this on humans,” Ashley suggested.

“Extremely 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
?”

“Of course.”

“Well, 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.

“Doctor,” Ashley said patronizingly. “Have you ever read that classic novel by Mary Shelley called
Frankenstein
?”

“HTSR 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.”

“I 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.

“Now 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.”

“With HTSR, we are adding relatively short lengths of DNA, not whole organs,” Daniel retorted heatedly.

“Calm 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?”

“On a molecular level.”

“I don't care what level it is,” Ashley said. “I just want to establish the facts.”

“Medical science has been transplanting organs for some time,” Daniel snapped. “The general public does not see a
moral problem with that, quite the contrary, and organ transplantation is certainly a better conceptual parallel with HTSR than Mary Shelley's nineteenth-century novel.”

“In the example you gave concerning Parkinson's disease, you admitted you are planning on injecting these little molecular Frankensteins you are planning on mixing up so they end up in people's brains. I'm sorry, Doctor, but there haven't been too many brains transplanted in our current organ-transplant programs, so I don't think the parallel is any good at all. Injecting parts of another person and getting them into someone's brain is a step beyond the pale in my book, and I believe in the Good Lord's Book.”

“The therapeutic cells we create are not molecular Frankensteins,” Daniel said angrily.

“Your opinion has duly been recorded,” Ashley said. “Let's move on.”

“This is a farce!” Daniel commented. He threw up his arms for emphasis.

“Doctor, I must remind you that this is a congressional subcommittee hearing, and you are expected to abide by appropriate decorum. We're all reasonable people here, who are supposed to show respect for one another while trying to do our best to gather information.”

“It's becoming progressively obvious this hearing has been set up under false pretenses. You didn't come in here to gather information with an open mind about HTSR, as you so magnanimously suggest. You're just using this hearing to grandstand with preprepared emotive rhetoric.”

“I'd like you to know,” Ashley said condescendingly, “making that kind of inflammatory statement and accusation is specifically frowned upon in Congress. This is not
Crossfire
or some other media circus. Yet I refuse to take offense. Instead, I will once again assure you that your opinion has been duly recorded, and, as I said, I'd like to move on. As the discoverer of HTSR, you can't be expected to be entirely objective about the procedure's moral merits, but I'd like to question you about this issue. But first I would like to say that it has been difficult not to notice the disarmingly attractive woman who is sitting next to you at the witness table. Is she
here to help you testify? If so, perhaps you should introduce her for the record.”