De Extinction

1. This should be addressed to Barbara Gulledge

To my understanding, from the reading, hearing and seeing the video on de-extinction, the authors are more or less referring to this statement as life after death. De-extinction is the process of creating an organism, which is either a member of or resembles an extinct species or breeding population of such organisms (Strauss, 2018). According to (Bethel, 2018), the sixth wave of extinction is basically referred to as a different kind of death and with the use of their stored and preserved DNA this extinct species can be recreated through the cross breeding with a living relative by deleting certain genes. This also can be referred to as a form of synthetic hybridization of the genome of an extinct species with the genome of its closet living relative. This process is used after extensive research on the storage of certain DNA from different mammals and birds of extinct species that has become unique and has either died out or killed. I am sure this has been proven but it does not make it right. Is it ethical for humans to bring species back from extinction and reintroduce them to the wild? Personally, I feel it is unethical for humans to tamper with or play God. I realize this action is possibly a scientific breakthrough, however, with the crossing of different DNA raises many unanswered questions and the possibilities of creating a certain species what else are they creating? Therefore, there are reservations concerning this issue because there are too many unanswered questions. In any given situation there are pros and cons so with the resurrecting of extinct species, what bearing will it have on the population and how will they survive? are there any reservations you have about this and the answer would be ‘yes’, because there are too many unanswered questions and there needs to be better communications because, hypothetically speaking, after researching and resurrecting of the dead what are the unintended consequences?

2. The sixth wave is extinction is biological annihilation (Carrington, 2017). Animals all over the world are becoming extinct due to many different reasons. One reason is commercial hunting (Brand, 2013). Animal’s meat, skin, tusks and other parts of their body are being sold for outrageous amounts of money. Certain humans are becoming rich not realizing they are leading certain animals to extinction. Studies have shown that species are becoming extinct at a significantly faster rate than for millions of years before (Carrington, 2017). Many factors lead to extinction. Animal’s habitat being destroyed, overhunting, toxic pollution, and climate change are some of the larger factors (Carrington, 2017). Research is being done to replicate DNA from certain extinct creatures in hopes of re-breeding that specific species. George Church has a Multiplex Automated Genome Engineering machine that combines gens that you write at the cell level and then in organs on a chip whip eventually can put into a living organism (Brand, 2013). There is much debate about this “creation”. Just because humans can accomplish bringing back species does not mean it should be done. I feel this is way outside the realm of humans and we are playing God in a sense. Who is to say that someone will not try to bring back dinosaurs? What kind of trouble would we be unleashing if that were to occur? I feel that bringing species back from extinction is not a good idea at all.