Medical research is getting a huge $5 billion grant which will create

good paying jobs and will result in a huge health reward for the country

and the world. The fact that this grant is only 1% of our military budget

should give us pause, but it is better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Hopefully a good portion of these funds will find their way into the

emerging science of epigenetics. Epigenetic therapy may become the

best words in medicine since vaccine.

　

First, here’s what the dictionary has to say about epigenetic therapy.

In biology, the term epigenetic refers to changes in phenotype

(appearance) or gene expression caused by mechanisms other than

changes in the underlying DNA sequence.

What that means is:

Over the last century scientists have discovered that we share most

of our genes with all other life forms on this planet. We actually have

genes in common with worms, snails and other unsavory creatures.

In fact, our closest relative, the chimp, has almost 99% of our genes.

The remaining 1.1% account for all of the differences between humans

and apes… OR SO WE THOUGHT.

Recently we have discovered that genes are only our genetic framework.

The final touches to our body chemistry are environmentally derived.

The things we feel and are exposed to emotionally affect who we

eventually become. Epigenetics concern a plethora of molecules which

attach themselves to our genes in response to each person’s individual

physical and emotional environment These modified genes affect our

looks, abilities, and lifetime health tendencies. This new science

explains, for example, why identical twins aren’t identical.

We now know were to look to unravel the rest of the “where do we

come from” story. What a fascinating generation we are living in.

Soon we will be able to zero in on and possibly reverse commonplace

maladies like cancer or organ disease and failure.

One effect of these gene modifications is they are multi-generational.

That is, we pass our environmentally modified genes on to our future

generations based upon the dramatic events that occur to each of us

individually during our lives.

The consequences from world traumatic events like the Holocaust will

take many generations to fully manifest themselves. Scars from wars

and other atrocities we afflict upon each other alter our core genetic

makeup by causing some genes normally turned off to be turned on

and others normally on to be turned off. These switches, from birth on,

affect each one of us differently and are what really make us different

from each other.

In other words, who we are is as much a result of the stresses, or

happiness, or emotional content, be it nurturing or otherwise, that

surrounded our parents and our grandparents during their lives as we

are a result of what we eat and breathe and drink today.

Behavioral science now has a foundation in chemistry and biology.

As more sophisticated instruments are built to decipher our genetic

encoders, clues are discovered and unraveled which have led to an

understanding of our body’s organic response to our physical environment.

We had best get to cleaning up our act if we expect future generations

to avoid our missteps. Apparently to error is human and also inherited.

What a brave New World we will soon live in. Through genetic

modifications to every living thing, including ourselves, we may be

able to eliminate hunger and disease in the next 50 years.

I wonder if we will still be able to find an excuse for war.