into a new en vi ron ment.

The sit u a tion is un - likely to change un til ge net i cists

be gin to go bey ond genes and fo cus on the comp lex or ga- ni zat ion of the cell as
a whole. Dr Candace ert! a dir ect or of the "at ional #n stit ute of $en tal %ealth!
&'(! af ter her succ essf ul ex - per i ments! pre fers to say that the D"( be longs
e)ually to mind and body. 'he uses the term body-mind.* +Trans ferring the genes
into a new env i ronm ent and ex citi ng them to do their ,obs has! so far! proved too
dif - cult a task for mo lec u lar ge net i cists! writes Da vid .ea- ther all! Di rec tor!
#n sti tute of $o lec u lar $ed i - cine! /x ford &niv er sity. The - nal pic ture of gene
funct ioni ng co mes from +the com plex regu la tory dy nam ics of the cell as a
whole! writes sci ence his to rian 0ox 1eller. (c cord ing to 1eller! in the ab sence of
the knowl edge of the whole back ground of life! the dream of gene de vel op ment
or gene re pair ing for dis - eases +re cedes fur ther into the fu ture.2
%indu 3thics for $edical 'cience $ed i cal in ter ven tion is sought for im me - di ate
al le vi a tion of suf fer ing as well as for long-term gains. Those proc ed ures which
yield more last ing re sults must be pre ferred. 4ut fa cil i ties and pos si bil i ties for
med i cal in - terv en tion to pro long and improve the )ual ity of life are not e)ually
availa ble to all. (cc ord- ing to a rec ent .orld 4ank rep ort! in spite of an op ti mis
tic es ti mate of eco nomic growth! 255 mil lion peo ple in the de vel op ing coun
tries were trapped in ab so lute pov erty in the year 6555. This is de -ned as a con
di tion of life so char ac ter ized by mal nu tri tion! il lit er acy! dis - ease! high inf ant
mor tali ty! and low life ex pec- tancy as to be ben eath any reas on able def i ni -
tion of hu man de cency. &nd er these app all ing con di tions! can a few priv i leged
in di vid u als 7or na tions8 be al lowed to en ,oy ex cess ive use of med i cal fa cil i
ties for mod i fy ing their life pro cess to make it more plea sur able! when a frac
tion of the amount of money so spent can prev ent thous ands of inf ants from
death due to mal nu tri tion and de hy dra tion9:
Ter mi na tion of preg nancy by med i cally in duced abor tion to prev ent the birth
of a vi a - ble child poses a num ber of socio-eth i cal prob- lems. #t is not gene ra lly
en cour aged in or tho - dox cul tures and comm un i ties! and is con sid - ered sin
ful. #t can be re sorted to on strictly med i cal grounds! for ex am ple! if child birth
threate ns the mothers life. /nly re cently has abort ion been leg al ized in #n dia
76*;8! and that to stem the ino rd in ate popu l at ion exp los ion threat en ing global
econ omy. 1illi ng of the foe - tus in the mothers womb! bhr<=ahaty>! is a great sin
acc ord ing to %in du ism. #n dian cul ture teaches not only an ideal way of life but
also the ideal mann er of death. #n fact! a de vout pers on in #n dia pre pares
througho ut his life for an ideal! peacef ul death as de scribed in the script ures.
76*?8 The mod ern scie nt i-c view has of ten em- phas ized the dig nity of the ind i
vid ual and his right to take dec i sions for him self. #n dian cul - ture! how ever! lays
greater stress on the role of so ci ety in dec i sion mak ing in health care. #n- terf er
ence in the pro cess of birth in the form of pre ven tion of con cep tion! abor tion or
ge netic eng i neeri ng is not en cour aged in the #n dian trad i tion. 'ex as a source
of plea sure apart from con cept ion! too! is not ap prec i ated. 'ex is le git i mately
al lowed only for the birth of a child. 'ex for plea sure alone is con sid ered a far too
in fe rior and un wor thy at ti tude. #n this con nect ion it may be ment ioned that
the only fool proof method of prev ent ion of (#D' 7which has been of - cially ad vo
cated by ex - perts in #n dia8 is ab stin ence from sex@ some - thing which the %indu
and #n dian cul ture nor mally ac cepts. 7625-;8 %in du ism even ex per i men tally
de vel - oped a sci ence for the birth of good chil dren. ( mother de sir ing a Aod-
fear ing child lis tens to stor ies of saints and sages! and spends her days of preg
nancy in de vo tional activities. (n other mother seek ing a war rior child en - gages
in list eni ng to and read ing stor ies of wars and war riors! and so on. (c cord ing to
the Baina tra di tion! the foe -C.?6