The Incredible Rabbit

I have spent a long time trying to decide how I feel about projects such as the GFP bunny and GenTerra and even longer trying to formulate a reasoned response to them. On one hand I am completely behind their intentions to educate in the area of genetic technologies and propagate considered debate. As Haraway explains in Cloning Mutts, Saving Tigers “the crucial ethical issues now in human cloning are the biological matters” and these “are given short shrift in public discussions”.1 I agree absolutely that generally the public are ill-informed about the technicalities of transgenics and cloning technologies and this does lower the level of public debate to accusations of playing God. However I would question whether these projects do succeed in their intentions. Speaking about genetic technology Eduardo Kac, the creator of the GFP bunny makes the eminently laudable suggestion that “Rather than embracing a blind rejection of the technology, which is undoubtedly already a part of the new bioscape, citizens of open societies must make an effort to study the multiple views on the subject”.2 But does a mutant glowing green rabbit help people to take a measured reasoned approach to this new technology or just provide further sensationalist ammunition for tabloid newspapers? GenTerra aims to engage directly in rational debate with the public through its website (now) and through interactive performances (initially). However a quick tour of its website finds it opaque and confusing (with text so small my eyes hurt after five minutes). It seems the intention of engaging with non-specialists has been lost on the way with a preponderence of heavy technical text, which is exactly the problem I would hope a project like GenTerra would have solved.
Donna Haraway, “Cloning Mutts, Saving Tigers” When Species Meet (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press,2008), 137
Eduardo Kac
http://www.ekac.org/gfpbunny.html#gfpbunnyanchor