The Body: Bulletproof

It seems safe to say that Americans are not immune to the allure of flawless skin and tight buns--and we're not too proud to pay for them. And the easier, safer, and cheaper we can get there, the more of us will line up. Gene therapy, then, with its promise of a single, transformational injection, has the blockbuster potential of a thousand Viagras.

So is the country turning into one mammoth Baywatch episode, with everyone jiggling and rippling in perfect harmony? Not necessarily. We may be famous (and widely lampooned) for our desire to stay young and look beautiful, but we also have a deep-seated urge to stand out, especially when we're in our late teens and early twenties. A 2003 Harris Poll found that 16% of American adults, and 36% of those ages 25 to 29, have at least one tattoo; and an Eastern Michigan University poll in 2003 found that about 30% of the student population had at least one body piercing (not including the ears). In other words, parents may want to look like movie stars and athletes, but their kids want to look more like MTV stars.

Designer muscles are just one potential feature of the Body 2.0, a new, customizable version of ourselves.

Well, biotech aims to please: If the revolution is turned loose, today's tongue studs and Maori warrior tattoos are going to look about as edgy as a pair of Dockers. In the course of evaluating a GT baldness cure, San Diego researcher Robert Hoffman and his colleagues developed a test using a gene for a green fluorescent protein--only to discover they'd inadvertently found a way to make human skin or hair glow under black light, a technique that could be used on a tattoo or anywhere else on a person's body, temporarily or permanently. And because the brilliant reds, blues, and yellows of tropical birds, fish, and flowers are all products of protein dyes created by genes, GT injections could one day turn your hair blue, your skin red, your eyes yellow. Most of us aren't looking to make that kind of splash, but you can be sure there's a freshman at NYU or USC who'd jump at the chance.

As a society, we'd better get used to the idea that money can buy health and beauty (even more than it can today) and that individuals can design their own appearances (even more than they can today). But there may well be even more dramatic consequences of the biotech surge. At Southern Illinois University, for example, Andrzej Bartke has genetically engineered mice that live nearly twice as long, to an average human-equivalent age of 180 years, and as old as 200. Researchers at Stanford have genetically engineered naturally occurring vaginal bacteria to protect against HIV, while other researchers have found a rare mutation in the CCR5 gene that grants near immunity to HIV to around 1% of humans descended from Northern Europeans. Pathologist Ellen Heber-Katz is working to identify the gene that gives a rare breed of mouse the ability to regenerate from wounds--including injuries to heart muscle--no other mammal can survive. And others are looking at the genes that affect our minds: At Princeton, Joe Tsien created a breed of mouse that can learn twice as quickly.

As the formation of the president's bioethics council suggests, these sorts of changes will bring up myriad questions about policy and ethics: Who should have access to these technologies? Should insurance cover them? What are the social costs and benefits if people live 50 or 100 years longer than they do today?

Such a world might also evoke more visceral reactions. Entirely new sorts of prejudice, even hostility, may emerge in us, based on a rejection of the humanity of people who can do things no previous human could--or, conversely, on a rejection of the "unenhanced" as somehow inferior. The very shape and structure of society could change, with the rich growing older and older (beautifully and, perhaps, gracefully), while those with fewer resources remain subject to the same implacable biological truths they face now. Life expectancy could become increasingly tied to economic class.

Gene therapy to slow aging could save hundreds of billions in medical costs as well as the pain and suffering of an extended illness.

At the same time, the benefits to society of these technologies are not to be underestimated. Animals whose life spans have been genetically lengthened tend to live long, healthy lives and die without a protracted struggle. If the same is true in humans, gene therapy to slow aging could save hundreds of billions in medical costs as well as the pain and suffering of an extended illness. Greater longevity could also enrich society as scientists, artists, and professionals are given more time to learn, create, and build. And GT that boosts mental performance could increase economic productivity, leading to further scientific discoveries, better products, and more effective medicines.