The Biology of Individuality

Human law has historically been based on philosophy, on theology, or on the imperatives of community life. French Biologist Jean Rostand founds his concept of the law on the biology of the human being. He argues* that modern science is rapidly changing human biology and that the laws affecting it must change too.

"The law," says Rostand, "was constructed by and for a certain living species whose reproduction is sexual, whose two sexes are separate and about equal in number, whose fertilization is internal, whose period of gestation is about nine months. The sex of the infants of this species is recognizable at birth and, in general, does not change during life. It is evident that if man were hermaphroditic like the snail or could grow a new head like the earthworm, he would not have given himself the same laws."

Whither Maternity? Biological science has changed this traditional concept of the human species, says Rostand. Artificial insemination raises the possibility that husbands separated from their wives for long periods may arrange to have them inseminated during their absence. This requires a change in laws that now permit a husband to disown a child that he could not have begotten in the usual manner.

But test-tube babies are only the beginning. "What would become of the notion of maternity," Rostand asks, "if surgeons transplanted a fertilized ovum or a young embryo from one woman to another? If a woman bore a child that was not genetically hers, who would be the real mother? Would it be she who carried the child or she who furnished the germ cell?"

As biology develops there may come a time when a child can develop from an ovum whose nucleus has been removed and replaced by the nucleus of another individual. The genetic mother in this case would be the person who supplied the substitute nucleus. This changeling nucleus can come from a person of either sex. Thus if the father supplied the nucleus and also fertilized the ovum, he would be the child's only genetic parent.

Auto-Adultery. Women can play this game too, says Rostand. Parthenogenesis --self fertilization, by techniques such as supplying an additional nucleus from the mother, would permit a woman to have a child that is not the child of any male. She would accomplish a sort of "auto-adultery."

Another possibility is "chemical adultery." Bacteria can already be subjected to "directed mutation" by means of a chemical, DNA (desoxyribosenucleic acid), extracted from the chromosomes. When this practice is extended to humans, certain hereditary characteristics of one person can be transferred to the reproductive cells of another person. Looking far ahead, Rostand anticipates a time "when each human infant could receive a standard DNA that would confer the most desirable physical and intellectual characteristics. Such children will not be the offspring of a particular couple, but of the entire species."

At present it is not possible, except in special cases, to transfer tissues or organs of one human to another, but Rostand is reasonably confident that this situation will change. When organs can be grafted from person to person, the law will have to make provision for men who are mosaics, built of bits and pieces. "Can one say," he asks, "that the individuality is not affected as long as the brain remains intact? Perhaps, but we must not forget that the endocrine glands affect disposition. What's more, are we absolutely sure that the brain itself will resist forever the biological rape of the grafting process?" As these advanced techniques become available, Rostand warns, they are sure to be used. Certain women will want to bear parthenogenetic children, and laws to stop them will be ineffective; so will legal attempts to keep parents from improving their offspring by chemical adultery. The law, he says, will have to adapt itself to Homo biologicus.

* In an essay, "La Biologie et le Droit" (Biology and the Law), in his new book Science Fausse et Fausses Sciences (Fake Science and Pseudo Sciences); Gallimard; 750 francs.

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