Too Much Tinkering?

The human body is the ultimate machine; crafted by a master whose skills we cannot even begin to fathom. Then why are we tinkering with it so much? Some of it - like breast implants or Botox - may be relatively harmless; but when we start interfering with basic bodily functions, it's cause for concern.

Sure, like all machines, the body breaks down occasionally and needs to be sent to the repair shop for surgery and other medical procedures. Even using parts of it for harvesting stem cells, for example, or replacing body parts, may not be quite what our creator had in mind, but it is gaining a sort of ethical acceptance. The problem lies in knowing when to stop.

What brought this on? A recent news item about researchers in America developing a new year-round contraceptive pill, which eliminates menstrual cycles altogether. Which makes it tempting for women who do not want any more kids to use it almost indefinitely: not just to prevent pregnancy, but for the freedom it provides. Freedom from tampons, sanitary pads and mood swings - not to mention those hoary jokes about PMS. Sounds like a real sweet deal. But I don't know.

The menstrual cycle has been part of a woman's biological make up since humans started walking on two legs. It has performed a necessary function for hundreds of thousands of years. And now, we are trying to alter that. Some may argue that evolution is part of nature's scheme of things. No argument there; but nature does it very gradually - almost imperceptibly - over thousands of years. Now we are trying to compress that into almost nothing? Can anyone guarantee that nothing will go wrong - maybe not immediately, but a few years down the line? Call me orthodox; call me old-fashioned; but I worry about stuff like that.