The World in 2030

The World in 2030 41
In the near future, stem cell medicine even promises to
grow new bone and tissue for human use that is based on
the patient’s own DNA. There is good reason to believe
that stem cells may allow us to repair and re-grow damaged
organs 84 and, eventually, to grow ‘replacement organs’ which
would be at no risk of rejection from our immune systems.
Replacement human bladders 85 have already been grown
and transplanted into humans using stem cell techniques.
Recently heart tissue was grown from stem cells 86 suggesting
that within five years whole replacement hearts could be
grown and scientists have recently succeeded in producing
pancreatic cells 87 from stem cells that produce insulin, holding
out the hope that diabetes might one day be curable by the
growth of a new pancreas. By 2030 such organ regeneration
will be routine and almost all other organs will also be grown
from stem cells. We will have our ‘back-up’ parts.
From this discussion of personal DNA mapping, gene
therapy drugs and stem cell research you will begin to see
why I have contracted and combined the words preventive
and longevity to produce my new phrase, ‘prevent-extend.’
Writing in 2006, James Canton also observed:
In the decades to come, medicine will be revolutionized.
The convergence of pharma, biotech, and nanotech
industries will form the biggest global marketplace
with one underlying theme: life extension
for sale.
Botox today will lead to gene-replacement therapy
tomorrow. Face-lifts today, nano-engineering stem