Odd thing

[ussacclaim 0]

I just saw "Unnatural Selection" yesterday, not for the first time but this time something hit me.

 

I thought the Federation banned genetic engineering. If that is so, what's the deal with that colony? I can't remember if it is an official Federation colony or not.

 

Can someone exlain this?

[Jack_Bauer 1]

I have no idea what was going on there. I remember noting that I didn't recognize the writer's names. So maybe they weren't up on Trek lore, which is a mistake IMO.

[Takara_Soong 4]

I don't think it was the TNG writers that made a mistake. It was the DS9 writers.

 

TNG had at least three episodes that featured genetic engineering - Up The Long Ladder, Masterpiece Society as well as Unnatural Selection. I believe Unnatural Selection was the only instance though of Federation scientists experimenting with it.

 

The first mention that genetic engineering had been banned by the Federation was made in DS9's Dr. Bashir, I Presume. There was no mention of a Federation ban on genetic engineering in either TOS' Space Seed or ST: TWOK from what I recall or is it indicated in the ST Encyclopedia. In the Augments arc on Enterprise, it was said that Earth had banned genetic engineering but we also know that other species (such as the Denobulans) had been practicing it successfully for quite a long time. Whether all planets joining the Federation would agree to a ban is unlikely.

 

So since TNG established Federation scientitists involved in genetic engineering, it would have been a DS9 canon breach to say it had been banned in the Federation for centuries.

[What_username? 0]

I just remembered about those episodes...and Takara's right. The ban wasn't ever mentioned before Deep Space 9, so that was a breach of canon.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

I don't think it was genetic engineering that was banned so much as genetic manipulation.

[Bethlehem 7]

genetic manipulation, is that when Republicans marry Democrats