
[2336-2419  Medical Renaissance]

Part of the reason behind earth's population pressures was the
increasing pace of advance in the medical sciences. In the middle
of the 23rd century, geneticists already knew how to modify a
species' DNA over successive generations to create, in effect, a
new species. The more simple the organism, more available the
model, and shorter the lifespan of the organism, the quicker the
pace this engineered evolution could be carried out. By monkeying
around with hominid DNA in the late 2200's, scientists at the
University of Kampala were, in fact, learning a great deal about
human genetics. The subsequent accident in 2292 was said to have
set back the field of research perhaps as much as thirty years,
and the extension of the 2243 ban significantly slowed down the
rate at which science could catch up. Despite these hindrances,
however, corporations carried out secret research off planet,
finally culminating in the early 2330's with the development of
broad-spectrum antiviral vaccinations. With the Terran
inoculation of 2336, humankind had virtually licked the common
cold, something that medical experts had only dreamed about for
hundreds of years.

   This event revitalized the medical research profession,
lending new impetus to the fight against human suffering which
had been for so long cheapened and abused by the morally
questionable and occasionally dangerous products of medical
science. Nerve refusion techniques were developed through the
2370's and 80's, and the first broad-spectrum antitoxin was
introduced in 2419, a virtual cure-all against entire classes of
disease. By this time, however, corporations campaigned openly
for the right to re-initiate genetic research on human DNA
without having to conduct their operations in secrecy. However,
fears over the creation of superhumans still lingered in the
public subconscious, and corporate sentiments failed to turn over
this legislation.

