Consider the use of genetic modification, for example, to modify genes not for life-saving procedures but for aesthetic changes. Remember that when one alters the DNA of a human being, even for a supposedly benign but necessary fashion, like making a short child taller, this DNA will be passed down to future generations of that child. This calls into question the ownership of the child's DNA. (Bereano, 1995) Modifying a child's gene to save his or her life, without a very young child's consent, might be considered within ethical guidelines, like providing resuscitation to an unconscious person who cannot give consent, but non-necessary procedures are far more questionable. What if the short child wished to become a jockey, or a gymnast? How can a parent determine what the child finds aesthetically pleasing, or even how society will define such constructs as beauty, good character, or intelligence, when that child is an adult. Permitting too much modification will give parents control over their child's destiny and free will in a way that makes current control mechanisms like schooling, finances, and discipline seem like, no pun intended, child's play.
Furthermore, focusing research efforts and publicity on non-life saving genetic modifications, perhaps most damningly, has proved to be a powerful distraction from the real, life-saving potential of innovations in the technology. Because of fears of cloning, or building a super race, research into the abuse of some of the potentially life-sustaining ways genetic engineering can be used has come under question. To end such potential abuses, scientists conducting research into this technology should set voluntary ethical guidelines for themselves. There is certainly a precedent for this...
Cracking and Protecting My Genetic Code Cracking Your Genetic Code Genetics has advanced to the point that it is inevitable that genotyping services will become commonplace and increasingly inexpensive, unless legislatures take action to limit the public's access to this information. Since genotyping services are essentially businesses catering to the public and providers of medical services, an issue about quality and the relevance of findings becomes important. Near the beginning of the
cheap genomic sequencing has widespread and unforeseen cultural, political, and societal implications that have only just begun to reverberate through the human population at large. Genomic sequencing not only reveals some of the causes and connections behind certain diseases or disorders, but also puts the lie to certain forms of bigotry which assumed that dramatic phenotypic differences represented a similarly dramatic genetic or biological difference (put another way, genome
Genetic screening is one of the most controversial topics in the scientific arena today. The advent of the Human Genome Project, which maps the complete human genetic code, has brought this issue to the forefront. This paper will discuss the basic science that underlies genetic screening, applications of genetic screening, and investigate some of the common misconceptions and ethical questions about its use. Genetic screening itself is simply "the systematic search
(Biohazards: The Next Generation? There is a wide variety of such products and that includes salmon which grow twice as fast as the regular salmon, but nobody is thinking of the consequences when these fish will escape from the farms where they are being cultivated. Some types of plants like poplar, eucalyptus and pine are being modified so that their rate of growth increases and are able to stop reacting
Genetic Engineering The process of altering genes, or genetic engineering, has become a more heated subject as science and technology continue to evolve. In fact, with DNA technology, genetic modifications within plants and other organisms has become a major development, especially in the world of agriculture and medicine. However, there is still the possibility of the inability to contain the spreading and somewhat "tainting" of non-genetically modified organisms, which seem to
Genetic Engineering The alteration of the genetic structure of any organism is done by means of Genetic engineering that provides characters beneficial or pleasing to the individual performing the alternation. In other words it is a treatment of the DNA or RNA pool (Sarah. 2002). For instance, the most greatly well-known example of genetic engineering is the sheep Dolly that was cloned in the year 1996. Here, in order to create
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