Listening for the Public Voice, by Robert Cook-Deegan and Jane Maienschein, discusses the issue of genetic engineering and the ethical dilemma and how the United States, government, and people are interacting in the struggle of the ethics behind genetic engineering. The authors present the facts that genetic engineering has laid in the grey area forever, and still continues to sit in that grey area. Genetic Engineering will occasionally find itself in the news and the argument reignites but falls flat within a couple of weeks waiting till the next breakthrough arises. Cook-Deegan and Maienschein stats some of the most recent progress in genetic engineering, which brings into perspective the relevance, development, and the possibility that soon…
If some people begin to use genetic engineering to create “perfect” children, a whole new class of individuals will emerge, leaving the class of people that cannot afford to use genetic engineering even further behind. In conclusion, genetic engineering should be further researched to prevent and eradicate otherwise incurable diseases, but when it comes to enhancing the appearance and intellect of children through modification, a line must be drawn early…
Emmanuel Kant would likely argue that the social cost of some people suffering from adverse cognitive or emotional effects of the genetic enhancements is not the intention of genetic enhancement since there is no categorical imperative that one is obligated to undergo…
As you bite a piece of your corn, do you ever stop and think if what you are eating is totally natural? Well there is a chance it is not. Many things that people put into there mouth may be Gentically Modified Organisms, or GMOs. GMOs are organisms thats DNA has been altered, in order to do many things. Famers use genetic engineering to keep pests away or even make their products larger.…
However, where is the excitement in that? Live would become dull and predictable. Nothing would change, one cannot grow unless there is change going on around us. The desire to improve ourselves would disappear. It would be like everyone was a carbon copy.…
In the beginning of the 20th century, the human mind was much more inclined to search for scientific answers to society’s problems by perfecting the human race by applying the laws of genetic heredity. In 1883, Sir Francis Galton, a respected British scientist, first used the term Eugenics, “the study of all agencies under human control which can improve or impair the racial quality of future generations.” He believed that the human race could help direct its future by selectively breeding individuals who have “desired” traits. This idea appealed to many people, who thought that there was a “natural" way to bring about a utopian society just as nature “weeds out the unfit" among animals, so too should human society “weed out" its unfit members. In creating a world where human beings would be kind, intelligent, brave and honest…
Even though there may be no coercion and genetic modification becomes the free choice, still, people carry a burden. Also, regarding the strong determinism, even there are few cases that traits are weakly determined by genes, the science might ensure the probability of gene’s expression after the genetic engineering widespread. This is because organizations want to ensure the causation in order to acquire customers. Also, it is not true that parents will intensely love their children after accepting the fact that they cannot master their children. They spend lots of time and money on mutation, so at least, they feel some sense of expectation for children.…
Furthermore, many people think that if a child was genetically altered to be ‘better’, then they would be prouder or happier, but this is not necessarily true. If a baby was genetically altered to be smarter but they turn out to be average, the parents might criticize or reject them. This can have great effects on a child psychologically, as they will feel like they had not met their parent’s standards. This as well can lower the child’s self esteem. Another harmful effect is on designer saviour siblings is they may feel like their sole purpose is to save their sibling, and that they were not born because their parents wanted…
Children would not be taught that they are unique for a reason, rather they need to be altered to fit standards. Furthermore, government and insurance companies might begin to offer assistance to those who have gone through genetic enhancement processes - Only causing a greater societal gap. The most frightening…
There has been much controversy and disagreement in the UK surrounding the genetic modification of agricultural crops and food products for nearly two decades from when they were first developed, and so far, the UK has not allowed for the growth of these crops due to various EU regulations. The genetic modification of organisms raises many social and ethical issues, and so public opinion about this matter varies greatly. However, many countries, most notably America, now grow GM crops on a large scale, and have been doing so for several years. Even though the UK has been hesitant to do the same for a while, the UK could possibly follow suit in the near future, but is this the right thing to do?…
Within modern Genetics An international scientific research project, Human Genome Project, was declared complete in 2003. It remains the world's largest collaborative biological project, identified and mapped all the genes in the human genome. In the past twenty years, research, techniques, and knowledge in genetics have widely expanded, benefiting from the Human Genome Project and other major advances in discovery research and diagnostic technologies (Hawkins). For example, genetic screening, the diagnosis of inherited and genetic defects, is prospective to be applied in eugenics (Ashley). The current technics are able to provide vast information prenatally, with the procedure known as Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (Worldpress.org).…
A goal all parents have in common is for their child to prosper throughout their whole entire life. There is no better way to guarantee that than to alter their genes to make them more attractive and/or athletic. This is a highly controversial method because the parents are changing their child before they are born. Thus, not allowing the child to be who he/she is meant to be. Leslie Pray describes reprogenetics as “extracting a single cell from an eight-cell embryo and analyzing the DNA of that single cell for the presence of one or more disease-associated genetic alterations” (Embryo Screening and the Ethics of Human Genetic Engineering).…
Human Genetic Engineering and Modification Genetic Engineering of humans is said to have happened before, and will soon become an option for many who can afford it. In Mesopotamian times, it is said the god of their capital and cities, Marduk, talked about creating the first human beings. He stated, “Blood, to blood, I join, blood to bone I form an original thing, its name is Man, aboriginal man, is mine in making. All his occupations, are faithful service, the gods that fell have rest, I will subtly alter their operations, divided companies, equally blessed” (40 Divine Wisdoms).…
Picture this: a world where everyone looks exactly the same--ridden with birth defects, religion has disappeared because people can control their environment with a simple insertion or deletion of a gene, and no one is sure of the future because every couple years, a virus that was supposed to harmlessly alter genes mutates to harmfully cause a deadly epidemic. Sound familiar? Maybe not yet, but at the rate we 're going, the world isn 't far away from the scenario just described due to the ever-increasing rate of genetic engineering occurring in today 's world. From genetically modified crops to mice that glow in the dark to bacteria that produce insulin, countless uses of genetic engineering have appeared in just a few short years, and without…
Should Genetic Engineering be used to add Intelligence Genes to Humans? If you have the ability to design your own child, what kind of genes would you add? Would it be genes associated with attractive physical appearance, strong immunity, or great intelligence? In the article Future Humans: Four Ways We May, or May Not, Evolve, James Owen gives four predictions regarding the future of humanity, one of which predicts that in the future, the path of artificial selection would be directed by genetic engineering.…