The gene modified organism Golden Rice addresses many issues in ethics, and this essay will focus on the ethics of the experiment perform on the children. Professor Guangwen Tang (湯光文) of the Tufts University had engineered a revolutionary gene modified rice, the Golden Rice. Regular rice in our market, which has been engineered, has β-carotene that produce vitamin A in the leaves only. The Golden Rice has been engineered that it produces vitamin A in the grains. Many low income children are vitamin A deficient, and they are going to be blind, ill, or die without sufficient amount of vitamin A. To prove the Golden Rice is effective, Professor Tang has fed Golden Rice, spinach, and pure β-carotene to sixty eight children aged six to eight
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Firstly, my view is that human beings are rational agents, as in the Kantianism’s categorical imperative, and one should not use a person as merely as a mean. I agree with the result of the experiment proves the positive and effective effect of the Golden Rice, however, Professor Tang has violated Kant’s theory. The young children are human being, and Kant’s theory states that one ought not to use people as merely a mean. Professor Tang did not respect the children’s ability to choose, and she uses them only as her subjects. Therefore, Professor Tang’s experiment on the young children are morally …show more content…
However, this response fails, Kant’s theory can prove the experiment is still morally wrong. Kant states that “Act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a universal law of nature.” He means we should act like our action is going to be a universal law. If Professor Tang’s way of experiment were to become a universal law, all scientists would perform experiment on human without giving any information to whoever they were studying. People would know that they were being used as test subjects, thus no one would participate in any experiment. Logically, without telling people the experiment details, it would be impossible to perform any experiment on human being. Therefore, it is wrong to not letting people understand the detail of the experiment, and it is also wrong to manipulate people without respecting their
Firstly, my view is that human beings are rational agents, as in the Kantianism’s categorical imperative, and one should not use a person as merely as a mean. I agree with the result of the experiment proves the positive and effective effect of the Golden Rice, however, Professor Tang has violated Kant’s theory. The young children are human being, and Kant’s theory states that one ought not to use people as merely a mean. Professor Tang did not respect the children’s ability to choose, and she uses them only as her subjects. Therefore, Professor Tang’s experiment on the young children are morally …show more content…
However, this response fails, Kant’s theory can prove the experiment is still morally wrong. Kant states that “Act as if the maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a universal law of nature.” He means we should act like our action is going to be a universal law. If Professor Tang’s way of experiment were to become a universal law, all scientists would perform experiment on human without giving any information to whoever they were studying. People would know that they were being used as test subjects, thus no one would participate in any experiment. Logically, without telling people the experiment details, it would be impossible to perform any experiment on human being. Therefore, it is wrong to not letting people understand the detail of the experiment, and it is also wrong to manipulate people without respecting their