Ethics of Genetic Engineering

Today, we collectively stand on the threshold of science fiction. Genetic engineering has emerged -- faster, simpler, and more accessible than anyone had foreseen. The pounding gait of science has, in many ways, outpaced the best efforts of theology, politics, and ethics. Each of us planning to live well into the 21st century can expect to be affected by the ramifications of genetic engineering. Already, in vitro fertilization has become routine, and sex selection before conception is possible for aspiring parents(Schaeffer, 1999, p.15); Genetic enhancements are on the verge of providing mankind with drugs to treat brain disorders like Alzheimer's and epidemics such as the AIDS virus(Williams, 2000, p.9); Total genetic engineering of human embryos is expected to be safe and efficient within the next 50 years(Silver, 1999, p.26). We must form our opinions- and our policies- now.

It is difficult to conceive of a medical or philosophical frontier that lies beyond that of genetic engineering- in our time, we are actually harnessing the power to change the nature of the human species. The ethical implications of this are manifold: In our quest to pin down a "minimum genome"- the basic molecular structure of what is required to build a living organism (Clark, 2000, p.37)- are we placing ourselves at odds with Nature? Are we devaluing the meaning of life as we come to understand the fabled "spark" as a merely physical entity, capable of dissection and reorganization in a

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he National Catholic Reporter: "What happens when insurers, employers, business competitors or creditors gain access to genetic information allowing them to assess an apparently healthy person's susceptibility to some future disease?"(1999, p.15). Extreme examples bolstering the con-side ethics of the genetic engineering debate include viable fears that genetic enhancement and cloning may well produce a separate race of humans. In this scenario, genetic treatments would create new forms of discrimination -- between those who have taken advantage of biotechnology, and those who have not. Some fear that ultimately the genetic disparity between human beings may grow so wide that even reproduction between "naturals" and "altereds" would be impossible(Mayor, 1999, p.9). Ultimately, how we choose to regulate what goes on in the lab forms another side of the debate. Some propose that the laws of business and economics should govern the progress of biotechnology; the New York Times quotes Professor Lee Silver (whose work is also referenced in this paper) as saying, "if the goal is to make genetic information useful as soon as possible, the debate should be focused on fair business practices and regulatory issues, not ethics"(Willi

Category: Medical - E