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Ethical dilemmas in genetic engineering
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Ethical issues of genetic engineering
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Every parent's dream of having the perfect baby with pretty eyes, hair, skin, and gifted abilities. Some parents have even taken drastic measures to ensure their babies are born with these gorgeous features and talents. Some parents are willing to genetically manipulate their embryos to create their perfect baby. Bio technology has allowed parents to piece together their ideal human being from their eye color to their mental and physical abilities. Genetic Manipulation in some eyes can be seen as wrong and right in the other if used for the right reasons. I believe that scientists should use this new technology for preventing birth defects and help cure serve illness among babies. I believe genetic manipulation of human offspring is wrong because it’s unethical and causes social issues.
Parents should not want to go and get their embryos altered to make the perfect baby,but accept their babies the way they are born. When parents enhance their child’s genes, they are taking away the natural genes of child and replacing with the made up ones. This makes the child not really human, but someone born to be whatever their parents wanted them to be genetically. Which in reality is really backwards,
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From genetic engineering scientist were able to come with a reproductive medicine to help women who could not have kids, conceive and bear children(Designer baies,para.1).Genetic engineering could also help wipe out some of the most serve diseases among babies. For instant, Cystic Fibrosis is a deadly disease with no cure but through genetic engineering it can be cured (Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering,par.1). Using genetic engineering for this purpose allow for babies to be healthy and strong, which is more important than the looks of the child.This also allows for not only more babies, but for them to live longer by curing
A person's individuality begins at conception and develops throughout life. These natural developments can now be changed through genetically engineering a human embryo. Through this process, gender, eye and hair color, height, medical disorders, and many more qualities can be changed. I believe genetically engineering a human embryo is corrupt because it is morally unacceptable, violates the child's rights, and creates an even more divided society.
Many are now considering using this technology to change humans, such as developing methods that could be used to regenerate or repair faulty organs. It could be also used to find a cure for diseases such as cancer, eventually (Fitzgerald), or to repair genetic defects. Parents could choose the sex and height of their offspring and be able to have more intelligent, more athletic, and better looking children. Also, genetic engineering could also be used to clone humans (Kevles 354), a topic of much discussion of late.
SUMMARY: Director of the Ethics Institute, Ronald M. Green, in his article “Building Baby from the Genes Up” discusses why he thinks that genetically modifying babies genes is more beneficial than destructive. He begins his article off by mentioning a story of a couple who wishe to genetically modify their baby so that they could make sure the baby would not develop the long family line of breast cancer. Green then notifies the reader that no matter where they stand on the matter, genetically modifying babies is going to become more and more popular. Even the National Institute of Health is beginning to invest in technology that can be used to genetically modify human genes. He then explains how genetically modifying human genes can be beneficial,
What do one think of when they hear the words “Designer Babies”? A couple designing their own baby of course, and it’s become just that. Technology has made it possible for there to be a way for doctors to modify a babies characteristics and its health. Genetically altering human embryos is morally wrong, and can cause a disservice to the parents and the child its effecting.
Picture a young couple in a waiting room looking through a catalogue together. This catalogue is a little different from what you might expect. In this catalogue, specific traits for babies are being sold to couples to help them create the "perfect baby." This may seem like a bizarre scenario, but it may not be too far off in the future. Designing babies using genetic enhancement is an issue that is gaining more and more attention in the news. This controversial issue, once thought to be only possible in the realm of science-fiction, is causing people to discuss the moral issues surrounding genetic enhancement and germ line engineering. Though genetic research can prove beneficial to learning how to prevent hereditary diseases, the genetic enhancement of human embryos is unethical when used to create "designer babies" with enhanced appearance, athletic ability, and intelligence.
Scientists have edited the DNA of non- viable embryos. It is argued that it’s the first step for parents being able to design their own children. Sarah Knapton (April 23) stresses the risks of Genetic Engineering by questioning the motivations of Genetic scientists. By stating that these genetic scientists want their names in a history books. Genetic engineering implies ethical issues and safety issues. Oxford professor conducted a test. 71 embryos survived and 54 were genetically tested. 28 were spliced and some of the contained a replacement genetic material. It was found that there was unexpected mutations that shouldn’t off been effected by the technique. However, the Chinese scientist states that the embryos were non-viable. Is this a safe practice if the researchers are contradicting themselves? Universal laws guided by ideologies that help promote the health and wellbeing of society using principles of equality and justice. Equality and justice are two values that need to be incorporated in this practice to make sure the focus on genetic engineering will be utilized for life saving reasons.
While all of these viewpoints are legitimate, it still does not remove the blatant fact that there could be genetic consequences of these actions. What happens when as a result of trying to “better” your child, the procedure actually does more harm? Another question to ask the proponents is how can you face your child every day knowing you couldn’t just accept them for who they were, but rather who you wanted them to be? When did playing the role of God become acceptable? All of these questions need to be evaluated before we can make a definite decision to allow ordinary human beings to decide the fate of their child.
People should not have access to genetically altering their children because of people’s views on God and their faith, the ethics involving humans, and the possible dangers in tampering with human genes. Although it is many parent’s dream to have the perfect child, or to create a child just the way they want, parents need to realize the reality in genetic engineering. Sometimes a dream should stay a figment of one’s imagination, so reality can go in without the chance of harming an innocent child’s life.
Genetic engineering for humans would eventually destroy the human natural selection theory, that everyone brought into this world was untouched and born to be who ever they were suppose to be. But with genetic engineering, scientists would be able to change unborn children to make them for acceptable to the human world.
With all factors put into place the potential benefits of perfecting human genetic engineering far outweigh the negatives. A world with genetic engineering is a world that would be advantageous to all who undergo the procedure to positively modify their DNA. A genetically engineered human race will be able to have defeated all genetic mutations and diseases, rid humans of possible illnesses in young and unborn children, create drastically longer lifespans, and provide generations with a high quality of life. Human genetic engineering has progressed more rapidly than projected; according to Stephen Hawking, when human genetic engineering is consummated he hypothesizes, “With genetic engineering, we will be able to increase the complexity of our DNA, and improve the human race. But it will be a slow process, because one will have to wait about 18 years to see the effect of changes to the genetic code.”(Hawking). The advancements that genetic engineering will provide for the human race is incredible and we will soon benefit from science and technology more than ever
Human genetic engineering can provide humanity with the capability to construct “designer babies” as well as cure multiple hereditary diseases. This can be accomplished by changing a human’s genotype to produce a desired phenotype. The outcome could cure both birth defects and hereditary diseases such as cancer and AIDS. Human genetic engineering can also allow mankind to permanently remove a mutated gene through embryo screening, as well as allow parents to choose the desired traits for their children. Negative outcomes of this technology may include the transmission of harmful diseases and the production of genetic mutations.
The concept of designer babies is a highly disputed topic. Some say that it is mainly beneficial because it can enhance and cure, but some would say otherwise because they see it as unethical and ultimately causing problems within society. Most parents would want the best for their child, so ‘improving’ them or ‘making them better’ makes sense. Which school a child goes to and which hobbies they take part in can be choices that a parent makes, which in turn hopefully makes the child’s life better. Genetic engineering could become a common practice and be another choice for parents to make, but is it just going too far?
The Problem Genetic engineering has been around since the 1960’s, although major experiments have not been really noticed until the 1990’s. Science comes in different forms, the two major being cloning and genetic reconstruction. Cloning is the duplicating of one organism and making an exact copy. For example, in 1996 the creation of the clone sheep named Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned, which was a great achievement. The other form, genetic reconstruction, is used to replace genes within humans to help or enhance the life of an unborn child for a medical reason or just for the preference of a parent.
Genetically altered babies will have no say in what’s being done to their bodies before birth, and consequently will have to live with whatever happens as a result of genetic tampering. I believe that messing with the genetic code in babies to make them have traits and behaviors the way their parents prefer is morally wrong and that babies genes are made a certain way for a reason. It’ll be as ...
Although genetic engineering seems to be more harmful than helpful, when used correctly, it will help the society prosper. Considering the technology our society has currently developed, genetic engineering is a difficult topic to discuss and confirm. If the researchers confirm this process, it may become easier for the scientists and will help cure the diseases easily. The debate, however, will still be on the rise because of the issue in human morals and ethics.