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Splice: The Movie

Decent Essays

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are the central subject of the movie Splice. A couple of brilliant but rebellious scientists combine genes from different plant and animal species to create a new life form. While this is a fictional film, GMOs are very real. The use of GMOs is currently under serious scrutiny and debate. Our foods and some animals are already being genetically modified, are humans the next step? Splice performs this ultimate experiment, and then suffers the ethical challenges and consequences the decision triggers. By making one catastrophic moral choice the scientists compromise themselves both morally and ethically, paving the way for further moral degradation. Does one bad ethical choice make it easier …show more content…

Death tends to end the evaluative process. (Purtilo, 2005, pp.76-92)
Genetic modification has been around for quite some time. According to Lemaux (2006), it started when people first chose to plant hardier varieties of plants which were able to resist extreme temperatures and pests. What started as gene selection has advanced to gene modification with the discovery of DNA mapping. DNA mapping has given us the technology needed to make GMOs a reality. This is a hotly debated topic as the long term consequences of genetically modified food and medicines have yet to be established. Some countries have banned genetically modified food sources, while others, like the United States mostly embrace it. We lead the world with the highest percentage of genetically modified crops (U.S. Department of Energy Genome Programs, 2008). As this technology continues to evolve and more areas for its use expand, additional ethical questions will be raised. Splice takes a peak into our future and attempts to tackle those ethical dilemmas. At every turn, the characters in this film make yet another poor ethical choice and endure the consequences of their actions. This film could be taken as a worst case scenario of human gene modification. As the technology continues to evolve, we can only hope that the leading scientists have a higher ethical standard than those portrayed in the movie Splice.

References

Hoban, S. (Producer), & Natalie, V.

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