The age of the genetic modification of humans has begun. Imagine a world where there is no disease, no disabilities, longer lifespans and everyone is at their peak potential. All these things are wonderful and possible due to genetic modification but how far can humans allow this technology to develop, because it will determine the future of the world? To truly evaluate this one must consider three things: What is Genetic Engineering? What are the pros, cons, and ethics of modifying human DNA? And what do possible futures with modified humans look like?
So, what even is Genetic Engineering? Antonio Regalado of the MLT Technology Review writes about what genetic engineering is in a 2015 article like this: The latest invention in Genetic Engineering is the CRISPR-Cas9.
When applied to humans, it could cure hereditary diseases and alter physical and cognitive traits. CRISPR has the precision to change even the letters in the DNA chain. Genetic Engineering has already been banned in several countries. Editing DNA brings about many ethical and moral concerns. In China, experiments have already been done using this new technology. The process of using CRISPR without going into the technicalities is this: First scientists would target a stem cell and edit its genes. Second the stem cell would be turned into either a sperm or an egg. Lastly the baby would develop and be born. Once the technology is fully developed it will no longer be in the hands of scientists to
With new technology it allows us to further research to attempt to benefit humanity and the environment people live in. As well as the genetic engineering playing a positive role in helping with “agriculture, aquaculture, bioremediation, and environmental management, both in developed and developing countries. However, deliberate or inadvertent releases of genetically engineered organisms into the environment could have negative ecological impacts under some circumstances”(Coker 24). With the engineering of plants and medicines, there seems to be no harm done if something were to go wrong and hurt the plant or the medicine just doesn’t turn out right. There comes a point when scientists cross a line and that is when they start to create designer babies. With designer babies, it gives the mother and the father the ability to change and enhance the outcome of their child. The parents are given the opportunity to improve the way their child's “eyesight could be greatly improved, perhaps even allowing [them] to see wavelengths of light that are currently ‘invisible’ to us” (Coker 26). Having a child with not only enhanced eyesight, but with them having your choice of hair color, the eye color you have chosen, or allowing them to have enhanced strength people are interrupting the natural way a child is supposed to be created. A child who has been genetically engineered to have enhanced strength is a child how going to ruin the way sports are played fairly. A child who has been born naturally and has had nothing altered about him will be no match against a genetically engineered one. Some people would take into consideration that the religious church would believe that genetically engineering anything is not moral. Inside “the moral evaluation of germ line cell therapy is different. Whatever genetic modifications are effected on the germ cells of a person will be transmitted to any potential
“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). Scientists have been practicing editing the DNA of organisms in order to remove unwanted genes and or enhance their survival rates. As technology advances, it allows this practice to become more precise and successful. Scientist have been having successful test in modifying human dna which causes more controversies on whether it should be allowed or not.Genetic engineering should be permitted due to its ability to benefit the medical and environmental future.To begin with the idea of potentially removing unwanted traits in DNA sequences, to aid in removing hereditary diseases.
On the last years, genetic technology have been improving. The research carried out in this area are focused on the early diagnosis of diseases. Moreover, manipulation of genes in the future provides a critical tool for eliminating fatal diseases to humans. Also humans will be able to manipulate genes from birth. But the real question is although can be perform it, we allow it? Everything possible is ethically permissible? Some dramatic demonstrations of genetic modification have been made with mice and other animals, however, evidence in humans are generally considered outside the ethical boundaries. Gregory Stock, director of the Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society at UCLA and author of Redesigning Humans, in his article “Choosing Our Genes” (2012) argues the use of technology to change humans genetic in order to avoid imperfections or diseases. Stock shows genetic engineering as a very useful technology and that applying it on the future to humans, positive results they will gain. Stocks article is effective, since he gives good reasons why using genetic technology would provide several benefits that people wish to have.
Should human genetic modification be allowed in today’s society? Many experiments with genetic modification on plants and animals involved trial and error. While there was success in the research, there also existed the cost of many errors. Scientists soon want to move onto the next step – genetic modification in humans. The human aesthetic could soon be in the hands of men. Recent advances in technology and research through other life forms have allowed us to consider this vast advancement in genetic modification. In studies of genetic modification, scientists rarely have 100% efficiency. We need to approach the concept of genetic modification in humans with caution. The magnitude of the advancement is immense; therefore, we need to approach this concept at a gradual pace. If we ignore these precautions, we risk human lives and deformities in the name of science. Exploring the possibilities of genetic modification is important to the future of science.
You are probably familiar with GMO’s (genetically modified organism) and scientifically modified food that has had its DNA changes. There has been debate on GMO’s has been going on for a few decades, whether GMO are safe and even ethical. However, there is another debate that far surpasses GMOs and has a potential to radically shake society: the issue of genetically modifying humans. Changing our DNA could limit health issue or create a new Frankenstein’s monster among humans. Frankenstein had the wrong intent when he set out to create his monster. He only cared about himself and advancing his future. If Genetic engineering is sought after to just create something new there will be another monster. However, genetic can be safe and ethical if its intent and use is for medical purposes. We need to help the sick in society and one way to do that is with genetic engineering. With this purpose genetic engineering is not overstepping our authority like Frankenstein did.
This topic has already caused mass debates and argument between people, whether they are scientists or just students, everyone has their own opinion. Some people are saying that we should do as much as we can with this technology as we have it, no limitations but others are saying stop wait a second, what do we even really know about this technology. Is it morally okay to genetically change and modify your future children? Should it truly be up to the parents as to what the child’s life will be like? Are there dangerous side affects that we are unaware of yet?
There are many incurable diseases in the world that affect an organism’s way of living. Cystic Fibrosis, a disease with no known cure, affects 1 out of 3600 Canadian child’s digestive system and lungs, while a person with sickle cell anemia is only expected to live forty to sixty years. Both of these diseases are similar in the way that they are inherited genetically; they are passed on from parents to their children. Scientists are producing a way to help these people called Genetic Engineering. This is a way of modifying an organism’s genome to produce a more desirable trait by manually adding new DNA.
Throughout the world, many intelligent minds exist. One, in particular, had something to say about Human genetic engineering. “Nuclear weapons need large facilities, but genetic engineering can be done in a small lab. You cannot regulate every lab in the world. The danger is that either by accident or design, we create a virus that destroys us” (Stephen Hawking). Hawking is considered to be one of the most intelligent people in the modern world. For this reason, his statement is not to be taken with a grain of salt. The concept of Human genetic engineering is surrounded with danger and controversy. There are several different positions on human genetic modification. Conservatives, or Traditionalists believe such innovation or change would be detrimental towards the human race. Conservatives say that families are the foundation of society so changing how families come to be would ultimately tear society apart (Foht). Others say that innovation of such magnitude would act as a boon to the human race. Concerning the danger of genetic engineering, it could definitely become an immense detriment. However, with the correct limitation and government oversight, the human race will benefit from it. Genetically engineering a Human embryo is a step that science will eventually take. Whether it be decades or centuries from now, genetically modified humans will walk the Earth.
Scientists have yet to perfect the system, and are still working out fine details. Paul Knoepfler explains that people could see GMO humans within the next 50 years. In China, modern scientists are currently working on the interworking of CRISPR and its capabilities. Using CRISPR is simple, and almost anyone can do it if they have a lab. It's incredibly easy, powerful, and interesting, but hasn’t been perfected yet. Chinese scientists are using human embryos to eradicate genetic disease- and were almost successful. Out of the 76 embryos they used, 54 were tested on, but only a few actually showed the synthetic mutation placed by the scientists. Modern technology could forever change with the use of
Scientists have recently brought up the idea of genetically engineering humans, as if we are machines that need to be tinkered with. Genetic engineering is the deliberate modification of the DNA of an organism. We have seen this type of modification in the food that we have consumed and in the animals that many purchase. It has never been proven to be 100% safe for humans to consume genetically modified food as it is not from nature and our bodies do not know how to react. Also there have been many cases where purebred dogs have been susceptible to numerous diseases because of the decreased gene pool they were modified from, which is the cause of inbreeding. Scientists must never engineer humans because we have seen the bad effects it has had
The next major leap for humanity is genetic engineering, the process in which different genes are removed and substituted for other, more affective, genes. Genetic engineering has the potential to eliminate thousands of diseases, mutations, and disabilities, saving millions of lives from death and/or suffering. I suggest that we use genetic engineering, but only as a prevention to disease or other mutation genes that will make the person suffer physically or emotionally. I most definitely do not intend that we use this fascinating technology for purposes such as making a person with perfect looks. Parents should be able to choose some of their child's genes, as outlined above, through genetic engineering, for ethical, economical, and social reasons.
Genetic engineering is the process whereby new DNA is added or existing DNA is altered in an organism 's genome. This may involve changing one base pair (A-T or C-G) or deleting entire sections of DNA or adding additional copies of a gene. This results in creating new traits that were not previously present in the organism’s genome. This is done to selectively breed desired traits or to create plants with increased resistance to pesticides and increased tolerance to herbicides. For example insulin is a protein that regulates sugar content in our blood and is produced normally in the pancreas. Genetic engineering is used to produce a form of insulin that is similar to yeast and bacterial cells. This genetically engineered insulin is called
Genetic engineering is the act of purposely altering genes or the DNA sequence. Specifically, the process of genetic engineering in humans has a lot of potential in regards to creating a healthier, more disease free society. Imagine living in a world where you wouldn’t have to fear that your offspring would be born with a life threatening disease, because scientists and medical professionals would have the capability to work together in order to manipulate the particular gene responsible for causing the disease. Such a world would also have the ability to reverse or stop certain disease processes that may show up later in life. This leaves a very large group of people that genetic engineering could potentially help… the group being practically everyone in the world that possesses genes that indicate a disease. Clearly, there are bound to be some dangers with this concept since it is still so new and unknown. However, by learning more about this concept and setting limits to genetic engineering, many lives could be saved, as long as those limits are not passed. An article written on the website Popular Science by Claire Maldarelli goes into further detail about the techniques by which scientists can modify human genes, as well as the many successes and potential successes associated with it. The Harvard University website explains the the CRISPR genetic engineering tool stands for “Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat,” which is basically a tool that
Genetic engineering is looked as a future technology but the future is fast approaching. There are many benefits of genetic engineering, such as curing diseases and creating a more intelligent population, but there are also dangers of genetic engineering, such as disrupting the human genome, and creating more social imbalance. Genetic engineering has been tested and proven to be effective in repairing or replacing defective genes but it can also be easily misused and abused to create a society in which kids are given the upper hand due to their economic status. There are also ethical reason against genetic engineering because of the unsafe, untested, and experimental methods scientists would use to genetically engineer a human. The technology is advancing, and genetic engineering could be a huge medical breakthrough but, there is no one to set limits on this new technology which makes it vulnerable to misuse and abuse by wealthy people who could afford to get their child genetically engineered.
Is there really a perfect human race? Some people think there could be with the help of human engineering. There is a notion that genetic engineering is the solution to all human defects, and that it is the perfect resolution to parents being able to have the perfect families that they have always wanted. This sounds amazing! Although genetic engineering sounds fantastic there are many downsides, not only morally but potentially health wise also. This practice is risky because there could be horrendous side effects that come with the treatment when it is used on embryos. It is almost unacceptable morally, it violates specific human rights of the human embryos, it allows people to play God, it creates an illusion of perfection within families, it could create a large social divide, and it shows how shallow humans are. Genetic engineering might not be all it is cracked up to be.