Archive for the ‘genetics’ tag
Welcome to a Brave New World
Scientists revealed the existence of the first genetically-modified human embryo:
Led by Nikica Zaninovic, researchers at Cornell University added a green fluorescent protein to an embryo left over from assisted reproduction. They destroyed the embryo five days later. It is believed to be the first documented genetic modification of a human embryo.
The work was done in 2007, but it only became widely publicized because the UK is looking into legislation in the area.
Is it ethical to destroy a human being in the course of research? I answer emphatically “No!” However, that is not the entire issue. Researchers may be able to learn more about or prevent genetic disease via genetic modifications. In the latter case, the embryo would be allowed to live and pass on its “improved” DNA to the gene pool. So Christians need to come to a conclusion on whether genetic modification of embryos is acceptable.
There will be much in the way of utilitarian ethical reasoning in the coming debate. Obviously the prospect of curing genetic disease will be quite compelling. However, I suspect that genetic modification may go the way of abortion, where the hard cases are the minority and abortion on demand is the norm. In this case, modification on demand would mean the creation of designer babies, custom human beings. This could range from something superficial like hair color to something more drastic, or any combination of any in between. The prospect of a genetically superior upper class makes me weary of genetic modifications of humans. It reminds me of Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World:
Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they’re so frightfully clever. I’m really awfuly glad I’m a Beta, because I don’t work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They’re too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I’m so glad I’m a Beta.
