Human Genetic Engineering
Somatic Cell Gene Therapy
This is therapies where changes are made to the genes of an individual, and the changes are not passed on to children. The issues with these procedures are merely due to their being new. New procedures have greater risks than established procedures, and people are more likely to object to them. The same thing happened with blood transfusions, which are now seen as an essential part of modern surgery.
Essentially, somatic cell gene therapies provide an alternative to other treatments and procedures, and will be used in those circumstances where they are the most effective and useful.
Germ line gene therapy
This involves making changes to an individual's genes that will be carried on to any future generations. Clearly this could be a very large number of people - most of the Jews in the world share Abraham as a common ancestor: that's more than 20 million people. If we alter the germ-line genes of an individual, how many people might this affect?
A further issue, in common with PGD and abortion, is the idea that we are choosing to eradicate a condition entirely. As this increasingly happens, anyone with that condition will feel increasingly isolated, and anyone who has a child with such a condition will be seen as being responsible for the condition's existence, as they could have prevented it
Enhancement Genetic Engineering
This is really a sub-category of the therapies above. However, the term 'therapy' implies some sort of cure - a treatment of a disorder, the correction of a defect etc. It isn't clear that the term 'therapy' applies when there isn't any sort of illness.
It will be very difficult to agree on what might be considered a defect, disorder or illness. Many people claim that plastic surgery to change the shape of someone's nose or remove a birth mark can cure serious emotional distress. However, the distinction needs to be a medical one - if the treatment is not directly related to restoring the health of the patient, it is not a therapy, and may be considered an enhancement.
Eugenic genetic engineering
This would be making germ-line changes to improve a race of people. Hitler had the vision, but not the technology. His eugenics involved removing people from the gene pool. Now we have the technology to change details and to remove traits or defects from the human gene pool. How do we decide whether it is ethical to do so?
Animal Genetic Engineering
Animals have been genetically altered for millenia, to get the strongest horse or the plumpest chicken. You can now make animals more resistant to disease and increase yield considerably. In recent years, genetic engineering of animals has involved more than just improving stock.
Pharming - This is a term for manufacturing 'pharm'aceuticals in animals.
Transgenics - Creating animals using genes from other animals
Xenotransplants - Using animals to grow human organs for transplant
GM Crops
Crops are genetically modified to increase yields, increase resistance to disease and pests and make some plants immune to certain artificial pesticides and herbicides. There are many different opinions about GM crops, but some things seem clear:
- The long-term effects of genetic modification are not known
- The modification of crops can be done to improve the environment, or the environment may benefit indirectly. If crops have a greater yield, less space is needed to grow crops which should increase the amount of wilderness, forest etc.
- The motivation behind developing GM crops is mostly financial
- Once an area has some GM crops, the surrounding farmers can no longer declare that their crops are GM free - the decision has to be made collectively
For issues raised by Cloning, look at:
| Embryo Cloning and Therapeutic Cloning |  |
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| Reproductive Cloning | |
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