FREE ESSAY ON GENTIC ENGINEERING

GENTIC ENGINEERING

1 http://www.denison.edu/~griffi_rp/paper.htm Genetic diversity is precious and should not
be touched, even with the overwhelming temptation to do so. The gathering of genetic
knowledge does not guarantee wisdom in deciding about human diversity. (Suzuki,
Genethics, 345-346) A generalization must, then, occur. Every decision involves human
beings as the decision makers and these persons must live with the consequences. Also,
most decisions involve choices between different outcomes and humans are likely to place
different values on different outcomes. (Kieffer, Bioethics, 45) For human beings, the
ethical drawbacks of genetic engineering overpower the benefits.
2 http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Forum/Issues/Papers/geneticeng.html What if the
couple (or the government) is permitted to monitor embryos so that any with an
Oundesirable' genetic trait may be aborted? ... is this the first step towards creating
Hitler's master race through eugenics (i.e. preserving only genetically Osuperior'
people)? What if tests show there is only a 50 percent possibility of contracting an
incurable debilitating disease? What if the disease is not necessarily life-threatening,
like cerebral pasly or multiple sclerosis? What if genetic screening shows that a baby
will be blind or deaf? What if it shows the baby will be a boy and not the girl the
couple wants? Under which of these situations would abortion be moral?
3 Elmer-Dewitt, P. (1993, November 8). Where Do We Draw the Line? Time, p.64 (7).
4 http://cac.psu.edu/~gsg109/qs/em01005.html
5 http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~rone/gedanger.htm#Ethical
6
http://atheism.about.com/culture/atheism/library/FAQs/blfaq_evolution_evidence13.htm?iam=dp&terms=what+happens+when+evolution+is+disrupted
7 http://www.worldtrans.org/spir/forum/messages/7.html
8 http://looksmart.infoplease.com/ipd/A0430767.html
9 http://looksmart.infoplease.com/ipd/A0430792.html
10 http://looksmart.infoplease.com/ce5/CE017634.html
11 http://www.handprint.com/LS/ANC/evol.html#chart The origins of this variability are
behavioral as well as genetic. As human acestors evolved, accumulating hominid technology
gave our biological variability an accelerating push. But before technology could have
much impact, our evolution was also helped along by the human tendency to migration and
the resulting geographic isolation of different hominid groups .
Separated in space, hominids evolved into regional variants that are sometimes treated as
different species. Genetic variability within hominid species, and uncertainties in
fossil reconstruction or geological dating, make these distinctions controversial. They
are also somewhat beside the point: early humans were a restless species evolving at a
breakneck