Ethical And Ethical Considerations In Genetic Engineering

While using gene editing mechanisms for designing babies may be unacceptable, the practice of manipulating genes for the lone purpose of treating genetic diseases in developing embryos is both rational and proactive. When danger could come to a mother’s baby, scientists should evaluate which is more important: the well being of the baby or personal underlying ethical, moral, or even religious beliefs. For example, two month old Kira Walker underwent surgery to remove 40% of her pancreatic cells that had developed a mutated copy of gene ABCC8 (Moyer, 2014). If this issue would have been identified during embryonic development, the base pair mutation could have been corrected by CRISPR. Similarly, many individuals of European decent hold the

Regardless of ones personal ethical beliefs, an individual at the very least should sympathize with the millions of families that battle the obstacles of genetic diseases every day. Critics of genetic engineering must recognize the importance and new opportunities that CRISPR technology could hold for developing babies. In addition, this cutting edge innovation has the potential to revolutionize the field of medicine in ways that have never been seen before. The buzz surrounding it generates the belief that it really could become the biggest breakthrough in the field since the development of vaccines or penicillin. Because CRISPR works to substitute DNA sequences that are transcribed and translated into expressed proteins, the capability to replace, insert, or delete even single complementary base pairs gives scientists the unique ability to prevent the encoding of proteins that result in diseases like cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and the devastatingly lethal Tay-Sachs disease (Moyer, 2014). The development of a universal treatment for human genetic disorders currently rests at the fingertips of

Many would agree that the gene-manipulating biotechnology of the CRISPR-Cas9 system should not be used for parents to selfishly pay for their perfectly edited baby. On the other hand, many people are beginning to strongly agree that this technology will have a future impact and most certainly should be further developed with the end goal of curing ravaging inherited diseases. While the opposition may make some strong points, there is no one that can deny the indelible impact that CRISPR has made and is still making on science to this day. The overwhelming importance of the CRISPR-Cas9 system cannot be overstated because it could be the gateway to the greatest medical advancements of the 21st century. CRISPR might even hold a greater significance in the evolution of medical treatment than Jonas Salk’s discovery of vaccinations in the 1900s. In fact, it may be a greater breakthrough in the field of genetics than Mendel’s experimentation on pea plants. Regardless of ones opinion, it remains a highly significant issue that deserves the full attention of the science world throughout the coming years of laboratory inquiry and