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Pros And Cons Of Genetic Enhancement

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Julian Savulescu illustrates the ethics of genetic enhancements by focusing on a means of helping people, who are naturally limited in life, to live a longer and/or better life than normal through genetic enhancement. First, he offers three arguments in favor of genetically enhancing human beings; those being to choose not to enhance is wrong for our children’s betterment, biological interventions are no different than genetic interventions, and there is no difference between genetic enhancement and treating a disease. Then, he continues to justify how we should indicate what qualities in our genes should be decided to enhance. Throughout this section, the author exemplifies different methods of how humans have decided on this, such as pre-modern and modern eugenics, and the Nazis. Additionally, the author argues that genetic enhancement should be a part of the principle of procreative …show more content…

As explained in the article, health is instrumentally valuable regardless of where one stands concerning moral theories, thus being healthy permits for one to live a good life. Conversely, disease hinders one from being able to lead a good life, as someone stricken with Alzheimer’s may not be able to recollect where they are; what is more, a person with Down Syndrome is limited in the number of lives they are able to follow. Genetic intervention may remove these limitations from one’s genes, so their offspring are able to live the best possible life they can strive for. Furthermore, I accept the argument proposed above since treatments and preventatives serve similar purposes as genetic enhancement, so to obstruct access to genetic enhancement is similar to preventing a mother’s child in need of medical attention from receiving such

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Julian Savulescu argues that genetic enhancement is not only morally permissible, but it is morally obligatory to genetically enhance one’s own child. Savulescu presents three points to defend his claim, but his vague language causes his argument to be unacceptable. Savulescu’s three arguments are as follows. His first argument is about parental duty to fulfill their child’s needs.

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1053 Words | 5 Pages

The ethical justification of genetic enhancements is a hot topic in the field of biomedical philosophy. Cases involving the utilization of genetic enhancement have been argued to suggest unease amongst individuals who perceive natural abilities as a “gift.” Genetic enhancement is the insertion of genetic material intended to modify human traits. The modification of human traits poses a depreciation in the value of giftedness. One author, Micahel Sandel, supports the value of giftedness in his essay, The Case Against Perfection.

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In an aim to create the perfect child, parents could ultimately create new defects, limit the gene pool, and cause negative social dynamics for the population with traits deemed “less desirable.” The bottom line: there is not enough available research or information regarding the long-term impacts of genetic modification to confidently adopt the practice for usage beyond disease elimination. In conclusion, Eugenics is unethical and potentially dangerous when applied on a broad scale; at this time, Eugenics should only be used to eliminate diseases when completely

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786 Words | 4 Pages

In the past, scientists, psychologist, and biologist have tried to discover ways to create the world in a way that is pleasurable to everyone. Soon, the term eugenics derived. Eugenics can be defined as a concept that allowed sterilization of individuals who were genetically “unfit” or “unwanted.” In some countries, this term was used as a way to eliminate human beings because they were not as superior as the others. With the terrible knowledge associated with this term, it vanished for centuries, but it has once resurfaced with a different name.

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836 Words | 4 Pages

Genetic enhancement of humans, defined as the modification of non-pathological traits by transfer of genetic information, is a controversial issue with a broad spectrum of ethical positions. It is not difficult to imagine a future where reproductive technologies to improve the quality of the human species are routinely implemented, however there are a myriad of ethical issues that lead to different complexities, and therein answers, as to whether they should be. In this paper, I contend that even if the means of technology are available to increase the capabilities of the human mind in terms of intelligence, doing so must be done with caution and all consequential effects on the life forms that will result must be seriously considered. Reprogenetics,

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884 Words | 4 Pages

A counterargument for those who are opposed to every example of human enhancement is that all cases are unnecessary quick fixes. Since there is no way to define what makes an individual's life good or bad, a person is not guaranteed to suffer if they are born with a disease or a genetic mutation. For this reason, enhancement is unnecessary because it falsely “may foster beliefs about some people being fundamentally inferior to others,” something that history has taught us to try and avoid. (Bostrom and Roache 142). Overall health is more than a genetic makeup.

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This would cause stress in a large number of people's lives. With the spectacular advancements made in genetic manipulation techniques, it is now possible to manipulate the genome of a person to rectify the mutated gene through somatic gene therapy, which is ethically acceptable. Also, genetic interventions can be made to enhance a particular trait which may be socially good or bad [8]. However, care must be taken to prevent discrimination among people based on gender, wealth and

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Eugenics was the perfect means to maximize wellbeing and vigor of mankind, in order to promote the preservation of man’s acceptable biological characteristics. Compared to the other two articles, despite how painfully physically and mental eugenics may be, it is deemed necessary that we should opt for a more drastic measure such as sterilization to prevent humanity from becoming

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1229 Words | 5 Pages

The use of scientific change such as eugenics has been used throughout society for millennia. While its history is quite dark, such as the use of eugenics during the Holocaust to eradicate those not Aryan, through scientific discovery, another type of eugenics was born. This new wave of eugenics more commonly known as genetic modification (GM) is a wave of eugenics created to focus on decreasing genetic irregularities rather than eliminating minorities. While GM has many benefits such as decreasing the amount of genetic disorders such as certain cancers, the term “eugenics” itself leads to a lot of societal discourse because of the governmental, extremist, and cultural associations of the term.

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An ethical debate surrounds the topic of gene therapy. A publication from the NIH titled, What are the ethical issues surrounding gene therapy?, highlights the common concerns for gene therapy. How can good and bad uses of gene therapy be distinguished? Who decides which traits are normal and which constitute a disability or disorder? Will the high cost of gene therapy make it available only to the wealthy?

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The reasons why genetic engineering can make a child’s future more secured are it can prevent negative health effects for my child, can certify that my child will be born safe, and can give my child the advantage that possibly some other children will have. Genetically engineering my child could mean I would prevent my child from negative

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“It may be that the eugenic impulse is so deeply embedded in U.S. culture that we don’t even recognize it. As early as 1909, Indiana passed eugenic compulsory sterilization, a law infamously upheld by the Supreme Court in an opinion that concluded by saying “three generations of imbeciles are enough.” (Camosy). Genetic therapy raises an

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1216 Words | 5 Pages

Hammond (2010) states that if the parent are aware that they or their partner are a carrier of a specific genetic disorder, they are morally obliged to use genetic engineering as a means of preventing this defect on their child. Hammond (2010) says “a parent who could provide adequate genetic inputs, but fails to do so, is guilty of ‘genetic neglect’”. Therefore, she believes that it is a parental duty to take advantage of genetic engineering when they have the chance. While Hammond views this type of genetic engineering as a duty, Brassington (2010) struggles to define exactly what a duty is. He first refutes the proposition that an enhancement is strictly something that makes a change for the better.

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1609 Words | 7 Pages

This idea was used by Galton and many others to promote selective breeding in humans to improve the human species. The Eugenicists described lack of education as familial feeble mindedness and rural poverty as shiftlessness. There was an overestimation of scientific difficulties in seeing whether traits are heritable and to what limit hereditary contributes to the trait as most human traits are strongly influenced by environmental factors and are even complex in their inheritance pattern. Though genetic counseling aims to help patients and families in managing pain and suffering caused by a genetic disorder , it should not be confused with the eugenic goal of decreasing the incidence and recurrence of a genetic

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1370 Words | 6 Pages

Editing of the human genome in the past has been only a sight seen in dystopia works such as Brave New World. Now, genetic enhancement is a prevalent today and people are beginning to realize the issues that can arise from creating these designer babies. Gene editing can be helpful to eradicate life changing disabilities. Yet, the term disability does not correctly label these differently abled people, as the idea of what is considered disabled has changed overtime. To fully understand the consequences and implications of genetic selection and enhancement of human embryos, society must mature and declare lines of what is and is not ethically moral.

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