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The Pros And Cons Of Gene Manipulation

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Views for essential genetic modification: Human gene manipulation raises many ethical queries and rightly so. The question is whether these queries can be answered in a way that is ultimately beneficial to humankind as a whole. Every major scientific breakthrough has been met with doubt and mistrust at each step in its development. But this should not be taken as a sign of it’s failure. Going through this trial of fire eventually leads to a refined and miraculous achievement that benefits humanity. One of these great achievements has been the discovery of vaccination. Measles vaccination has saved an estimated 17.1 million lives since 2000. Vaccines have helped to not only slow down, but completely eradicate many diseases such as Polio, …show more content…

The speakers unanimously agreed that changing the genetic composition of future children (embryos) would amount to extreme human experimentation. Few of the many issues that could arise include off-target mutations (unintentional edits to the genome) and unknown longer-term health and safety consequences (Lewis, 2015). There is also the ubiquitous ‘Playing God’ argument. Although it may sound twisted, genetic imperfections and diseases could be perceived as nature’s way of keeping the ever increasing human population in check. Existing medical technology has already vastly improved human lifespans and mortality rates, increasing the burden on our planet’s limited resources. Genetic manipulation (leading to perfect disease-free human lifetimes) could further exacerbate this …show more content…

One of the major ones being the regulation of this technology. How would it be restricted only to cases where there is a sound medical requirement (such as sickle cell anaemia , haemophilia etc)? Once this technology is out in the open, a whole new can of worms is opened. Outlandish as it may sound, who is to stop, say China or Russia, from creating a genetically engineered army of enhanced humans. This technology opens the door to ‘eugenics’ (a set of beliefs and practices that aims at improving the genetic quality of a human population) (Wikipedia, 2018). This is nearly identical to the widely condemned Nazi ideology where all but the Aryan race were ‘life unworthy of life’ (Wikipedia, 2017). Also, even assuming perfect regulation, how would we draw the line between a medical and enhancement purpose for modification? For example, people with fairer skin are more susceptible to skin cancer. So should their offspring be genetically modified to be born with darker

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(Hayes 500). As humans we can look at our past and even present and realize that genetic modification would only amplify global tensions and disputes. It wouldn’t be long until a nation’s leader begins to strive for the next “Aryan”

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As a society we are adapting, changing, and growing every day. Genetic modification is happening; many people are just not aware. Genetic engineering is great for society because it can cause many new advancements for the as in world with no diseases and a world without hunger. “There is a good case for exploring all ideas relevant to our current concerns, no matter where they lead” (Pinker 533). Although no one knows how far genetic enhancing and cloning could go makes it a dangerous idea, does not mean as a society that we ignore it.

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Aside from the authority that results from being published in a peer-reviewed journal, Gert writes in a rather serious and academic tone to prevent the reader from taking his words too lightly. By calling attention to the fact that “we do not know that there are no risks,” Gert’s argument transcends all limitations and fosters a creeping feeling of uncertainty and fear. In some aspects, opting to argue the general possibility of negative side effects of genetic engineering rather than naming specific possibilities enhances his argument as the

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“If the world is to be spared even worse turmoil, the U.S. must develop a strategic doctrine for the region.” That was former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz warning us about the consequences of the Iran nuclear agreement this spring. While the White House negotiated with Iranian political leaders, the United States stumbled through the Middle East. The missteps include failure to support the green revolution in Iran in 2009, red lines in Syria that didn’t really exist in 2012, a small effort to defeat ISIS in 2014 and continuing today and strained relations with Israel for six years. That is not a strategy.

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Although it may some day be possible, the likelihood for error is immense as we alter the material of the human personality and physical attributions. Furthermore, to truly understand the reparation from getting rid of different parts of genes, we must understand the entirety of the gene. Even if researchers were able to accomplish this, genus have the possibility of being reliant on their position in the chromosome, the sequence in which they were placed, and so many minute details that there will always be error of forever altering a soul. However, despite this fact, supporters of designer babies state that it is the parents choice to decide the fate of their child: “bioethicists have argued that parents have a right to prenatal autonomy, which grants them the right to decide the fate of their children... [they] already possess a high degree of control over the outcome of their children’s lives in the form of environmental choices.

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Safety as well as social injustice stand before as valid arguments to put an extreme caution and observations on all procedures that go though. Author Arthur Caplan with Project Syndicate states that without doubt one day this technology will be put to use however counters, “ The benefits of CRISPR are likely to be made available primarily through private, profit-seeking companies, giving the rich far better access to the technology than the poor.” These significant benefits whose intents are positive will inevitably lead to injustice by the upper social class being the only ones allowed to afford this engineering. Today's Society cannot fail to remember the past when the belief of a specific race was superior than others was prevalent. Author Edwin Black of The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics, illuminates throughout his entire article racist pseudoscience although believed to have begun in Germany, started with eugenicists in the United States.

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Individuals may want their offspring to be enhanced with a certain intelligence level, height, or eye color. “Some genetic testing companies today even go as far as to scientifically dubious essays they claim will allow you to assess if your child has inherited genes that could lead to, for example superior athletic performance” (Kapustij). Gene enhancements should only be used if they are absolutely necessary. Also, using gene enhancements for selfish reasoning is way more expensive compared to gene editing. “One concern is that enhancements technologies are not likely, at least at the outset, to be financially within the reach of many in the population,possibly putting them at even greater disadvantage than their wealthier counterparts”(Kapustij).Not only is it costly to have gene enhancements implanted, but it could also

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Human genetic engineering, what was once considered a futuristic possibility and in the realm of science fiction (Evans 2010) is now becoming a mechanism to alter the genetic characteristics of an individual that will now be passed through the germ line, from one generation to the next. We are essentially changing the genetic makeup of the human species (Evans 2010). With IVF and HGE, is it morally correct to make radical genetic selections and changes that inevitably will influence the lives of future generations? Veatch, Haddad and English (2010) argue that this is the most fundamental issue that faces reproductive technologies, whether or not interfering with ‘the genetic and birth process is ‘playing God’’ in an unacceptable manner. They further state that the rapid developing reproductive technologies have the potential to change the nature of the human species and the process of reproduction (Veatch, Haddad and English, 2010), which can be considered to extend beyond what ‘humans should be permitted to do’.

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What if we think about genetic modification as the next step in evolution? If we can alter DNA, we can guide the path of

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The Rise of Human Genetic Modification? There are many controversial issues throughout time that have risen and led countries to disagree to with one another worldwide. Eugenics and genetic engineering on humans is a topic that many believe crosses a major ethical boundary. Many scientists and ethicists believe that gene editing on human genes is unethical at certain degrees and it should not be done until the proper precautions have been overlooked and restrictions are made.

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Regulations of human biotechnologies, including the practices and products their policies cover, the jurisdiction of authority and the nature of enforcement differ from country to country. Countries such as the United Kingdom have established agencies that are responsible for licensing and monitoring research and commercial facilities that work with human embryos (“Other Countries”, n.d). Additionally, over forty countries have made some applications of human biotechnologies such inheritable human genetic modification and human reproductive cloning illegal (“Other Countries”, n.d). A survey in 2014 of thirty-nine countries, conducted by Motoko Araki and Tetsuya Ishii, discovered that there were a variety of regulatory approaches regarding human germline modification. Many European countries legally prohibited any intervention in the germline modification (Charo, 2016).

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In the 21st century, we have been able to create, change and sadly, end life. In the field of medicine, there are many issues that stand out to me, but the one single issue that inspires me the most is genetic modification. Genetic modification is such an amazing science because mere scientists are able to change the course of an unborn childs

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Brassington (2010) argues that since “there is an indefinitely long list of things that might count as an enhancement…it is hard to sustain the idea that providing those enhancements might be a matter of duty”. Basically, there are far more changes that can be made to a person than ever possible; therefore, it is improbable that genetic engineering be seen as a duty. He argues that no matter what is done, there is always going to be something more that can be done. Hammond boldly states that society as a whole, based on the argument of seeing genetic engineering as a duty, can agree that moral wrong is done when parents decide to have a severely disabled child when they could have prevented or done otherwise. There are concerns about this usage of genetic engineering.

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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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This essay will look more on the advantages and disadvantages of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering has some advantages. Firstly it allows for faster growth rate .Genetic engineering allows of plants or animals to be modified so their maturity can occur at a quicker pace outside of the normal growth conditions that are favourable without genetic changes as well .Secondly, it may also provide a cure for disease to improve health (apecsecadmin, 2014). Genetic engineering can be used to eradicate a number of incurable and deadly disease which could be done by identifying the genes that cause these disease, and manipulate them to prevent people from contracting these potentially deadly diseases.

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