GENETIC MANIPULATION: ETHICAL JUDGEMENT One of the most popular movie genders nowadays is Science Fiction, where we can see unrealistic science inventions such as cloning, light sabers and time travel. For now, all these inventions may seem impossible, but they are becoming more of a reality with recent scientific advancements. About thirty years ago, genetic engineering was idealistic and unthinkable, however today is an outstanding issue around the world. The most controversial subject of genetic manipulation is the need to understand the social and personal implications at stake. I’m going to focus on genetic manipulation concerned with embryos, as there are no moral objections to the manipulation of human body cells for curative purposes …show more content…
The aim of therapeutic manipulations is to cure illness caused by genetic or chromosome anomalies. They are considered desirable in principle, as its purpose is the real promotion of the personal well-being of the individual, without damaging his integrity or worsening his condition of life. Some are beginning to call it “genetic surgery”, to show more clearly that medicine intervenes not in order to modify nature, but to favor its development in its own life. On the other hand, the purpose of interventions which are not directly curative is the “production of human beings selected according to some predetermined qualities”, which change the genotype of the individual and of the human species. They are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being, to his integrity and to his identity, and therefore they can be in no way justified on the pretext that they will produce some beneficial results for humanity in the …show more content…
Such an intervention would indeed fall within the logic of the Christian moral tradition. Medical research must abstain from interventions on live embryos, unless there is a moral certainty of not harming its life or integrity nor its mother’s. If the embryos are living, whether viable or not, they must be respected just like any other human person, and the experimentation on embryos which is not directly therapeutic is illicit. In the case of experimentation that is clearly therapeutic, when it is a matter of experimental form of therapy used for the benefit of the embryo as an extreme attempt to save his life, and in the absence of other effective therapies, it may be licit to recourse to drugs or procedures not yet fully tasted. Assuming that the experimentation is clearly therapeutic, in the case of experimental therapies used for the benefit of the embryo as an extreme attempt to save his life, and in the absence of other effective therapies, it may be lawful to resort to drugs or procedures not yet entirely