Genetic Engineering Essay Research Paper GENETIC ENGINEERINGEthical

Genetic Engineering Essay, Research Paper

GENETIC ENGINEERING

Ethical and Spiritual Issues in Genetic Engineering”

The choices I will be talking about have to do with biotechnology and genetic engineering, choices

which we are currently not making consciously because we really don’t know what is going on. I

would like to tell you what is going on in these areas, and then talk about how we might approach this

matter in ethical ways.

First, allow me to give you some examples of current activities in the field of genetic engineering.

Most of it has to do with producing genetically engineered plants, primarily food plants, but also

cotton tobacco, and some others, which are resistant to pesticides, so that the pesticide

manufacturers can make more money on their products. About 70% of genetic engineering falls into

this category.

A second example is biowarfare. Perhaps some of you saw the recent New Yorker article on the

subject [Richard Preston, "Annals of Warfare: the Bioweaponeers." New Yorker, March, 1998].

There is widespread consensus that the information reported in that article is true. One of the things

he mentions is that the former Soviet Union had the largest big-warfare program in the world, with

32,000 scientists working on it. Much of it had to do with genetic engineering. In one of the projects

they took smallpox, which has otherwise disappeared from the world, and found a way to genetically

introduce into it, without reducing its efficacy as smallpox, either Ebola virus or equine encephalitis

viruses. Nobody seems to know what happened to those experimental viruses.

A third example: we now have plants genetically engineered to produce plastic. The idea is that we

will no longer need to depend so much on petroleum, or on the Middle East for petroleum. The

problem here, of course, is that the engineered plants cross-fertilize with their wild brethren, and since

none of genetic changes is recallable, we can only hope that we will not one day take walks in the

outdoors and be surrounded by flora which are exuding plastic and poisoning the fauna.

Some other examples: the Chinese are now putting human genes into tomatoes and peppers to make

them grow faster. You can now be a vegetarian and a cannibal at the same time! In Canada

geneticists are putting human genes into fish to make them grow faster. And several companies are

racing to place human genes into pigs in order to genetically match them to human individuals; that

means that you can have your own organ donor pig, an animal whose organs will not be rejected by

your body.

Those are some examples of what is currently going on in the field of genetic engineering, which I

hope convey to you my concern that there could be serious problems ahead. Now allow me to

suggest what we might do about all this. First we must realize that just feeling disturbed by such

projects is not enough. If we are to take any effective action, to make any useful decision, we must

begin with some clear understanding of the issues involved; we must develop cogent intellectual

viewpoint about genetic engineering and how to approach it. There are, of course, many viewpoints,

but let me mention just three.

First, the view of science and technology as they serve international corporate profit, which is where

we find most science and technology. This basically amoral, aspiritual perspective is dominant today

because so much money is involved. The corporations involved control more money than any

government on the planet, including our own. This is a closed system view of physical reality, and

nothing outside the system is considered real or meaningful.

The second and third viewpoints I want to mention are both spiritual, one from the Christian tradition,

the other from Buddhism. Many Christians are wary of the potential of genetic engineering for

fundamentally altering God s sacred creation; however, the one I have most recently discovered

takes a radically different stance and comes out of liberal Protestant thought. Ted Peters, a professor

at Pacific Lutheran Theological seminary, is an advocate of this view. He says,

It is worth noting that virtually all Roman Catholics and Protestants who take up the

challenge of the new genetic knowledge seem to agree on a handful of theological

axioms. First, they affirm that God is the creator of the world, and further that God’s

creative work is ongoing. Second, the human race is created in God’s image. In this

context, the divine image in humanity is tied to creativity. God creates, so do we. With

surprising frequency, we humans are described by theologians as ‘co-creators with

God,’ making our contribution to the evolutionary process.

Beginning in the Renaissance we find the image of the scientist as a Christian who moves closer to

God by exploring the sacred nature of His creation. This view sees the modern Christian scientist as

someone who is simply

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать