“Don’t fight the ways of God, for who can straighten out what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13). With the breakthrough of scientific discoveries in recent decades, humans have attained progressively more power over Mother Nature. Specifically, genetic engineering has allowed for the modification of the genetic makeup of humans. While the power to modify our chromosomes presents exciting possibilities, it also burdens mankind with many ethical issues. In this essay, I will explore both the pros and cons of this extremely controversial issue, explaining why genetic engineering in humans is acceptable under some circumstances and unacceptable and even unethical in others.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid, more commonly referred to as DNA, provides the genetic blueprint for all living organisms. Human genetic engineering refers to the controlled alteration of the human genome. With the coming of DNA research and the ability to change gene expressions, it is now possible that scientists may be able to change human capacities for more desirable or evolutionary fit (smarter, athletic, or attractive) future offspring. There are two possible mechanisms of genetic engineering: through the somatic or germ line cells. Engineering through somatic cells is non-inheritable while germline engineering is heritable.
One of the hypothetical implications of genetic engineering is designed to alleviate the symptoms of a genetic disease. In this case, single cells are removed from an embryo using the same process as used in invitro fertilization, and then examined to determine which cells are carriers of the genetic disorder and which are not. Tay-Sachs, Downs Syndrome, Sickle Cell Anemia, Huntington’s Disease and Cystic Fibrosis are all examples of disorders which can be tested for in this manner.
Another legitimate reason to utilize this procedure is to reduce the risk of a sex-linked genetic disease. Color-blindness, hemophilia, and fragile X syndrome can all be due to mutations on the X chromosome. Therefore, males, hemizygous for the X chromosome, are much more likely to suffer from these disorders. Selecting for a girl by sperm selection under these circumstances, then, greatly reduces the possibility of having a child with either of these genetic diseases. Obviously, both of these fields of human genetic engineering are less controversial, as they can prevent future offspring from inheriting life-altering diseases.
Genetic engineering of the human genome could have several other positive implications as well. First off, it could lead to larger brains so humans could be born smarter. Furthermore, humans could be engineered to enjoy the taste of healthful foods and dislike the tastes of unhealthy foods. This could relieve society of the current obesity epidemic. Humans
could also be engineered to produce their own antioxidants, vitamins, and other healthful chemicals.
Humans could be engineered to live longer, making for more productive and meaningful lives. Also, through the alteration of genetically influenced behaviors, humans could be born with more peaceful tendencies. Finally, genetic engineering has the potential for mankind to enhance our senses. With proper genetic engineering, baby humans could have more sensitive eyes, enhanced hearing, an expanded range of perception of wavelengths of light, and more. At last, people could be engineered so to require less sleep, thus adding several more productive hours to their day.
On the flip side of the story, there are many ways in which this new technology in genetically altering the human genome can be abused. Genetic engineering could potentially allow parents to select and “fix” several features of the fetus. For instance, parents of the future may be able to decide the sex of their baby. Further, they may be able to make their child more athletic, intelligent, and beautiful, and further have an influence on the baby’s personality. Genetically altering a baby for these reasons has its obvious arguments. First, is altering a baby for these reasons absolutely necessary? Yes, a couple could give birth to a beautiful tri-athlete child with a 4.0 GPA. However, diversity is what makes life interesting. Furthermore, everyone ends up with their own strengths and weaknesses. Thus, just because some child is not a star athlete does not mean that he or she is a failure. They will contribute to society in their own distinct way as their discrete interests guide them. Quite frankly, a world with “perfect” children sounds quite banal as individuals will clearly lose their identity.
Gene altercation could likely result in unanticipated outcomes and dangerous surprises as well. For instance, most genes are found to have multiple effects, sometimes in different tissues. As an example, engineering a gene for enhancement of a trait may unintentionally cause increased susceptibility to something else, like a drug addiction. Also, by possessing “perfect genes”, genetically altered humans will dominate, and be reproduced in large numbers. This would then reduce the pool of available genes on the planet and call for a less diverse world. Ultimately, with “super humans” running around, the implications of natural selection would be severely downplayed.
Another aspect concerning genetic altercation of humans is the fact that we would have to determine when one has “crossed the line”. In other words, at what point would one be considered having “carried away” with the process? Also, what would society do with the people who were born before the practice of eugenics? Would they be treated differently? And if genetic engineering became the way of the future, would people whose parents could not afford to genetically modify them have a chance of achieving high standards compared to the people who were modified to be perfect?
Could this create another species of human? And if so, would the “normal” humans be able to mate with the “super” humans? And finally, would a world with “super” humans only exasperate class divisions? Obviously, society has a lot to sort out before “super” humans can be ethically created or even experimented with. The fact that there are so many questions points out that we are presently nowhere near the level of wisdom and understanding required to justify experimenting with the genetic code of our future offspring.
There are also some counterarguments to some of the above cons of genetic engineering. Humans may be able to make their brains larger as large neural networks account for smarter individuals. However, too large of brains could create massive complications for birth. Further, by increasing the lifespan of a human, the population could potentially skyrocket.
Back in the days of the Bible, no one would have pondered at the fact that we would be powerful enough one day to “play God” and mess with what He has given us. Indeed, technology has taken human beings a long way in the past decades. However, it has also given us more of a chance to mess with Mother Nature, which is something we may very likely regret in the near future if we chose to alter the human genome for a “super” human race.







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