David Bozarth

Philosophy 302

Sonoma State University

6 July 2004

Abstract: Genetic Engineering and Ethics

 

Biology

 

The genetic code is basically 4 ‘letters’, and a sequence of 3 DNA ‘letters’ translates to a specific protein ‘building block’ (amino acid). Genetic sequence information is transcribed from DNA to RNA inside the cell, then translated from RNA to protein. Protein directly affects the structure and function of the organism.

 

Viruses contain DNA. They specialize in depositing their DNA into host cells. Humans can take modified DNA, put it in some viruses, and send the viruses to a group of target cells to deliver the modified DNA. This is called using the virus as a vector.

 

Research, Applications, Ethics

 

The responsibilities, objectives, and relationships among research and medical professionals, research institutions, and industrial concerns can create conflicts of interest.

 

Applications of genetic engineering include protein engineering, transgenics, gene therapy, and various biomedical applications. Protein engineering is a well-established industry that supplies important health care compounds like insulin and interferon. Attempts are underway to develop new, safe and effective vaccines using genetic design and production methods.

 

Transgenics may be thought of as high-tech selective breeding of plant and animal stocks that holds great potential for business profits in the enhancement of health and life-quality for humans. Transgenics also poses substantial risks and ethical concerns.

 

Gene therapy aims to provide new, effective medical treatments for genetically-based disorders. A class of treatments (somatic monogenic) which is thought to be relatively safe and hold relatively good promise of success, has been underfunded and underdeveloped relative to another class of treatments (somatic multifactorial) which target - with relatively less promise - prevalent, high-profile diseases like cancer. Gene therapy has been successful in treating cystic fibrosis patients, and the list of diseases and disorders known to be candidates for gene-therapeutic methods is impressive.

 

As is the case with transgenics, there are sobering risks and potential for unintended consequences associated with gene therapy.  Random genetic mutations and spontaneous recombinations occur on a regular basis in nature, but these processes could initiate poorly-understood and difficult-to-predict changes in the physiology and gene profile of a sub-population of genetically-modified organisms. This kind of phenomenon is capable of producing ecological shifts in the population’s habitat – even radical shifts, which could in turn propagate to the ecosystem and species levels of organization. (One “nightmare” scenario is the unintended generation of a “super-competitor” strain that would irrevocably alter ecosystem relations, even to the extinction of one or more species.)

 

Germ-line modification is at once a taboo and a “Holy Grail” of genetic engineering, due to the profound implications (doing much good and risking great harm) of modifying the hereditary characteristics of an entire population in all succeeding generations – rather than the genes of only selected individuals in a single generation, as is the case with the more conservative somatic-cell techniques, which do not modify the DNA of reproductive cells.

 

Two bioethical concepts related to gene therapy are basic agency (“normal” life quality) and secondary enhancement. What issues might arise in a society where genetic disorders were safely and routinely cured? What if a catalog of enhancement treatments were available – even encouraged – on a mass scale?

 

Two bioethical concepts relevant to all of genetic engineering are duty to future generations and duty to the environment.