The ethical implications of genetic engineering

Introduction

We humans have always wanted to be on top of our game since the beginning of time. We like being in control of ourselves, our communities and even our environment. If we find a way to manipulate something in order to improve our quality of life and the way the world around us affects us, we take it. With all this though, there is much to consider when it comes to the ethics of these manipulations. We need to look at how these changes we make would positively and negatively impact not only ourselves but our communities, the environment and everything in it as a whole.

This is no different when it comes to genetic editing. With the discovery and construction of groundbreaking technologies for genetic editing we need to start asking ourselves these very important questions as they may be the cause of us avoiding many series of unfortunate events from occurring in the future.

Our knowledge on genetics and our ability to now alter it has come a long way. It was around the year 2010 that Emmanuel Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna introduced to us a new technology that would now be our major breakthrough in genetic editing. We are now able to edit the genes of many species including plants, animals and even humans. The manipulation of genes is something quite new to us. Before, if there were any genetic mutations that affected a patient’s health, all we could do was try to give them medication and therapy to help make the effects of these mutations more tolerable. Something that affected someone on a genetic level was not something we could control and would inevitably affect their lives and quite likely their offsprings.

Bioethics is a term used to describe the focus of the moral, social and philosophical considerations that surround genetic engineering. As we head into a future in which genetic editing and manipulation has become a possibility and a huge step forward for humanity as a whole, ethical issues will arise and have already risen. There will be things that because we can scientifically do them does not necessarily mean that it is ethical. There will be people that will misuse their power and there will be circumstances in which we could not have predicted. Many inequalities will be faced in terms of who and why a person will get access to genetic editing. Who has the right to make all these decisions on what we can and cannot edit in our DNA, and should these decisions be readily given to the public.

These are all questions I will be discussing in this article to further help us understand how this relatively new technology will affect our lives and the totality of society.

History

In the 1970s the 1st recombination of DNA was done. A possibility due to all the knowledge we had then acquired on DNA structure. By the 1980s scientists were able to create the 1st transgenic mice, which was when a part of their genes had been replaced with a foreign one, and the 1st knockout mice’s genes had been removed (Rothschild, 2020). When the human genome project was completed in 2003, scientists were now able to pinpoint any human gene that they wanted. In 2012 Emmanuel Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were able to engineer an organism type thing that could direct and create a very specific target in the DNA or gene and then construct a double-strand break.

What it is/How it is done

Genetic engineering is a wide range of processes that scientists use in order to change or even remove a part of a person, animal or plant’s genetic material or genome. This enables scientists to change the genetic makeup of an organism which could affect its character. Genetic engineering enables us to prevent a genetic disease from ever forming by changing that aspect of their gene whilst they are still a fetus, or help eliminate illnesses from a patient currently suffering from it.

In order to perform genetic editing, one or more cells are taken from a person. Then a section of the DNA is separated from the cell, that section must contain the part of the DNA that is targeted to be changed. This section of DNA is then joint to another completely separate piece of DNA, forming what is now called the chimeric DNA molecule. This chimeric DNA molecule is then made to be sticky at its ends then connected back to the original chromosome and back into the cell (Namusoke, 2024). A couple of medical research relating to genes involving humans and the complete cloning of lab animals has been pretty much perfected in the last couple of years.

Benefits

Genetic engineering and editing has a wide range of possible benefits that cannot be overlooked. With the new technologies at hand, we could completely abolish genetic diseases by removing the part of the mutated gene in the patient with the genetic disease. That way it will not even be passed to their offspring. We could change up or improve parts of the human genome so that we could be less susceptible and more resistant to certain diseases. Characteristics already in a person such as their intelligence, physical appearances or even our mental capabilities could be greatly enhanced.

Challenges

Changing up our genetics and DNA could come with a couple of unforeseen consequences and challenges.

In the process of trying to change a certain genetic trait, we might end up changing other unintended traits, those traits may even be positive traits that are not advised to be changed. Alongside that, with all the mixing and matching of different genes we could possibly create some other unknown genetic diseases that could be pretty hard to deal with or treat. On top of the other possible challenges, there is the fact that not all the changes and their variations are completely equal all the time. This means that if a gene for a certain disease is altered in patient A and B, both of them might have a few different effects and reactions to the change. Their bodies might react differently, the placement of other genetic codes are different for the both of them so it cannot all yield the same exact reaction for everyone that has the gene altered. Another concern is to do with off-target effects and mosaicism. Off-target effects are to do with the edits accidentally happening at the wrong location, and what that could possibly mean for the patient’s and what effects they’ll have due to that. Mosaicism is when some cells carry the edits whilst others do not, this is because a person has 2 or more different sets of cells in their body, meaning the edits done on 1 set of cells won’t affect the other sets.

Related: The benefits of space medicine

Discussing the ethics

Since genetic manipulation has become possible, it has given rise to a series of ethical concerns that mustn’t be overlooked. Below are just a few of those.

Editing the human genome would disturb the natural ways in which humans are made and develop, it may also very much disrupt our diversity.
There will be questions about who gets the right to make the decisions on who gets their genes edited and whether individuals themselves have the right to make such decisions and to what extent.
In the future, it may cause an unintended divide between the human race. People may feel themselves better or less than the ones that have gotten a certain trait engineered and vice versa.
There will be concerns about fairness and equity. We would need to ensure that everyone from everywhere gets that same access to the same technologies. If that isn’t done there could be a huge societal divide with some people not having the access to technologies that can greatly help ensure them much better health.
The enhancement of certain traits is at the center of many debates. People can see the potential benefits for treating diseases and illnesses but they believe when it comes to the enhancement of traits that are not necessarily an issue it can blur the line between science and our morals. This also ties in with the choices of individuals when it comes to genetic editing and to what extent they have the right over their own autonomy.
With enhancement of genetics also comes the term referred to as “designer babies”. This is when a child, before they are born, gets their genes edited so they may have the parents’ desired traits coded into their genotype and phenotype. Many people have an issue with this because there is the question of who gets to even make the choices of what they’d like their children to look like and what traits they’d like them to have and if that is even ethical or moral. It could cut down a lot on the diversity of the human race. Would this possibly make parents see the children that have not been genetically modified as less than? It could even cause an issue in the child’s life, making them feel less than their genetically modified peers.

Conclusion

Genetic engineering, editing, manipulation, whatever you’d like to call it is a range of wonderful technologies that have advanced the human race greatly. We cannot rebut the many challenges of health that we face today that it can help us eradicate or ease. It will be a great help to the future generations in terms of them having to not worry about the heritable genetic mutations and how it will affect themselves and their offsprings.

This future generation though, is also the reason why we must carefully consider the ethical and moral concerns that genetic engineering comes with. We do not completely understand what happens when we switch up the genes in the human body and how it can possibly be passed and in turn negatively affect the next generations. With all the benefits of genetic engineering, the fair distribution of the technology worldwide so it may help everyone in need, may become an issue and one that we must tackle. Because with issues such as this, it could mean social and political unrest and a divide will be formed in society in times where we should all be celebrating the advancements that have taken us to a point where our health is properly taken care of.

There will always be people who will try to exploit such morally blurred issues to use to their advantage which will only cause more havoc, so we mustn’t shy away from the discussion of ethics and morality in the midst of the celebration of scientific breakthroughs. These discussions at the end of the day are what build, maintain and further develop our societies into a technologically advanced and fair world for everyone. It ensures a constant rise in the quality of health and life for everyone.