On the Morality of Genetic Engineering
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Science and innovation continue to force us into facing big, tough questions – so buckle up. Today, we're looking at some ethical concerns associated with recent advances in three main areas of genetic engineering: plants, animals, and humans.
🌽 Plants: One of the most prominent applications of genetic engineering is in agriculture – specifically, genetically modified (GMO) crops.
- GMO crops are created when scientists and farmers manipulate the genetic material of plants for a specific purpose, like increased resistance to disease or environmental stressors, or increased yield. Scientists worldwide have found no evidence they cause adverse health effects, per Harvard.
- But GMOs aren't without their share of critics. Those opposed paint a picture of an almost oligarchical control over patents by just a few corporations and the potential threats to small-scale farmers.
🐷 Animals: Scientists' work here mostly focuses on adapting pig organs for humans, as they're anatomically similar to us, and the risk of cross-species disease is low.
- Earlier this month, doctors carried out the first pig-to-human heart transplant using a genetically modified pig to decrease the likelihood of organ rejection. The 57-year-old man is still alive-and-well two weeks later.
- Yes, but: Not everyone is all aboard the transplant train. PETA condemned the recent pig heart transplant as "unethical, dangerous, and a tremendous waste of resources," while UK-based Animal Aid said it opposes animal-to-human transplants or modifying animal genes "in any circumstances."
👶 Humans: The invention of the gene-editing tool CRISPR, which is cheap and easy to deploy, has turned the possibility of "designer babies" into a reality.
- In November 2018, a Chinese scientist created the first genetically-edited human babies, altering their genomes in an attempt to resist possible future infection with HIV.
- Following international outcry, Chinese authorities sentenced the scientist to three years in prison for "illegal medical practices."
- The incident prompted calls for a global ban on all related experiments, though some scientists predicted it could help accelerate public adoption of human gene editing.
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