Embryo Research and Genetic Engineering Flashcards
What types of human GE are there?
- Somatic Cell
- Germ Line Therapy
- Enhancement Gene Therapy
What’s somatic cell engineering?
making genetic changes to particular cells
how does somatic cell engineering work?
a new altered gene is ‘fired’ or injected into cells where change is required using a ‘retrovirus vector’
give examples of where somatic cell genetic engineering can be useful
- a ‘self destruct’ gene can be attached to cancerous cells; good for hard to access areas like prostate cancer
- can stimulate pancreas to produce insulin
- can stimulate thyroid to produce antibodies
What did the Clothier Committee 1992 report on the ethics of Somatic Cell Genetic Engineering?
‘it poses no new ethical problems’
What does Germ Line Therapy entail?
altering germ (reproductive) cells so the genetic alteration will be passed onto the person’s children, eliminating hereditary diseases like haemophilia
What is risky about GL Therapy in comparison to SCGE?
a mistake in ST won’t extend beyond the patient, but an error in GL therapy may extend into the whole human gene pool with unquantifiable risks
What does Bernard Hoose argue about GL Therapy?
it should be banned until present knowledge has extended further; ban isn’t permanent as it needs to be renewed in light of our increasing knowledge.
IAN BARBOUR supports Hoose in ‘Ethics in an Age of Technology’
what is problematic about GL therapy?
there isn’t any clear agreements on which defects are to be eliminated which could lead to a form of Eugenics e.g. some people see homosexuals as deviants from the norm and therefore defective; must be corrected.
What does Joe Harris say about the dilemma of GL Therapy in ‘Biotechnology - Friend or Foe?’
‘On the one hand we must not make changes to the genetic structure of persons which will adversely affect their descendants. On the other hand we must not fail to remove genetic damage which we could remove, and which, if left In place, will cause harm to future people’
what is Eugenics?
genetically improving the quality of the gene pool as a whole to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics
What term did Gaylin coin about the unforeseen consequences of GE?
‘Frankenstein Factor’
According to Lucassen, what are the three main arguments against genetic engineering?
- We should not interfere with nature
- We should not alter the genetic constitution of organisms
- We should not alter the genetic constitutions of organisms to this extent
What does Lucassen reply to the objection that ‘We should not interfere with nature’
‘it would be unnatural not to interfere with nature’
What assumption do we have to challenge about nature?
there there is a link between what is ‘natural’ and what is ‘acceptable’ or ‘right’
Marquis de Sade’s quote about why nature is NOT linked to goodness
‘Nature averse to crime, I tell you that nature lives and breathes by it, hungers at all her pores for bloodshed, yearns with all her heart for the furtherance of cruelty’
Quote by Lucassen destroying link between nature and rightness
‘As moral agents, there are many natural desires which human beings should not conform to’
Why should nature be respected?
- Eastern religions say its divine
- Nature revered as an organism, as Lovelock proposed w theory of ‘Gaia’
problem of personhood
if one alters the genetic make-up of an individual does this result in destruction of one person and creation of another? is the person changed or is a new person created?
Enhancement Genetic Engineering
the transfer of genetic material intended to modify nonpathological human traits
patenting sections of the human genome case study
Before June 2013 more than 4,300 human genes were patented; but on June 13, 2013, in the case of the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that human genes cannot be patented in the U.S. because DNA is a “product of nature.”