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WHY GENETIC ENGINEERING (GE) IS BENEFICIAL FOR THE HUMAN RACE
1. GE in the form of 'gene therapy' (somatic) could be used to repair damaged or replace missing genes in people who have genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis, severe combined immunodeficiency etc. The process need not necessarily use infective agents such as adenoviruses as DNA vectors -- the genes can be incorporated into microscopic fatty droplets called liposomes
2. Gene therapy is being used, as yet experimentally, to treat cancer. Most of the gene therapy clinical protocols are centred on this major class of diseases in the population. The advantage is that the treatment targets only the cancerous cells thus avoiding the 'collateral damage' that is done to other tissues by current radiation or chemical therapies.
3. Recombinant DNA technology can be applied to speed up working out the sequences of all the genes in the human genome. Once these sequences are known together with the mutations which cause or predispose to disease cures can be sought by designing appropriate molecules for use as pharmaceuticals.
4. Recombinant DNA technology can be used in genetic screening or testing, i.e. testing people's genomes for gene sequences which might later give rise to genetic disorders. This can also be done in the unborn, e.g. testing for trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome), gender etc. Any unwanted foetuses could be aborted thus gradually ridding the population of undesirable traits. These tests are becoming less invasive, for instance by testing foetal cells which 'leak' into maternal blood circulation.
Where the knowledge gained by genetic screening becomes a burden for the 'patient', non-directive genetic counselling can be offered.
The information will be kept confidential in accord with the normal practices of medical ethics.
Gene screening can also be carried out on embryos produced for in vitro fertilisation prior to implantation in the mother. This will save implanting embryos with undesired characteristics, e.g. one or other gender.
5. Genes and artificial chromosomes can also be inserted into embryos in a process known as germ-line gene therapy. This could be used to cure genetic disorders, including behavioural disorders such as schizophrenia, or to insert genes which enhance intelligence or athletic performance. The benefits of these genetic changes would be passed on to later generations.
6. Cloning might one day be combined with GM to create babies designed to meet the wishes of the parents. People could clone themselves or even lost loved ones from their DNA.
Sperm and eggs from attractive and intelligent people are already offered for sale, including on the Internet. Cloning would be merely a small extension of this to ensure that the product meets the customer's wishes.
7. 'Therapeutic cloning': If the law gives the go ahead, cloning could almost immediately be used in conjunction with GM to create artificial human cell lines from embryonic tissue (stem cells) that could be used for transplantation (e.g. in Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease), for the production of pharmaceutical proteins etc and for medical research.
Experiments in animals show that future therapeutic cloning of human tissues for implantation could take place without involving an embryo stage. This would remove a major ethical objection to human cloning.
8. Genetic disorder support- and pressure-groups, often set up by parents with affected children, know from first hand experience the extent of the suffering which both patient and family often undergo. They know best how urgently the new GE technologies are required by the patients they represent.
9. Recombinant DNA techniques can be used for 'DNA fingerprinting'. This forensic technique allows the precise identification from samples of hair, blood, semen or skin of individuals who were present at the scene of a crime.
10. Gene screening will enable insurance companies accurately to assess risks and therefore set premiums; employers to determine precisely the suitability of a person to work in a particular job, e.g. excluding people with genetic susceptibility to hazardous chemicals.
11. GE and cloning could be so successful in the future that old age, illness and death will be historical curiosities.
WHY GENETIC ENGINEERING IS HARMFUL TO THE HUMAN RACE
1. Genetic disorders represent a tiny fraction of the total burden of ill health. A disproportionate amount of available research funding is being spent on gene therapy protocols yet despite many years of research, none have so far succeeded. Pathogenic 'attenuated' vectors such as adenoviruses are used to shuttle genes into patients. One death has already resulted from their use. There is a serious risk that the viruses will recombine with 'wild type' versions in the body and kill the already weakened patient.
Gene therapy research is especially vulnerable to abuse because it is mostly backed by venture capital. Researchers who are also investors may be tempted to oversell the promise of experiments on patients and keep "adverse events" quiet lest they depress stock prices.
2. Cancer is facilitated by environmental factors such as carcinogenic chemicals in air, food and water; radiation (ionising and non-ionising) and lifestyles. Tackling these epigenetic factors will do more to reduce cancer than all the technical fixes of gene therapy.
In cancer, the tumour is merely a symptom of the underlying diseased state. Whilst removing it or halting its growth is undoubtedly a life saver, more effort is needed to look at underlying causes.
3. Human genomics is a continuation of mechanistic medicine to its logical conclusion. It naively conceives the human being as a set of genetic instructions controlling all bodily functions and even the form of the body. Genomics goes with the increasing objectification of patients by the medical profession. The whole human being is really a healthy interrelation of body, soul and spirit (self). Any medical system which fails to take account of this will be confined to treating symptoms rather than treating the whole person. The whole person includes their biography and the particular illness is part of that biography rather than just a property of the genes.
4. There is no effective therapy for most of the genetic disorders, so it is unethical to offer the tests to patients. Furthermore, when samples are obtained from the unborn for these tests the invasiveness of the procedures can be damaging to both mother and foetus. Combining these techniques with abortion is eugenics by the back door. The effect is to steer the genetic make up of society according to the desires of the rich and powerful.
Genetic disorders are as much a social construct as a difference in genes. We are all disabled in some respect either cognitively, socially or physically. Were society to change its attitude to one of accepting all people as essential parts of what goes to make up humanity, not only would life for people with alleged genetic disorders greatly improve, but also the perception of 'disorder' would melt away.
Because Down's syndrome births are preventable the stigmatisation of people who for various reasons have Down's babies is greatly intensified. Whereas, the reality is that Down's children are usually happy and not only bring a ray of sunlight into families but also offer opportunities for family members to develop capacities which they might not otherwise have developed.
Non-directive genetic counselling, whether it be professional or non-professional, is an idea which is not attainable in practice.
Genetic selection of the unborn is already beginning to lead to imbalance of the male/female ratio in parts of India and China.
Genetic testing can usually only give a statistical probability, and then only with varying degrees of accuracy, of developing a disorder. It has very limited predictive basis for the individual actually being tested.
Genetic testing could one day be used to undermine the right of couples to reproduce.
Some groups have recommended changes to the law to allow people access to genetic information from people to whom they are closely genetically related. This will override medical confidentiality.
5. This is eugenics: the conscious engineering of the genetic inheritance in the human population. The danger is that any errors incorporated in this way would be passed on to further generations. There is currently no legal way of preventing such passing on. Experimentation on germ line gene therapy would involve the creation and destruction of thousands of human embryos (human beings).
Such things as intelligence and athletic performance are in any case very complex interactions of epigenetic factors such as upbringing, nutrition, education, experience and healthy living as well as genetic factors involving the networking of hundreds of genes. There are no simple causal connections between genes and behaviour.
6. Creating so called 'designer babies' would be pandering to the unbridled vanity and selfishness of the parents. The individuality coming into the world would be an instrument of the parents' desires. It is not unlikely that children will sue their parents for wrongful genetic selection.
Cloning oneself would be egoism made manifest. Furthermore, recreating exact physical copies is not a guarantee that the same individuality will be recreated. Different individualities shape the form and function of their physical bodies according to their needs, inclinations and desires, such that in the course of time these bodies even grow to look different.
Cloning applied to humans would be one further step in the commodification of human beings which is already happening with human tissues and organs.
Clones are already proving to be old before their time and animal experiments show that it is highly wasteful of eggs and embryos. Hundreds are needed for one successful clone (277 in the case of Dolly the sheep).
7. Foetal (stem) cells created in this way are totipotent, i.e. they could, in principle, develop into whole human beings. It is immoral to bring potential human beings into the world as instruments for the medical treatment of others. They would be slaves in the truest sense. Already, thousands of human beings 'waiting fully to manifest' are stored as deep frozen embryos all over the world. In the UK in 1998 thousands had to be destroyed
8. The combined availability of genetic screening followed by abortion on demand, gene therapy (germ line and somatic) and cloning threatens to make people with genetic disabilities into more of an underclass than they already are even in wealthy societies.
9. DNA fingerprinting is merely one tool in the forensic scientists tool-kit and like other forensic techniques is open to error, misinterpretation and deliberate falsification of the evidence. Because of its power there is a tendency to put excessive reliance on it and this can lead to wrongful convictions. It should therefore be used in conjunction with other means of corroborating the evidence.
10. Gene screening will create an insurance and employment underclass. It will be used to give 'scientific' justification to social discrimination' A proper social concept of insurance is to spread risk evenly across members of a society. Modern premium loadings or refusals of insurance are undermining this. Adverse insuring, i.e. by people who know they carry a risk, can be accommodated in levels of compensation on the basis of risks and needs in the population as a whole.
11. Life is a cyclic process which is consantly unfolding. Death, decay and renewal are essential parts of it. Human GE and cloning seek to short circuit the process and fix human beings as they were at a particular point in time. GE is thus backward-looking, or past-orientated. Ageing, illness and death are parts of human biography. Seeking to eliminate them denies human evolution and what the future will bring.
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