Genetic Engineering Should Be Permitted

¶ … Genetic engineering should be permitted in certain cases

Because we can.' This must not be science's credo, at least when dealing with the implications inherent in the technology of genetic engineering. Instead, science must do what it can to help humankind, but only within ethically valid guidelines. Of course, science has yielded many benefits for humanity. It has curtailed or ended the spread of disfiguring and deadly diseases like smallpox, polio, and other ailments. Although the benefits of science can be abused, this does not mean that humanity should do away with innovative technologies such as genetic engineering altogether, as some frightened people have argued. However, there must be controls put upon the use of new technology before it is put to use without reasoned consideration. In the case of genetic engineering, the technology involves changing the most fundamental and vital parts of the human essence, namely the human body's DNA and RNA. Thus, genetic engineering should be used to preserve life, but not for aesthetic modifications, such as adjusting the future infant's height, appearance or gender.

One of the reasons some people have called for the outright ban of genetic modification, even of non-human substances such as foods and animals, is because there is little understanding of how the technology operates. Genetic engineering is the manipulation of genes to produce desired effects. It has already been used in everything from crops, to animals, to human beings, to create more hardy vegetables, cats that will not provoke allergies, and most importantly to heal human diseases. Although, "taking genes from one organism and putting them in another where they work as normal" still sounds like something from a science fiction story, it is actually scientific fact today. ("New Ways of Moving Genes," 2005, The British Pharmaceutical Industry) Through genetic engineering, the gene that the scientist desires to manipulate is inserted into the genetic material of a virus created in a lab. The virus is then used to benignly infect the cells of the ailing organism, where the new gene's DNA is needed to normalize the old genes. "When the viral DNA infects the host cell, the desired gene goes with it and is incorporated into the host DNA. The virus itself is modified so that although it can carry the new gene into the cell, it cannot take over the cells metabolism to make thousands of copies of itself. As the cells then replicate normally, the new gene replicates as well and begins to produce proteins." ("New Ways of Moving Genes," 2005, The British Pharmaceutical Industry) Thus, there are controls to prevent the modified gene monopolizing the cells of the new organism in a harmful way. While the experimental system is hardly foolproof, the technology is used in situations where persons are so afflicted by illness that the benefits outweigh the risks of doing nothing.

One reason for the resistance to any kind of genetic engineering may be the use of the phrase 'virus,' when describing the process, although the way the virus is constructed in the lab is not engineered to be harmful, but helpful to the body. The public associates viruses with the production of diseases. However, as the technology of genetic engineering continues to improve, genetic engineering in the form of somatic therapy could be used to repair damaged or replace missing genes in people who have genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis or severe combined immunodeficiency disorders in ways that do not necessarily use infective agents such as viruses. The genes can be incorporated into microscopic fatty droplets called liposomes. (Heaf, 2001) Provided that research on genetic engineering continues, the engineering will become safer, rather than riskier.

Even when viruses are introduced, however, the process is quite often benign. In fact, the "ground swell of support among advocates for genetic engineering has steadily been correlated with the success stories of gene therapy and stem cell research...when a doctor is able to replace defective genes with healthy genes...The case of a four-year girl, Ashi DiSilva, is one which shows us that cutting edge genetic therapy and procedures do work. Ashi in the year 1990 became the first patient to receive gene therapy for a rare disease called Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disorder, (SCID). A debilitating disease caused by genetic mutation which results in the absence of an important enzyme which leaves the carrier of disease severely weakened and incapable of fighting off any infection." (Dinham, 2005) Unwittingly, with the best of intentions, Ashi's loving parents had passed on genes that almost inevitably limited the life of their child.

Although they were afraid of letting their child be used in an experimental fashion, "Ashi's parents already saddled with two children who had become disabled by SCID decided to face the unknown risks of genetic engineering. The results gave this family a new lease on life. Using genetic therapy doctors were able to place a normal gene that does not carry the disease into some of her cells.... [They] took her blood cells, her immune cells, put in the gene that she was missing and gave her corrected immune cells." (Dinham, 2005)

This modification will not merely improve the quality of the girl's life in the short-term, but also her parent's lives, as they will be able to have a child who is functional. Rather than forcing the girl to be a burden upon society through her genetically programmed weakness, the girl can exercise her curiosity and capability, just as any child. The healed girl can also have children without worrying about passing her defective genes onto her offspring. Ashi is the same loving girl, the only difference is that now her immune system is strong, just like a child who takes a vaccine for polio, measles, rubella, mumps, or chicken pox, or any of the other, once highly dangerous ailments that used to plague humankind are now protected against these 'natural' plagues. Her parents noted that they would not have embarked upon such a potentially dangerous venture, had not the girl's illness impeded her life and growth to such an extent.

This process of genetic engineering is being improved upon all of the time. For example, scientists working "to mend nature's mistakes," are currently attempting to "trick" mutated genes into working properly, "potentially treating hemophilia, increasing the body's 'good' cholesterol or providing therapies for genetic diseases." (Rosenwald, 2005, p. EO5) Scientists at labs such as the Intronn Company are working to mend some of the problems with conventional gene therapy, such as when the inserted genes, beneficial in the area of the DNA where they are inserted, can grow in unintended areas of the patient's DNA. "Instead of inserting new genes into the body, Intronn is working on what McGarrity calls 'genetic Wite-Out.' Using its patented molecules, he said, Intronn can splice correct instructions into RNA to repair the genetic defect," allowing scientists to replace the faulty code with a correct code, or allowing the body to heal itself with essentially a new map, rather than by merely replicating an inserted gene, which will be safer than the old method. (Rosenwald, 2005, p. E05)

Replacing a faulty code with a correct code is the key phrase here. The scientists at Intronn are not attempting to make better, stronger human beings. Hemophilia is an age-old genetic disease (both the Russian and English royal families have manifested it within their lineage, and passed it on largely because of the close blood lines within royalty of the time) caused by a genetic defect that prevents the blood from clotting. This innovative technology could potentially enable the human DNA to repair itself within the bodies of the suffering, and the disease of hemophilia to become a distant memory, like smallpox. To heal in such a fashion is no more changing nature than inserting the blood of another person into the veins of a hemophiliac who has lost blood, due to a minor bump or a bruise. By virtue of its very nature, medical science necessitates some mechanisms to repair the body, as well as to do no harm, as is bespoken of in the words of the Hippocratic Oath.

As noted in the scientific journal Genetic News, genetic engineering is also beneficial to society because it is less expensive in the long run than long-term care or pharmaceutical cures for ailments. "It is now estimated that almost $1.2 billion is required to bring a new drug to the market. This number includes all the failures on the way from selecting a target to clinical research...now will see a move toward experiments and technologies that produce more quality data rather than quantity." (Aberg, 2005)

However, the great boons bestowed by this new technology also may come at a price. "If there are some areas of genetic engineering that can safely benefit humanity while respecting other forms of life, then efforts need to be redoubled not only in the area of scientific risk assessment, but also in developing broad ethical guidelines. (Epstein, 2005) The time is now not simply to seek cures to disease, but also set clear, if modifiable guidelines as to how the technology should be used to mitigate the potentially negative consequences to humanity.