Moral & ethical issues associated with recombinant DNA

[Guest chia]

Gene techonology is an amazing part of biology, but are humans going against what God had originally intended?

what are the long (or short) term effects of using gene technology?

Is it morally right? are we playing the role of God? What ethical issues could arise? is it fair?

 

speak your mind!

[YT2095]

well that`s assuming there is a God and we KNOW what his/her intentions are!?

 

but on the supposition that there IS, and that he/she was the "Creator", then why not? he gave us the brains to conceive such a concept

[Guest chia]

yes, good point. If we have the ability to carry out something, does it make it right to do so? We have the brains, and abilities to destroy, given by "God" but does that make it ok to do? Is gene technology what we have been doing all these years, without knowing, like selcetive breeding? is this just a new way about it?

[YT2095]

well were`nt we also given "free will"?

ya see almost everything can be perverted or twisted to do bad things with, use a ridiculous example a Banana, I can eat it and enjoy it, I can give it to someone who`s hungry, or I can put it on the floor and wait for someone to slip on it a break a bone or 2, I could ram it down someones throat and choke them to death. All Free Will

[Guest chia]

yes, but we know that shoving a banana down someone's throat is going to results in harm. Do we know the long (or short) terms effect of playing with recombinant DNA, altering genes? If we don't know the effects, how can we judge if they are going to be good (giving a hungry person a banana) or bad (shoving it down someone's throat). So i guess what i am trying to say is: If we don't know the whether the effects will be good or bad, should we be doing it? is it fair for us to be doing it?

[YT2095]

yes, I think it is, that`s how we learn

and there`s no such thing as a failed experiment, only more data!

these don`t have to be done in situations where it may cause harm for us to learn from the data. the zealots that will go ahead and try such things where it MAY do harm are the banana chokers.

[daisy]

people have been mucking around with genes for a very long time....what do you think plant breeders do by grafting etc. to produce new varieties of fruits? I'm an atheist so God doesn't enter into it for me. And in my book, if someone can deliver an effective gene therapy to reduce the suffering caused by diseases such as cystic fibrosis etc. then more power to their elbow! But only if it works and doesn't create another problem......

[Sayonara]

Good point, you might as well ask what right we had to turn the cow ancestor from a forest-dwelling browser-forager into the grass-munching milk sack it is now.

[Skye]

Most recombinations are a means of figuring out what stuff does anyway, not the end product. Where they are a product we have a much greater understanding of what's going on than in other methods.

[Guest chia]

daisy said in post # :

But only if it works and doesn't create another problem......

 

How do we know if it is going to cause a problem? If we don't know that it is...and we can never be sure that it won't.....is it moral to "play" with it now, and screw up the future of our eco system..

[YT2095]

when using "sellective" or biased words such as "playing with" it hardly becomes a fair argument. it`s not a question of "Playing" with any technology, it`s more an atampt to gleen experimental data and restults from different trials.

please don`t exchange the word "expermentation" with "playing", it`s hardly accurate and the very least biased

[flexbusterman]

this is a topic that can't really be answered...i mean the 1st post askd if it was right or wrong...obviously everyone will have their own opinion...i give this a giant :lame:

[Sayonara]

...And in an ironic twist your post becomes the lamest in the thread in terms of input. Except maybe this one.

[flexbusterman]

hast du eine Vogel? :lame:

[blike]

Stay on topic.

[Sayonara]

flexbusterman said in post # :

hast du eine Vogel? :lame:

Nein - ich habe eine ziege, wie Sie.

[Sayonara]

chia said in post # :

How do we know if it is going to cause a problem? If we don't know that it is...and we can never be sure that it won't.....is it moral to "play" with it now, and screw up the future of our eco system..

It's unlikely we'll ever produce enough clones to damage our ecosystem, given that they will require more resources to produce than does simple child-birth, and given that human cloning is never going to be an unregulated activity.

 

Also, there's no difference between overcrowding the planet with clones and overcrowding the planet with naturally birthed people in terms of the damage that will be done, so it's a warning against population increase per se rather than a warning against cloning.

[NewType]

Anyone read the book Brave New World by Aldred Huxley? I think the world will end up like that if we are not careful.

[Sayonara]

*Aldous

 

Some of it is quite likely, a lot of it isn't.

 

I hope one of the bits that actually comes about is atomic bumblepuppy. I want to play that game

[NewType]

LoL