Human Genetic Modification, Essay Example

In Favor of Genetic Engineering

In the history of human civilization, people were always afraid of everything new and unknown. In the Middle Ages, science was considered to be sorcery, yet it was the medicine that saved people from various diseases like plague and flue. It is very characteristic for the human nature to be afraid of the unknown. That is why when an individual has an opportunity to learn more and value both pros and cons of the unknown matter it becomes known and can be evaluated in terms of long-term impact on human life and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the question of genetic modification of human in terms of its advantages. The central thesis of this paper is that genetic modifications of the human body improve humanity and contribute to its survival.

In order to understand genetic modification in humans and its benefits, it is essential to know the diversity of altering methods. In order to alter one’s future development, genetic alteration of the genome in sperm or egg cell is conducted. This method is called germline gene therapy (Pollack). It is aimed at genetically programming babies according to parents’ preferences. From the genetic perspective, the programmed genetic features will transfer across the next generations. Another method is the change of the bad genes with the good and improved ones. In this regard, the genes that could cause mutation resulting in a certain disease are replaced by healthy genes that can contribute to the development of the positive effects on the human body (Wynne). Thus, the negative consequences of mutations in human cells can be avoided.

The primary advantage of genetic engineering in humans is that it would eliminate diseases from human life. In other words, since most of the contemporary diseases like Hart conditions, cancer and Alzheimer are the result of mutation of a certain gene that is responsible for these diseases, the alteration of these genes or their very elimination would result in the elimination of these diseases (Pollack). In this regard, with the free development of genetic engineering, not only the people having these diseases could be cured, but also the next generations will not need to think about life full of suffering and incurable diseases, because their genomes will not be predisposition to any mutations and illnesses.

Thus, the very experience of one’s life will change entirely, for people could just enjoy the perfection of their health and spend more time on developing other aspects of their lives. In this regard, the absence of illnesses would result in the stimulation of human activity in other spheres of life, like science and creativity and would also improve the overall tempo of civilizational development of humanity. For example, if people did not have to waste their time on illnesses and recovery from them, then they could spend it on their own development and contribute to the development of the humanity in general (Pollack).

Another crucial advantage of the genetic engineering is that parents will be able to program their children and give them the best future possible (“Genetically modified people”). In this regard, human beings could come to the point of perfection, since all recessive genes that carried mutations and anomalies could be eliminated, making the child healthy and combine the best features of both parents (“Genetically modified people”). People would be able to pick not only the gender of their future child, but eyes color, skin and hair types, body complexity and many other features. In other words, parents would be able to create better versions of themselves in their healthy and good-looking children. In this regard, genetic engineering can assist in transferring only the best from both parents:

‘That person and you differ at over 1 million locations in your DNA

 [deoxyribonucleic acid]. Most of these variations don’t do anything. But even if you are a healthy adult, 100 of these can cause deadly childhood disease in your children or grandchildren’ (Wynne).

As a counter-argument, it is often argued that genetic planning of children could result in the reduction of diversity and uniqueness of mankind. On the other hand, the existing diversity of cultures and perceptions of beauty show that people still would remain different in their appearances but would be similar in their healthy genomes and well-being. There is nothing wrong in all people being equally healthy and genetically improved.

Another essential impact of the genetic modification would the extended life of humans. It is expected that with the genetic modifications, people could live more than 100-150 years (“Conceiving the future”). In this regard, the main benefits would not only be in the time that people could spend with their families and relatives, but also in the tremendous changes of social culture and lifespan. Without diseases and other genetic anomalies, having a long life people could enjoy it to a greater extent, and not just work half of their life in order to get benefits after their retirement (Pollack). Having fought illnesses and improving well-being genetic modifications would make one’s life experience more enjoyable and full. People would be able to travel more, perform their daily functions more efficiently and build a stronger and more advanced human civilization than it is now.

From the sociological perspective, human inter-personal relations can be also improved through genetic engineering. In this regard, the recent research in genetic predisposition to violence and anti-social behavior demonstrated that there are certain genes that are responsible for violence and desire to kill (Sadler & Zeidler 15). The discovery of the warrior gene suggests that people that possess it have a greater predisposition to violence than people that do not have it. If the gene is recessive and not stimulated by any external factors, then it will not express itself. On the other hand, if certain external factors like stress or any unpredicted influence trigger it than it can result in deviant and anti-social behavior (Wynne). Another aspect of this research suggests that anti-social behavior can be caused by other genetic mutations and psycho-biological conditions (Sadler & Zeidler 17).

Consequently, the application of genetic engineering would contribute to the elimination of the genes that make people into serial killers and child molesters. Thus, the overall pacification of society can be achieved if one of the elements contributing to deviant and antisocial behavior is eliminated (Sadler & Zeidler 12). On the other hand, it does not give a hundred per cent guarantee that criminal and anti-social activity will cease to exist. However, the elimination of the primary predisposition to violence and decrease of violence in the society would result in normalization of various interpersonal relations which could have resulted in violence, but since parties are genetically less violent they would act differently (Wynne). Thus, genetic engineering has far-reaching results rather than an improvement of a single individual.

Irrespective of all mentioned arguments, they are not suggesting an ideal future of ideal people, genetic engineering is only suggested to eliminate the existing flaws of the human genome and improve them for the better life. It will not be able to destroy the uniqueness of a human being or program creativity into one’s cell. Genetic engineering of any kind cannot overcome the impact of the surrounding environment on the human development and behavior; it can only provide human beings with the better alternatives to start with.

Another advantage of genetic engineering is that it can improve the pharmaceutical industry making various products more effective and personalized in their treatment (Colcher et al. 137).  As it was mentioned above genetic engineering does not resolve all health problems of a human being but only those that have a genetic predisposition. On the other hand, the further development of genetic could contribute to the development of pharmaceutical products that would target the exact part of one body without affecting another (Colcher et al. 137). In other words, based on the results of genetic engineering research, the new drugs could be personified, and the effect of one vaccination could be replicated for another. For instance, nowadays, genetic engineering helps doctors to replicate the effect of vaccinations with almost complete protection for such diseases as smallpox for the diseases against which ordinary vaccinations could not produce effective antibodies, like HIV (Zimmer).  It is stated:

‘I.G.T. [Immunoprophylaxis by Gene Transfer] is altogether different from traditional vaccination. It is instead a form of gene therapy. Scientists isolate the genes that produce powerful antibodies against certain diseases and then synthesize artificial versions. The genes are placed into viruses and injected into human tissue, usually muscle’ (Zimmer).

Thus, genetically induced vaccination already today is explored as means of fighting illnesses that are not conditioned genetically. On the other hand, tomorrow, the outcome might be even more fascinating – the new drugs and vaccinations would be able to create protection and prevention from the sexually-transmitted and lifestyle-related illnesses (Sadler & Zeidler 11). However, the success of this research largely depends on the further advancement of genetic engineering and the study of the human genome, which require their legalization in further investment in the field.

Although it can be argued that with the introduction if genetic engineering into every-day human lives, it would entirely destroy mutation as a driving force of evolution (Sadler & Zeidler 17). In this regard, mutation is perceived as a positive phenomenon in the evolution of the living creatures. On the other hand, this argument does not take into account that under the conditions of the contemporary surrounding environment with increased pollution and radiation, mutation does not contribute to evolution bur rather degradation and deformation of a human being (Pollack). Nowadays, most of the mutations result in the stimulation of the negative and lethal effects for the body in which they occur. Since humanity cannot control the external factors of its surrounding environment, it can at least modify its genes to the healthy condition so that whichever impact the surrounding environment had the potential mutations would result in regress (Wynne).

Overall, from all mentioned above, it can be concluded that irrespective of potential fears and lack of knowledge about genetic engineering in humans, the practice would contribute the improvement of individual well-being and longevity. It would make the life experience more enjoyable and harmonize human society. Through the reduction of pathological genes, people will not have to spend their lives in fighting diseases and expressing violence they do not in fact need in their lives. It can be also argued that just as the invention of Penicillin changed human lives so will genetic engineering. Without accepting the new technologies and scientific discoveries, humanity would be able to come to this point of its evolution. Thus, genetic engineering is another step in human development.

Works Cited

Colcher, D., Goel, A. Beresford, G. Booth, B. and Batra S. “Effects of genetic engineering on the pharmacokinetics of antibodies” The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 43.2(1999): 132-139.

“Conceiving the future” The Economist, 7 Feb. 2008. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <http://www.economist.com/node/10640593>.

“Genetically modified people” The Economist, 14 Mar. 2015. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. <http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21646197-human-beings-ancestors-have-routinely-stolen-genes-other-species-genetically>.

Pollack, A. “A Powerful New Way to Edit DNA” The New York Times, 3 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/health/a-powerful-new-way-to-edit-dna.html>.

Sadler, T. & Zeidler, D. “The morality of socioscientific issues: Construal and resolution of genetic engineering dilemmas” Science education, 88.1 (2004), 4-27. Print.

Wynne, P. “Designing Life: Should Babies Be Genetically Engineered?” Live Science, 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Apr. 2015. <http://www.livescience.com/27206-genetic-engineering-babies-debate.html>.

Zimmer, C. “Protection Without a Vaccine.” The New York Times, 9 Mar. 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/health/protection-without-a-vaccine.html?ref=topics&_r=0>.