Environmental Science Week 3 Assignment
• Chapter 7:
Discussion Questions
1. Suppose that you were engaged in biotechnology, or genetic engineering; what environmental safeguards would you impose on your own research? Are there experiments that would be ethically off-limits for you? When considering the environmental concerns involved in biotechnology and genetic engineering one can’t help but realize the enormous amount of ways in which the environment can be harmed. It seems that this issue is hard to avoid. However, do we as humans not damage the environment daily, in just about everything we do? Fact is we absolutely do.
Considering this, I think the best safeguards to implement, in my opinion, would be to follow strict and ethical laboratory practices, the implication of any tools or resources which may offer protection or precautions during research, proper management of waste product and the disposal thereof, and “creations” be that of helpful and produced from good intentions to aid society rather than to harm or endanger it.
As far as experiments being ethically off-limits to me, I would have to say it depends on a personal or duty standpoint. I myself believe that the morality of issue will always be held to debate within society. Everyone has an opinion. One area I would struggle with I believe is human cloning. I question our right to play “God”, and what issues can arise from such. Can we really replace a person? To me it takes away from the identity of an individual. Can we consider a clone to be that of a replacement? I fear, to many, this will be the belief. I have always believed that “God” made some women specifically unable to bare children, because they have the hearts big enough to love a child that is not of their DNA, as they would one of. Such people are necessary for the balance in human life. What will children do who are abandoned, lose their parents prematurely, or given up for adoption for other reasons? If we can clone, what is to stop women from wanting a cloned
Discussion Questions
1. Suppose that you were engaged in biotechnology, or genetic engineering; what environmental safeguards would you impose on your own research? Are there experiments that would be ethically off-limits for you? When considering the environmental concerns involved in biotechnology and genetic engineering one can’t help but realize the enormous amount of ways in which the environment can be harmed. It seems that this issue is hard to avoid. However, do we as humans not damage the environment daily, in just about everything we do? Fact is we absolutely do.
Considering this, I think the best safeguards to implement, in my opinion, would be to follow strict and ethical laboratory practices, the implication of any tools or resources which may offer protection or precautions during research, proper management of waste product and the disposal thereof, and “creations” be that of helpful and produced from good intentions to aid society rather than to harm or endanger it.
As far as experiments being ethically off-limits to me, I would have to say it depends on a personal or duty standpoint. I myself believe that the morality of issue will always be held to debate within society. Everyone has an opinion. One area I would struggle with I believe is human cloning. I question our right to play “God”, and what issues can arise from such. Can we really replace a person? To me it takes away from the identity of an individual. Can we consider a clone to be that of a replacement? I fear, to many, this will be the belief. I have always believed that “God” made some women specifically unable to bare children, because they have the hearts big enough to love a child that is not of their DNA, as they would one of. Such people are necessary for the balance in human life. What will children do who are abandoned, lose their parents prematurely, or given up for adoption for other reasons? If we can clone, what is to stop women from wanting a cloned
References: Cunningham, W.P. & Cunningham, M.A. (2008) Principle of environmental science: Inquiry and applications (Custom 5th ed,). New York: McGraw-Hill Robbins, J. (2011, April 11). Can GMOs help feed the hungry? [Web log post]. Retrieved from THE FOOD REVOLUTION, HOW YOUR DIET CAN HELP SAVE YOU AND THE REST OF THE WORLD: www.foodrevolution.org/askjohn/53.htm