What´s Genetic Engineering Ethical?

Genetic Engineering is the deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2014). This was first tested on crops, but scientists have now fathomed the idea of genetically modifying embryos to make the “perfect child.” Thus known as a “designer baby.” This new gene tampering experimentation has raised many questions. The most important being, “is predetermining your child’s genetic makeup unethical?” I believe ethics plays a vital part when deciding how far is too far with genetic engineering. I do not believe it is unethical to use these technologies in certain cases, such as altering cells and DNA to reduce genetic diseases. Relying too heavily on the use of genetic
From a religious point of view, the main argument that the diverse and large community of Christians brought up was, “the misuse of designer babies would take away the natural God given creation of a child, and it would no longer look as it did when God created it, it would be man made.” According to the Christian viewpoint, “what makes humans special is that we can limit ourselves, to recognize that something may be perfectly understandable and yet be wrong.” (Mckibben, 2003). Bill McKibben writes in his article “Design-a-kid”, that, “The choices we face, in fact, will settle this question on specialness once and for all. If we cannot summon our ability to use self-restraint, or if it proves to be weak, we will leave our specialness behind forever.” What he is saying here is that our nation prides itself on our ability to be so interestingly diverse to one another. Black, white, tan, yellow, tall, short, fat, skinny, the range of different attributes is endless. Genetic tampering could take away that diverse quality, that “specialness” in each individual. The fear is that if we escape our limits we will ultimately become — nothing (Mckibben, 2003). Creating limitation on this scientific finding will help us contain the amount and extent to which we modify the genes and keep our unique genetic makeup,
But is this idea in our near future? According to the Cornell Journal of Public Law & Policy it is closer than we think. “While the technology that would allow such alteration is still in a relatively infantile state today, its maturity is closer than we might think. In part due to this perceived immediacy, some Americans worry about the implications of such a science fiction-esque state of affairs, and so a number of Congresspersons have sought unsuccessfully to ban prospectively the technology and all associated research.” (Pollard, 2014). Could we soon be picking our children from a catalog? Or will the government try to contain and control it to just altering for “therapeutic” purposes? Meaning, they would only allow genetic alterations to cure diseases before birth. Genetic engineering could be a slippery slope that society begins to depend on instead of using it has a mechanism to end disease or find cures. The advances we’ve made in medical research are scary and exciting, as Doctor Allan Cooperman said. Genetic engineering could save lives, further our exploration in science, and help reduce the amount of patients in hospitals. If society uses genetic engineering specifically for medical purposes it not only has the potential to alter the medical field completely, but also to cure many birth disorders. However, the government must limit the use of genetic engineering to “therapeutic” purposes only to keep society from