Playing God?Part One: The Ethics of Genetic Manipulation
2/24/2009 Lawrence M. Hinman 1
Phil. 321:Social Ethics
Spring 2009
Lawrence M. HinmanCo-Director,
Center for Ethics in Science & TechnologyProfessor of PhilosophyUniversity of San Diego
Overview
• The Current State of Affairs• Points of Intervention• The Arguments for Genetic Manipulation• The Arguments against Genetic
Manipulation• Case Studies
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 2
The Human Genome Project
2/24/2009 Lawrence M. Hinman 3
The completion of the Human Genome Project provides a scientific foundation for genetic manipulation. For the first time, scientists had a map of (most of the) human genome.
http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/HGP/
Points of Intervention
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 4
Points of Intervention
Action Example Active killing?
Consent?Parent/child
Active exterminationof a population
Nazi extermination of Jews,Gypsies, homosexuals, mentally and physically disabled
Yes No/DNA
Infanticide after birth Killing female first born in China Yes Yes/No
Abortion Killing embryo in utero after genetic testing
Yes Yes/No
Forced Sterilization Involuntary sterilization of poor women
No No/DNA
IVF embryo selection (PGD)
Only implanting selected embryos No Yes/No
In vitro genetic manipulation
Correcting “abnormalities” through in utero intervention
No Yes/No
Genetic manipulation
Gene therapy & stem cell therapy in children and adults
No Yes/Maybe
Arguments in support of genetic manipulation
Libertarian: It is a matter of individual
liberty to decide what genetic enhancements one wants.
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 5
Utilitarian: • produces overall a better group of
people (eugenics)
Arguments Against Genetic Manipulation
The Safety Argument • Too risky at this time—we simply don’t know enough to do this safelyThe Slippery Slope Argument • Leads to possible abuses, especially eugenicsThe Respect for Autonomy Argument• Violates child’s autonomy by choosing a future for him/her, sometimes using
the child as a mere meansThe Hubris Argument• Playing God—takes on privileged more appropriate for God than human
beings• The “giftedness” argument (Sandel)The Natural Law Argument• Genetic manipulation involves going against the natural
order, violating natural law.
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 6
The Safety Argument
There is much that we do not understand about human genes. Altering genes may result in changes that we do not expect.
Germline Engineering:• If these changes can be passed down to future generations, there is a possibility of
catastrophic results.We may create pressure for people to use these techniques.
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 7
The Slippery Slope to Eugenics:Some History: Galton
In the late 19th and early 20th century, a number of groups—most notably later in the twentieth century, the Nazis—tried to control the development of the human race through organized breeding programs: eugenics.
Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) read his paper “Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope and Aims” to a meeting of the Sociological Society at the London School of Economics on May 16th, 1904,
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 8
Eugenics and G. B. Shaw
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 9
Eugenics gained favor with many, including George Bernard Shaw, the famous English playwright.
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was an English philosopher who developed the notion of “survival of the fittest” as a doctrine describing human evolution.
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 10
Eugenics and Birth Control
The rise of the birth control movement, championed by Margaret Sanger, derived primarily from a desire to free women from unwanted pregnancies. In itself, it was not primarily a eugenics movement.
However, the birth control movement became intertwined with the eugenics movement, sharing both advocates and critics.
G. K. Chesterton
G. K Chesterton (1874-1936) was one of the most outspoken critics of the eugenics movement in Great Britain.
Eugenics in California
The Nazis looked to the California eugenics programs as a model.
The Respect for Autonomy Argument
Genetic manipulation, performed either in utero or during childhood, would seem to threaten the right to make one’s own choices.
The President’s Council on Bioethics has focused on issues of human dignity and respect for autonomy.
2/24/2009 Lawrence M. Hinman 14
The Hubris Argument:Playing God?
Some critics maintain that altering genes is “playing God.”
This version of the argument is not primarily consequentialist but rather either deontological or character-based.
Michael Sandel, for example, argues that we should accepted the “gifted” character of existence and not try to control everything. The attempt at such control is an example of overreaching the bounds of the properly human.
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 15
Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor
of Government at Harvard University,
The Natural Law Argument
Genetic manipulation strikes many people as profoundly unnatural, against the natural order and (sometimes) against God’s order.
Is this merely a subjective feeling, shared by some but not all, or does it have some stronger foundation?
This argument seems in danger of proving either too much or too little;
• Many things which seem unnatural, such as surgery, are commonly accepted today.
• What allows us to single out this particular thing as morally wrong?
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 16
Three Questions about Restrictions
In considering the issue of genetic manipulation, we are faced with three distinct but closely related questions:
• What restrictions, if any, are appropriate in regard to the use of genetic manipulation?
• To whom should these restrictions apply?• Individuals • Professionals
• Who, if anyone, is responsible for enforcing these restrictions?• Individual• Professional organizations• The government
2/23/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 17
What Kind of Restrictions?
What regulation should apply to genetic manipulation? The free market/individual liberty model Individuals should be allowed to do whatever they want as long as
they do not infringe on the liberty of others.The government regulation model• Genetic manipulation should not be permitted unless explicitly
approved by the government.• The government should ban all attempts at genetic manipulation.
The professional regulation model Genetic manipulation should be monitored and controlled by
appropriate professional organizations of scientists, physicians, and others.
2/23/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 18
Choosing Between Life Paths
Genetic manipulation is very different from abortion:• Abortion is a matter of life or death, of deciding
whether a fetus lives or dies.• Genetic manipulation is a matter of deciding which
life an individual may have by altering the individual’s genes; It is a matter of which future the fetus is going to have.
• Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is in between these two, allowing the choice of which embryo should be implanted.
2/23/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 19
Scenario #1:Designer Babies
Imagine that it is possible to decide height, skin color, hair color, eye color, sex and other physical characteristics of a newly-conceived child.
Should parents be allowed to change these characteristics if they choose?
Will this lead to designer babies? To uniformity? Will this deplete the gene pool?
2/23/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 20
Scenario #2:Sexual Orientation
Imagine that:• Scientists have isolated the genes that predispose sexual
orientation;• You are going to have a child;• Tests have determined that your child will probably be gay.Your doctor asks you: would you like us to alter the genes
that predispose toward sexual orientation so that the child will not be gay?
Further assume that you “have nothing against gays,” but know that overall a gay person will face more discrimination and suffering—all other things being equal—than someone who is heterosexual.
What should you do?
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 21
Scenario #3:Sexual Orientation
Imagine scenario #2 with the following changes:• Doctors have determined that your child will have a
heterosexual orientation;• You are gay.If the doctor offered to alter the genes so that your child
would be gay as well, what should you do?
2/23/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 22
Scenario #4:Achondroplasia
You are pregnant, and a routine test reveals that your child has a particular gene that results in achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. The doctor asks you whether you want to have the gene altered so that the child’s height is “normal.”
What should you do?
2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 23
Scenario #5:Achondroplasia
Imagine the scenario is similar to that given in #4, except that you and your spouse are both dwarfs and the doctor tells you, after a routine test, that your baby will be “normal” height.
A friend, aware that it may be difficult if both parents are dwarfs and the child is not, suggests that you ask that the child’s genes be altered so that the child too will be a dwarf.
What should you do?2/24/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 24
Scenario #6:A Savior Baby
“A boy has been born to a British couple who want to use stem cells from his umbilical cord to treat an older brother with a life threatening blood disorder.
Michelle and Jayson Whitaker's baby, Jamie, was genetically selected while he was still an embryo to be a near perfect match to four-year-old Charlie.
The couple went to an American clinic for test tube baby treatment because the selection procedure is not allowed in the UK.”
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/issues/designer_babies/
Also see Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s KeeperKazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
2/23/2009 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 25
Top Related