“Genetic enhancement has emerged as an ethical issue because it involves the power to redesign ourselves, including the potential to impact the very essence of what it means to be human,” says Marilyn Coors. The way I see it, genetic enhancements are morally wrong when one uses them to enhance certain abilities they have, like athleticism for instance. Enhancing certain things that we aren’t particularly happy about with ourselves changes who we are and who we were really meant to be. There is a big difference between therapeutic and genetic enhancements. It really comes down to necessity or want. Sometimes “want” can lead to a fault in humankind, and in the case of genetic enhancement, “want” has the possibility to lead to harmful consequences.
I would have to agree with Shelby Brown’s concept that when you tamper with what essentially marks us as human, DNA and genetics; you make us more than human. As Shelby say’s everyone has their own set limitations. Having different limitations is part of what makes us human. If we are all become genetically enhanced limitations would be a thing of the past, and that would result in a piece of our humanity being chipped away. That again makes us more than human. Being more than human would make you superhuman, and to most that doesn’t sound like a bad thing at all. But becoming more than human requires genetic enhancements and that comes with many possibly negative consequences.
Focusing on the harmful effects of genetic enhancements is one thing Shelby did not touch on, but it is a crucial factor in why genetic enhancement is unethical.
Genetic enhancing requires changes of naturally occurring genomes and with that comes new inventions of genetic combinations. Since most genes have various functions, the complexities of the Human Genome will make the task of genetic enhancing very difficult (Genetic Enhancement). So difficult that it can turn harmful. Genetic functions are very unpredictable and one enhancement that works for one person may not work for another. That could end up with a negative consequence of a human function that may not have been thought to occur.
According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, genetic enhancements have been tested out on animals such as cattle. In particularly, these animals have been genetically enhanced for muscle growth. After the insertion of transgenes for a muscle growth hormone the cattle did at first show signs of a greater muscle mass, but muscle degeneration soon followed and the cattle died. Cattle’s genetic makeup is fairly similar to humans, although humans are more complex. So if genetic enhancement resulted in the death of the cattle than what does that say about the effect is would have on humans who are more complex? That is a risk I would not be willing to take just so that I could acquire more muscles.
You just never can tell. With our understanding of genetics not being fully complete is a risk in and of itself. So now is genetic enhancements not only morally wrong, but it has also become ethically wrong.
Shelby Brown did a great job of showing how unnecessary and morally wrong genetic enhancement can be in her post, “To be or Not To be…Human?” And some may disagree with our viewpoint along with others, on how being more than human is not natural. Some may say that there is nothing wrong with having no limitations and that genetic enhancement allows everyone to be at their peak performance. But they are missing the big picture here; that is how harmful genetic enhancement could be to them or the fact that in order to keep our humanity there must be must be set limitations. Everyone cannot be equal; that is just how the world works.
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