Referat The ethics

There is an immense difference between cloning and genetic engineering. When something or perhaps someone is cloned not a single one of the

bases of the DANN is changed. So we can get an image of something, which looks like the other. But when we speak about genetic engineering we mean

that the DAN is altered and the product is completely different to the thing we had first.

Genetically engineering hasn't only negative sides. There are also some necessary points for the future.

Production of pharmaceuticals

As farm animals with improved production

As models of human genetic disorders to develop human gene therapy

To change the character of animals organs to try to make them suitable for transplanting into humans

Genetically engineered animals could be used for medical research. For example to improve the situation of haemophiliacs. They need blood clotting proteins so that they can survive when they are hurt. These proteins could

be produced in the milk of genetic altered sheep.

Sheep have also been genetically engineered to secret substances which can be used in the treatment of cancer or cystic fibrosis. Cloned animals could have organs which are similar to human organs. In this way scientists would be able to study genetic diseases for which there is no cure until now. Another possibility is, that these organs could be used for heart, kidney or liver transplants. But they are imperfect substitutes. Also new therapies could be tested before they are used on human beings. The majority of animals which are tested are mice.

The desire to increase the food production is another reason why scientists think, that genetic engineering is a good way to feed the world population, which is going to become more and more. The animals with the best meat or milk production could be cloned, so that there would be a herd of super animals. But the meat of these cows and pigs hasn't such a quality as the

meat of normal animals. Also the side effects aren't investigated exactly. So many pigs have to suffer a number of unpredicted side-effects, for example lameness or arthritis.

Ethic doubts

The ethics of using animals as a source of organs for human transplants is currently a very debatable topic. The crucial issue is whether the animal suffer and it isn't clarified whether the problems are any worse of animal which is born to develop a disease as a result of genetic engineering.

Few people would quarrel with doing something to halt the relentlessly growing death-rate from breast cancer of woman. It would be possible to pinpoint women at risk so that we might be able to target them better and treat them preventively. But even so, the ethical issues won't go away.

But this much is certain: Products of genetic engineering have to be assessed for safety before they can be used. But also these safety testing regulations involve tests on animals which can cause them pain and

suffering.

The desire of perfect human beings

Some of our talent may well be genetically transmitted as well as some of our defects. So we could have many clones of the best sportsmen or the most beautifully women. Or dead people could be brought to life using cloning. For example parents of a child who has died, could use its DNA to make an identical twin. Some scientists pointed out jokingly that if humans could be cloned, there would be no need for men.

Dolly

Some scientist have successfully cloned a sheep from the DNA of an adult animal. The team transfer the nuclei from various types of sheep cells into unfertilised sheep eggs from which the natural nuclei had been removed by microsurgery. Once the transfer was complete, the recipient eggs contained a complete set of genes, just as they would if they had been fertilised by sperm. The eggs were then cultured for a period before being implanted

into sheep that carried them to term, one of which culminated in a successful birth. The resulting lamb was, as expected, an exact genetic

copy, or clone, of the sheep that provided the transferred nucleus, not of those that provided the egg.

Altered food

Soy beans have been genetically changed so that they are resistant to vermin and the farmers do not need to spray chemicals on their fields. The soy beans are included in many of our food stuffs. And the genetically manipulated products are mixed up with normal soy beans and so we could be sure that we have no genetic engineering free zone. Therefore is isn't so easy to label the products in which genetically changed soy beans are used. The genetic changed goods in agriculture should particularly be resistant to illnesses and pests but they should also increase the yield and reduce the use of pesticides. So they should prevent an over fertilisation. The plants should also be able to grow under excessive environmental conditions, like extreme heat, cold, drought or bad ground.

Dangers

You never know if the tomatoes which do not spoil could be broken down in our body. Or whether this gene could infect our body.

These plants could also cause new allergies

The altered plants would be able to mutate and also to reproduce. Some opponents of genetic engineering call this genetic population

_{Some new viruses and micro organism could be constructed}

The biodiversity could be reduced

You may have contamination's caused by these plants