Embryo Research, Cloning and Designer Babies

• human fertilisation and embryology act

  • embryo research is allowed to treat fertility; research congenital disease and causes of miscarriage; to develop contraception and methods for detecting gene/ chromosome abnormalities
• therapeutic cloning

  making a "spare part" like growing organs and tissues
• reproductive cloning

  making an identical copy of a full organism
• human genetic engineering

  controlled modification of the human genome
• human genome

  23 pairs of chromosomes, very complex
• DNA

  the genetic blueprint for all living organisms, influences physical, cognitive and emotional ability
• DNA research can now possibly change human capacity, may be helpful to remove hereditary diseases etc
• germline engineering

  changes eggs, sperm or early embryo genes. it is inheritable so perpetual and irreversible alteration of our species. if we get wrong its disastrous since it messes up the one engineered and all it's descendants
• after the human genome project 2003 - 4, which mapped out the human genome, we know all the genes and their function
• modern developments in genetic engineering have the potential ethical concerns like designer babies, modifying adults and human cloning. this could risk many things like discrimination based on genes or super soldiers in warfare.
• dolly the sheep was the first successful clone of an adult mammal, her creator dr ian wilmut wished for no human reproductive cloning, only therapeutic
• Arguments for genetic engineering

  early stage embryos aren't people, just a clump of cells, so genetic manipulation is fine
• Arguments against genetic engineering

  early stage embryos are people, or potential people
• Arguments against genetic engineering

  unknown consequences, deformities, viruses, cancers. Dolly died prematurely from medical issues
• Arguments against genetic engineering

  Sanctity of Life, all human life is sacred, killing is always wrong, based in scripture "before i formed you in your mothers womb i knew you" "god created man in his own image"
• Arguments against genetic engineering

  slippery slope: therapeutic -> reproductive -> germline or detecting hereditary diseases and removing them -> modifying frivolous attributes -> super soldier
• arguments against genetic engineering

  designer babies are playing god, humans shouldn't be involved in the creation of life
• Natural Moral Law- primary precepts

  embryo research and cloning go against three primary precepts, live peacefully in an ordered society, preserve innocent human life and worship god
• Natural Moral Law- secondary precept

  embryo research and cloning are wrong because embryos are killed which is a violent act and scientific reproduction could lead to the breakdown of marriage, both of which break the precept live peacefully in an ordered society
• Natural Moral Law- secondary precept

  embryo research and cloning are wrong because they involve killing embryos, breaking the preserve innocent human life precept
• Natural Moral Law- secondary precept

  embryo research and cloning are wrong because they go against the precept worship god by going against scripture like Jeremiah 1:5 "before I formed you in the womb I knew you" which implies ensoulment at conception, making the 14 day rule for embryo research murder- 10 commandments "you shall not murder"
• Embryo Research

  • Embryo research is where scientists extract ‘embryonic stem cells’ from human embryos, often from IVF
  • 200+ kinds of tissue in the human body originate from them
  • animal embryos are not compatible to be used in research affecting humans.
  • The aim is to find cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
  • UK law allows experimentation on human embryos up to the fourteenth day, on the grounds that this is the point in an embryo’s development when the individual person starts to develop.
• Cloning

  • It is possible to make an ‘embryonic clone’ of a patient.
  • Cloning is the process of making biological duplicates of an organism.
  • The embryonic clone is destroyed in order to harvest its stem cells.
  • This is the process usually used in therapeutic cloning, and since the cells are cloned from the patient, they are less likely to be rejected by the patient’s immune system.
  • Therapeutic cloning has the potential to lead to cures for a whole range of diseases and conditions, including diabetes, stroke, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and heart failure.
• Designer Babies

  • Designer babies are the result of the editing of DNA cells or embryos.
  • An embryo is first made by IVF a cell is removed and genetically tested.
  • then either implanted in the mother’s womb or destroyed.
  • genetic selection of the embryo is called ‘Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis’ (PGD), where you can check for conditions such as Down’s syndrome and cystic fibrosis.
  • This information can be used to select the sex of a child, to treat a sick sibling and eventually it will become possible to engineer more frivolous things like the appearance of children.
• Situation Ethics

  fletcher loves transhumanism, he writes about the possibility of humans being engineered to survive under water or in space. he views humans as designers. But he does say that he would prefer man-machine hybrids for dull, unrewarding or dangerous work likely to prevent human suffering from those things.
• Situation Ethics- personalism

  personalism / love for people is key to se, fletcher holds little to no concern for what he considers non-persons, like foetuses. so actual persons who will benefit from these things are put first above embryos.
• Situation Ethics Example

  germline engineering may be more complicated to answer for, since it's consequences could be so severe the agapeic calculus doesn't really work. however, fletcher himself would say sometimes we have to take risks to try and acquire the most loving result
• Situation Ethics examples against

  embryo research used to make a superior race and inequalities between those of certain genes would not be agapeic
• Genetic Engineering Examples For

  fletcher says embryo research is good if used to save or improve lives from inherited or sex based diseases and therapeutic cloning for organs
• arguments for genetic engineering

  it's benefits of detecting and erasing inherited diseases, improving organ transplants and helping cure diseases outweigh any concerns
• Natural Moral Law- doctrine of double effect

  dde cannot justify any of these thing since you can't intentionally do a morally bad act to achieve a good end
• Natural Moral Law- proportionalism

  proportionnalism may be able to permit this since saving humanity from diseases can be argued as proportionate reason to break the precepts it does.
• Natural Moral Law- primary precepts

  designer babies break the primary precepts worship god and live peacefully in an ordered society
• Natural Moral Law- secondary precepts

  Creating designer babies is wrong because it goes against the precept worship god due to the idea of god creating humans imago dei from genesis, which we shouldn't interfere with.
• Natural Moral Law- germline engineering

  germline engineering would essentially lead to the creation of trans-humans totally destroying imago dei
• Natural Moral Law- designer babies

  it could be argued they don't go against worship god if they only enhance traits rather than fully change them, a human that's stronger or more resistant to disease may be enhancing gods image not going against it.
• Natural Moral Law- secondary precepts

  designer babies are wrong since they go against the primary precept live peacefully in an ordered society as they could lead to an elite race of humans and more inequality between the rich and poor
• situation ethics examples against

  designer babies but changed in frivolous ways/ ways that would make the child's life harder like extra arms which might not be justifiable
• Virtue Ethics

  modern ethicists stress the virtue of compassion, which is most likely to focus on actual people rather than potential. if you think about the hierarchy of souls, embryos don't fit the rational soul requirements (has nutrition, growth, movement, sense perception, thought and reason)
• Virtue Ethics

  it could be argued virtue ethics is unequipped, how can we know if designer babies and trans-humans engineered for specific traits will hold the same virtues as the people aristotle was writing about? for example a cloned super soldier who operates on extreme aggression might be incapable of cardinal virtues like temperence