Genetic engineering in is founded on the idea of manipulating the gene pool in order to make lives better. One way of doing this is to start from the basic, from the egg cell and sperm cell. Another way is to swap “bad” genes in a fully formed human with “good” ones.
There are moral and ethical controversies surrounding genetic engineering or genetic mutation in humans. Personal convictions alone dictate people what to oppose and what to accept. However, it takes an objective inspection of this medical technology for us to draw a more acceptable conclusion and prevent pre-created biases.
List of Pros of Genetic Engineering in Humans
1. Helps Prevent Genetic Disorders
Many of the diseases today are hereditary or genetic. By manipulating the genes in humans, scientists find a way to prevent people from suffering from an otherwise hereditary health condition.
2. Helps Individual Have Better Life
Genetic engineering helps humans have a chance at a healthier, longer life with more desirable physical characteristics. By altering the genes of fetuses, there is a strong likelihood that future generations will be taller, stronger, healthier and better looking.
3. Helps Deepen Understanding of Genes
Promoting genetic engineering is one way of deepening our understanding about human genetics. It helps scientists find ways to cure or prevent hereditary diseases, most especially.
4. Allows Parents to Choose Baby’s Traits
Some parents would want their children not to inherit their less desirable traits, if given the chance. By modifying the genes of babies, parents have a chance at “designing” their own babies, according to what they want – gender, color of hair, etc.
5. Probes into Medical Advancements
There are many areas in science, which continue to be a mystery to even the most learned scientists and researchers today. Other advancements in the medical field can spring from genetic engineering.
List of Cons of Genetic Engineering in Humans
1. Test Failure Leads to Termination of Embryos
Since genetic engineering is not a perfect science, and far from being so, there will be failures along the way, and this leads to termination of embryos with “undesirable” gene pool. To some people, this is tantamount to abortion.
2. Who Decides the “Good” and “Bad” Genes
No one has the right to decide or judge what specific traits are good or bad. With genetic engineering, the power likely rests on the scientists, the future parents, or the political leader. However, are these people accountable or responsible when experiments go wrong?
3. Engineered Babies Could Have Worse Imperfections
When the actual results are not the outcome initially intended, society could have grave issues regarding the presence of erroneously engineered humans, specifically if they turn out to be mentally ill, psychotic, abusive, or non-responsive. How does society control these badly designed humans – by murder, by further experimentation or by imprisonment?
4. It Is Very Expensive
Engineering the genes of animals is already intricate and expensive enough, how much more an entire human being? It takes a team of skilled geneticists and researchers, plus a topnotch facility, to perform the experiment. This means that genetic engineering may only be available to the wealthy, furthering the gap in society.
5. Reduces the Individuality among Humans
When there is a consensus as to which traits are good or bad, there is a tendency for future generations to lose their diversity and individuality. There will be no short people because being tall is more desirable. There will be no fat people because being slender is more desirable. Ultimately, the reduction of undesirable traits in humans would lead to a generation of “pure breeds” with very little capability of adapting to changes in the environment as in the case of pure breed animals, which are prone to disease.