Transcript 09-13 March 2015 class slides (Genetic Enhancement and Cloning)

 Chromosome—A
string like, genecontaining molecule in the nucleus of a
cell
 Gene—The
fundamental unit of
biological inheritance
 Genome—An
organism’s entire
complement of DNA
 The
manipulation of someone’s genetic
material to prevent or treat disease
 An
attempt to alter the workings of cells by:
• replacing a missing or defective gene with a normal
one
• repairing a faulty gene so it will function properly
• activating or deactivating a gene (switching it on or
off)
 Somatic
cell therapy involves altering genes in
a person’s somatic (body) cells, such as liver or
muscle cells, to treat an existing disorder. The
alterations can help the person suffering from
the disease but are not inheritable—they
cannot be passed on to the person’s offspring.
 Germ-line
cell therapy entails modifying genes
in germ-line cells (egg and sperm cells) and
zygotes—and these alterations are inheritable.
 Somatic
cell therapy—The prevailing
view: if steps are taken to minimize harm,
and if the potential benefits are
substantial, somatic cell therapy is
morally permissible.
 Germ-line
cell therapy—Safety concerns
are so worrisome that, at least in its
current immature stage, it is generally
thought to be morally unacceptable.
 Medical
risks and benefits of the therapy
 Duties
to use the procedures to prevent
suffering
 Reproductive
 The
freedom
morality of practicing positive
genetics
 Cloning
is the asexual production of a
genetically identical entity from an existing
one.
 Reproductive
cloning is the creation of a
genetic duplicate of an adult animal or human;
aimed at the live birth of an individual.
 Therapeutic, or
research, cloning is cloning
for purposes other than producing a live
individual.
 Arguments for Cloning:
• Appeal to reproductive liberty
• Benefits to infertile couples
 Arguments Against Cloning:
• Cloning is unnatural.
• It violates the right of the resulting clone to a
unique identity or future.
• It will result in the demeaning artificial
manufacture of children as products.
There is no morally significant distinction
between genetic repair and
enhancement.
If we have the power to make someone’s
life better through genetic enhancement,
we should do it.
Søren Holm:
What is wrong with living your life as a
clone in the shadow of the life of the
original? It diminishes the clone’s
possibility of living a life that is in a full
sense of that word his or her life. The
clone is forced to [try] to perform a
complicated partial re-enactment of the
life of somebody else (the original).
National Bioethics Advisory Commission:
[A]ll of these concerns are not only quite
speculative, but are directly related to certain
specific cultural values. Someone created
through [cloning] may or may not believe that
their future is relatively constrained. Indeed,
they may believe the opposite. In addition,
quite normal parenting usually involves many
constraints on a child’s behavior that children
may resent.