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Scientific, ethical & practical considerations of experiments in cloning, DNA manipulation, medicine, agriculture.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Scientific, ethical & practical considerations of experiments in cloning, DNA manipulation, medicine, agriculture.
Paper Introduction:
Genetics today is on the cutting edge of biological science, and scientists working in this area are involved in a wide variety of pursuits that will have profound implications for our future on this planet, with projects including the creation of new biologic entities, curing diseases, manufacturing synthetic versions of biologic substances, identifying different genetic codes and what they do, and perhaps finding a way to control that genetic information to produce animals with certain characteristics or without certain characteristics, including greater strength, resistance to disease, and a higher yield in meat, eggs, dairy products, or whatever they provide. Geneticists have already accomplished many of these things with grains, plants, and even certain farm animals. They are addressing disease through the creation of new strains of
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Silberner "The age of genes." U.S. This new genetic technology has raised a number of ethical issueseven with reference to what has been done to date on plants and animals,and even greater issues are being raised with the potential for experimentson human genetic material. . The sorts of genetic changes science has been seeking can be seen inthe recently announcement by a combination of U.S. New York: John wiley & Sons, 1984.Heyd, David. Medical experimentation on human beings isoften a necessary component in medical discovery and progress, and themedical establishment recognizes this fact as well as the many dangers thatcome with such experimentation. Since no sperm has participated in the development of the cloned individual, there is no male parent (McKinnell 1 -11). The word "clone" is derived from the Greek "klon," meaning twig orslip. Clone refers to asexual reproduction, or vegetative reproduction.The cloning of plants is an established practice because of the ease withwhich plants are propagated or cloned from a twig or a slip: The edible part of the potato is an expanded stem known as a tuber, which, like other stems, has a number of buds or eyes. Cloning does not involve sexual reproduction, andso the cloned plant is not the result of a union of different material.The plant produced by cloning is a manifestation of the capacity for newgrowth of the old plant body, so the new plant is usually geneticallyidentical to the old plant. News & World Report (November 4, 1991), 64-71.Drlica, Karl. and J. Experiments in the late nineteenth centuryon frogs provided the groundwork for cloning (McKinnell 9-1 ). The livestock produced in this mannerare called transgenics because their cells contain foreign genes whichdirect the production of proteins with medicinal purposes. Heyd further notes that the creation of a different sort of offspringgoes against human biology and psychology. The new method allows greater fine-tuning and more precise genetic changes in the cells used (Nichols 55). Cloning is used in agriculture to produce high-quality, uniform products (McKinnell 6-7). If it is not, biotechnologists can reworkthe gene so that it is more powerful by modifying the gene by attachingdifferent promoters--segments of genes that turn its activity on or off,much like a light switch. "Bidding Bye-Bye to the Black Sheep?" Science News (March 9, 1996), 148."Animal pharmacy" U.S. The techniques used in cloning havealready taught us much about the way our genes operate, and gene cloningmakes it possible to obtain large quantities of specific segments of DNAcontaining genes for further research: The two aspects are related, for increased understanding of how our bodies work leads to a greater ability to correct and prevent malfunctions (Drlica 146).Each research project so constituted has to be considered in terms of whatit will reveal to us, how dangerous it may be, and what ethical issues itmay raise. Indeed, if we tried todo this with living human beings, we would be prosecuted for slavery.Cloning may be beneficial in medical procedures and medical research, butthe actual cloning of human beings for any reason is unethical. The method used a decade ago for the successful nucleartransplantation in amphibians required that the egg be enucleated, whichmeant removing the maternal hereditary material contained in the eggnucleus. This procedure is known as nucleartransplantation and is widely referred to as cloning. Genethics. The new method makes it possible, when perfected, toproduce thousands of identical sheep and cattle at a time. "Mothproofing Walnut Trees of the Future." (June 1991). Before livestockstart producing drugs commercially, though, someone must invent ways toextract the drugs from milk, which is a trifling problem compared withthe decade it took to develop transgenic animals ("Animal Pharmacy" 1 ) Genetic experiments also hold out hope for the cure of diseases withsubstances that do not yet exist or that have not been harnessed to thisparticular purpose. An embryo has no more than 3 or 4 usable cells,while a culture usually features an almost endless supply. Tests are being conducted with leaves from ayoung orchard, and in about three years, the first nuts of the transgenictrees will tell biotechnologists how well the gene is working and whatparts of the trees contain the special protein (Wood 1 ). But we have no interest in exact mirror-images or in indistinguishable copies (Heyd 217). This experiment at the Roslin Institute in Scotland comes after adecade of the use of genetic technology to produce biologically identicalcopies of animals, but the old method limited the number of clones thatcould be produced. a father is a biological father by virtue of the fact that he has contributed hereditary material via his sperm. Geneticists have engineered new strains of plant to produce morecrops or to change the nature of the crops produced. Heyd offers a moral rationale forchallenging the idea that the cloning of human beings should be allowed: By being fruitful, we transcend our limited existence; but only by multiplying can we be fruitful. Cloning: A Biologist Reports. This means that the technique has the potential totransform the genes of all species into a global resource that can be usedto shape novel life forms obedient to the scientist rather than to thedictates of natural selection (Suzuki and Knudtson 115-116). . When placed in soil, each bud is capable of yielding an entire plant, and the crop so produced is a clone (McKinnell 6).The essential fact of sex in both plants and animals, that hereditarymaterial from two individuals is joined to form a new creature. Experiments with gene therapy represent a giant stepinto the medical possibilities of the future. Agricultural Research, 1 -11.----------------------- 12 And in a Godless world, in which procreation can be considered a religious injunction to take part in a divine scheme, we ourselves are the gods, constituting value in the world by extending ourselves and our "image" through the mediation of our descendants (Heyd 216).However, says Heyd, pure reproduction in the form of creating further exactspecimens or copies through a process such a cloning cannot be a model for"fruitfulness" and creativity, for this goes against the norm of humanexistence and against what we really want: We want our offspring to be sufficiently like us so we can see them as our continuants, sufficiently similar to us so we can have a meaningful rapport with them. Further tests are to determine ifthe present version of the Bt gene is powerful enough to knock out thepersistent pests of the walnut. Among thebreakthroughs made in recent years have been the production of miniaturehead lettuce, spherical zucchini, broccoflower, and other such delicacies(Kluger 36-4 ). Cloning is one of thetechniques being used in genetic research and offers the promise of thedevelopment of new strains of plants and animals with specific traits.Cloning and other genetic research is also applicable to human beings, andthis raises a number of ethical issues which have to be addressed beforesuch research proceeds--if it is to proceed at all. The sexcells provide diversity so that each offspring produced is unique in itscombination of traits. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992.Kluger, J. David Heyd points out that the act of "procreation" begins with theprefix "Pro-," meaning that this is a positive act. Theresearchers expect to combine the method with genetic engineering to createanimals with specific traits. Human experiments have been conducted without suchconsent and without other safeguards to protect either the subjects of theresearch or the integrity of the research itself, which only undercuts theability of the profession to gain support for any such experiments, Yet,the real question is whether genetic experiments on human beings, includingthe cloning of human beings, is an ethical expenditure of time and money. The method is called nuclear transfer andreplaces the nucleus of an immature egg with a nucleus from another cell.In earlier methods, scientists obtained replacement nuclei directly fromcells in embryos, but the new method uses nuclei from cells grown in alaboratory culture. Human beings, however, arenot products and should not be treated as products. Knudtson Genethics. This proteinis also harmless to humans and other mammals, as well as to birds, fish,many insects, and other forms of life. Cloning of animals is less common, but there is a procedure wellestablished for permitting asexual reproduction in amphibians such astoads, frogs, and salamanders. It is hoped that the gene mightprotect walnuts against attack by pests that chomp on leaves or ruin nutkernels. Agriculturalresearchers are constantly trying to design better produce with selectivebreeding, the use of mutagens, and genetic engineering. An advisory committee at theNational Institutes of Health keeps a tight rein on such experiments andrecently approved three gene-therapy proposals to treat cancer and a deadlyinherited form of high cholesterol. One such project has addressed walnut trees to givethem a new weapon that better equips them to battle insect enemies.Genetic engineers have given experimental walnut trees a mothproofing geneborrowed from the soil-dwelling bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt,which may enable trees to manufacture a powerful Bt protein that kills manydestructive insects when they are in their caterpillar stage. Gene cloning has the potential to affectour health and our understanding. Other scientists have rigged thelining of blood vessels with genes that deliver anticlotting drugs, andstill others are exploring genes that could make cells resistant to theAIDS virus (Brownlee and Silberner 64). Frogs were the firstmulticellular animals cloned because they have an abundant supply of eggsand sperm that experimenters can use. A company would first select cellsfor cloning from prize animals and would then improve them further, such aswith a gene that makes the animals produce milk rich in a therapeuticprotein. Geneticengineering with these donor cells is more feasible because a lab culturecan supply so many cells to manipulate. and P. Cloning on a more limited basis, however, raise many of the sameissues in a different context. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1989.Wood, M. We create in this sense inthe context of already existing beings--we do not create new people in anempty world and so must re-produce. These animals are products, andwe shape those products in the way we see fit. Today, dozens of drugs aremade in vats filled with genetically engineered bacteria, which are mucheasier to manipulate genetically than mammals, but milk can contain 1 to1, times the drug concentration of a lab culture. Cloning higher animals has proven to be difficult, but scientistshave persevered and have produced clones of livestock, including sheep.Researchers in Scotland recently succeeded in cloning cheep using atechnique that has the potential to produce hundreds of animals. As human beings, we think of ourselves as unique among the animals.We may use cloning techniques and gene splicing to alter animal breeds, andwe do so because we make use of those animals for food, clothing,pharmaceuticals, and many other purposes. Such experiments are only a portion of the types of work being donein this area. News & World Report (September 9, 1991), 1 .Brownlee, S. Understanding DNA and Gene Cloning. Speculation about the future maybe surpassed by the reality in a very few years. Other scientists have been working on genetic protectionsfor different crops. Such insects include codling moth (also a major pest of apples),navel orangeworm, and Indianmeal moth. To create thelivestock, genes were inserted with a needle into fertilized eggs whichwere then returned to the female's uterus. Among the traits that we expectour offspring to have are autonomy, activity, creativity, pleasures ofvarious sorts, rationality, and fairness: This approach to procreation also explains the sense in which we think of certain genetic or educational manipulations as dehumanizing. The researchers then transferred244 of the nuclei to the stripped-down eggs of Scottish blackface ewes.This experiment produced five genetically identical Welsh mountain lambs,two of which died within 1 days of birth for reasons that remain unclear(Adler 148). Goats developedat Tufts University and Genzyme Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts,for example, bear the gene for TPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, a drugused to dissolve blood clots in heart-attack patients. This experiment was conducted with the embryo cells of Welshmountain sheep grown in the laboratory. He also notes thatsexual procreation involves two people becoming proxies in the creation oflife and in so investing the world with value. Indeed, there is goodreason to decide in favor of caution if not an outright ban on theengineering of human beings. It is suggestedthat this will make it possible one day to produce cattle with leaner meatand cows that produce low-fat milk. Works CitedAdler, Tina. "Brave New Veggies?" Discover (March 1993), 36-4 .McKinnell, R.G. Geneticists have already accomplishedmany of these things with grains, plants, and even certain farm animals.They are addressing disease through the creation of new strains of bacteriaby means of recombinant DNA technology. As a result, the profession has developedstringent and specific regulations and requirements for allowing suchtesting, including the requirement for informed consent by the subjects ofsuch experiments. and British researchersthat they have genetically engineered sheep and goats to secrete drugs intheir milk as a means of giving the biotech industry a streamlined meansfor producing many pharmaceuticals. Modern geneticengineering techniques based on recombinant DNA permit genetic exchangesbetween species that do not normally interbreed thus offering theopportunity for us to transcend the limits imposed by nature on hereditaryprocesses. Genetics today is on the cutting edge of biological science, andscientists working in this area are involved in a wide variety of pursuitsthat will have profound implications for our future on this planet, withprojects including the creation of new biologic entities, curing diseases,manufacturing synthetic versions of biologic substances, identifyingdifferent genetic codes and what they do, and perhaps finding a way tocontrol that genetic information to produce animals with certaincharacteristics or without certain characteristics, including greaterstrength, resistance to disease, and a higher yield in meat, eggs, dairyproducts, or whatever they provide. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1979.Nichols, Mark. Using these techniques, scientists can manipulate genesindividually by directly modifying the DNA molecules in which geneticinformation is encoded. The fertilization and embryonicdevelopment of the frog ordinarily takes place outside the animal's body inponds, and so it is more easily accomplished in the laboratory in glassdishes, a method which permits direct observation of and experimentationwith all stages of development. "Send in the Clones." Maclean's (March 18, 1996), 55.Suzuki, D. Recombinant DNA is DNA molecules derived from differentsources that have been artificially spliced together in vitro to form novelhybrid DNA molecules not normally encountered in nature. They do not degrade the subject, since it is a potential person whose identity is thus formed; but they undermine the continuity of the human species, they make us less human in our genesis behavior (Heyd 217-218). Only a small fraction ofoffspring grew up bearing the foreign genes. Other hereditary material contained in the nucleus from a bodycell would then be placed in the enucleated egg, and the resulting clonewould be parentless: Biologically, a mother is a mother by virtue of the fact that she contributes hereditary material via the chromosomes of an egg.
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