Genetic Engineering
Ethical and Spiritual Issues in "
The choices I will be talking about have to do with biotechnology and , choices
which we are currently not making consciously because we really don't know what is going on. I
would like to tell you what is going on in these areas, and then talk about how we might approach this
matter in ethical ways.
First, allow me to give you some examples of current activities in the field of genetic engineering.
Most of it has to do with producing genetically engineered plants, primarily food plants, but also
cotton tobacco, and some others, which are resistant to pesticides, so that the pesticide
manufacturers can make more money on their products. About 70% of ...
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genetic engineering. In one of the projects
they took smallpox, which has otherwise disappeared from the world, and found a way to genetically
introduce into it, without reducing its efficacy as smallpox, either Ebola virus or equine encephalitis
viruses. Nobody seems to know what happened to those experimental viruses.
A third example: we now have plants genetically engineered to produce plastic. The idea is that we
will no longer need to depend so much on petroleum, or on the Middle East for petroleum. The
problem here, of course, is that the engineered plants cross-fertilize with their wild brethren, and since
none of genetic changes is recallable, we can only hope that we will not one day take walks in the
outdoors and be surrounded by flora which are exuding plastic and poisoning the fauna.
Some other examples: the Chinese are now putting human genes into tomatoes and peppers to make
them grow faster. You can now be a vegetarian and a cannibal at the same ...
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a closed system view of physical reality, and
nothing outside the system is considered real or meaningful.
The second and third viewpoints I want to mention are both spiritual, one from the Christian tradition,
the other from Buddhism. Many Christians are wary of the potential of genetic engineering for
fundamentally altering God’s sacred creation; however, the one I have most recently discovered
takes a radically different stance and comes out of liberal Protestant thought. Ted Peters, a professor
at Pacific Lutheran Theological seminary, is an advocate of this view. He says,
It is worth noting that virtually all Roman Catholics and Protestants who take up the
...
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Genetic Engineering. (2008, March 20). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Genetic-Engineering/80814
"Genetic Engineering." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 20 Mar. 2008. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Genetic-Engineering/80814>
"Genetic Engineering." Essayworld.com. March 20, 2008. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Genetic-Engineering/80814.
"Genetic Engineering." Essayworld.com. March 20, 2008. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Genetic-Engineering/80814.
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