Scientists are getting closer and closer to genetically modifying humans. The real question is, should they?
Genetic Engineering. It’s something many people have heard of. Humans have learned how to genetically modify all kinds of things. Food is a great example. Hundreds of fruits and vegetables have been genetically modified. Bananas, pineapples, cauliflower, and many more. But what about genetic engineering in humans? What if we could alter a fetus, while in embryo, to have the exact genes we wish them to? It would be game-changing for the entire human species. It has a huge variety of uses ranging from preventing medical conditions, to having a different eye color. It’s also very possible. In 1973, the first organism, a mouse, was genetically modified to have antibiotic resistant genes. Relatively recently, in 2015, a human was also genetically altered while in the womb. There have also been many advancements since then.
In this article, the endless possibilities of genetic engineering will be reviewed along with the fascinating ethical dilemma that comes with it. We are on the verge of a scientific breakthrough, but how do we know we’re safe in getting there?
The first thing we need to understand is: How does genetic engineering work?
BROKEN-DOWN: The Science of Genetic Modification
This is a video on genetic engineering and how it works.
It’s short and explains it on an understandable and simple level. Under it you can find the more in-depth process of genetic engineering.
The Seven Steps of Genetic Engineering
Step 1: First, a specific gene is chosen to be engineered. DNA containing that gene is collected from the chosen organism that naturally has this gene. Scientists can also make copies of the DNA in a laboratory if they don’t have an ideal amount of it.
Step 2: Scientists isolate plasmid DNA (plasmid DNA is a ring of DNA in a bacterial cell) from bacteria. This ring of DNA will carry the gene to the new organism. The plasmid will serve as a vector.
Step 3: The DNA already extracted and the plasmid DNA are mixed with an enzyme (a molecule that will cause a reaction). This enzyme splits both kinds of DNA (plasmid and already extracted) into even smaller pieces at special spots along their code. After the cut, the pieces left are easily able to join together based upon their chemistry. It’s just like puzzle pieces fitting together.
Step 4: Once the pieces of DNA that have matching chemistry join together to make a complete plasmid (ring of DNA). This plasmid is now a ring of DNA that has a new gene as part of the ring. This new gene is the gene that we chose in step 1 to engineer.
Step 5: The plasmids containing the new gene are mixed with other bacterial cells. Some of these bacteria cells will take the plasmids into their cells by a process called transformation. The plasmid will now be inside of these bacterial cells. The bacteria cells now all have the chosen gene inside of them.
Step 6: Colonies of bacteria that have the chosen gene inside of them are then identified and isolated.
Step 7: The genetically engineered bacteria can now be grown in large amounts. The product of the chosen gene can then be collected from the bacteria.
So that’s how genetic engineering works. First, you choose a gene, and collect it. Next you would acquire plasmid, mix it and your collected gene with an enzyme. This will join together pieces based upon chemistry and create a new plasmid with desired gene. You then mix with cells of an organism of which you chose to edit the genes, and you’ve done it.
But who is ACTUALLY doing it?
Leading Scientists in the Gene Editing Scene:
An American scientist named Jennifer A. Doudna (right) and a French scientist, Emmanuelle Charpentier (left) co-founded and won the Nobel prize for something called CRISPR/Cas9. This is an incredible gene editing system that can:
- Disrupt genes. This is done before deleting or adding genes.
- Delete genes
- Add/correct genes.
Below is a website by the developers of CRISPR/CAS9 gene editing introducing it. You can read some more about what exactly it means to disrupt, delete, add, and correct genes. There’s also a video that shows how they do it. It should really help you visualize exactly how CRISPR/Cas9 edits genes.
https://crisprtx.com/gene-editing/crispr-cas9
Okay, so that’s how genetic engineering actually happens, but what can we do with it?
What Genetic Engineering Can Do for Humanity
In humans, genetic engineering can supply us with many new advantages. To name just a few, we can have the ability to:
- Eliminate or limit illnesses in unborn and young children
- Potentially live longer
- Grow faster
- Resist all or most of diseases
These all sound great, and it appears that genetic engineering is the breakthrough that is the key to the next major advancement for the human race. We can prevent illnesses and diseases that kill tens of millions of people every year, saving countless lives. We can live longer. We can grow and develop our brains and bodies at a pace that was before unimaginable. The prospects of genetic engineering are just absolutely incredible, and you might think that it can only do good for us. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth.
The Ethical and Moral Challenges of Genetic Engineering
Maybe genetic engineering can do some great things for us. But like what was said before, how do we know what we’re doing is safe, and not only that, but also right? Do we really know that the gene-editing of humans does more harm than good? Along with what seems to be a ginormous win for humanity, may also be the absolute elimination of all physical identity for us.
Designer Babies
Here’s an important concept. It’s likely the biggest problem that comes with genetic engineering in humans and creates an interesting dilemma that could put human gene-editing at a standstill. Designer babies. We’ll use this term as a way of saying babies whose genes were edited in utero to have specific physical characteristics. Of course, along with the ability to grant resistance to many diseases in humans, we also have the ability to create how we want children to look. After all, genes make us, us, and if we can edit them, we can change all kinds of things about how we are. It’s quite possible that in the future, parents will have the opportunity to “create” their child just the way they want them. They can make them have blonde hair, blue eyes, taller, and more.
You might think, “Ok, well now we can make our children look however we want them to. Sounds pretty cool actually.” But that isn’t the problem. Unfortunately, in our world, we have deeply-incorporated beauty standards into our society. Many people will want to have their children’s genes edited to fit these beauty standards. And what about those that will not? These people, over time, will be discriminated against for their or their parent’s choices. We’ll live in a world of “perfect” looking people, and those that are different won’t be successful. They’ll be forced to join the rest and diversity will be limited drastically.
So what if we ban this designer baby idea? What if we go through with this genetic engineering thing and just ban it across the world to edit the physical traits of your children? Well, this is almost impossible. It’s unlikely a universal ban on this will end up happening. It’s simply because of the vast number of countries, making the chances of universal ban slim. Even if most countries end up banning this, it’s definitely possible that once they see what’s happening in the ones that don’t, they’ll change their minds. Genetic engineering is very scary. And that isn’t even it.
Expenses and Wealth Inequality
Another issue is that editing genes is expensive! It’s possible that only very wealthy people will be able to afford having their children’s genes edited for any purpose. Even if somehow genetic engineering becomes affordable for a reasonable number of people, now this Designer Babies problem is back. So if only wealthy people can afford gene-editing for their kids, it means that not everyone will even get the chance to have certain illness-resistant genes. Most people will not be given the opportunity to not die from a certain disease. That’s just ludicrous. Of course, it’s a similar problem to the ones we have now in many countries. Obviously, I’m speaking of the absence of free healthcare. But this is on a larger scale. All the benefits that were mentioned, all the different ways that genetic engineering could tremendously help humanity, will only be available to the wealthy. This means gigantic new advantages for those with better finances. It will exacerbate wealth inequality, which is already at an all time high and rising, even further. This will not only hurt the less financially fortunate and help the rest, but it will make wealth gaps grow at even faster speeds, hurting the economy.
Genetic engineering can do incredible things for humanity. It can let us resist diseases, grow faster, and live longer, but it’s important to know at what cost. Today, we live in a world where amazing scientific and technological discoveries are being made all around us. It’s important to know when we’re going too fast though. Many agreements should and have to be made for the gene editing of humans to become reality. We need to understand, along with all the positive prospects that come with it, genetic engineering may do more harm than good in the future. We always have to be ready for the entire package, not just the good part.
Students of the Sidewalk 