Essay, Research Paper: Genetic Engineering

Spanning the past 100 years, the world of medical science has reached what many see to be the pinnacle of its research. It is estimated that in the next two years they will have achieved their goal of deciphering the human genome. It is crazy to think about what could happen in the next ten years, but there are a few major issues that have to be addressed when considering if it is immoral or not. Genome engineering could mean the end of disease around the world. The question of it playing GOD or not, are we getting too far into science that there might be astronomical repercussions and once the genome is figured out and there are numerous possibilities like deciding the make and features of a child before it is even conceived. The possibilities are endless as to what is possible in this fascinating and ever growing field of science.
The human genome is the blueprint of life; to be able to edit that would mean that things in our body could be engineered so that we can solve any problem that we want. Or genome is made up of millions and millions of DNA strands, each of these mean a different thing in how our body functions, looks and feels. Once the genome is figured out it means we will be able to change any part of this we want for the better or worse. For example, if someone had AIDS or something, then they could go to a hospital, take a blood sample and have figured out where exactly the AIDS virus is and either block it or re-route it someway that it would deconstruct itself. This is absolutely the main argument of people that are pro genetic engineering, and they are right because it would be extremely beneficial to the world. There are some people that choose to argue against this reason because they believe that the world could easily become over populated quite quickly. The world has to find a way of leveling off its population and this isn t a good solution.
The big ethical question surrounding this entire is if we have gone too far. It is nice and all that we have been able to get this deep into science but at what costs, we will be able to choose the make and characteristics of our babies before they are even conceived. As Catholics we believe that we have come from GOD or heaven or something like that and not from someone s imagination. All they have to do is add a few strands here and remove a few there and you have a custom made human. This should be seen as unethical from any standpoint and should not be allowed to happen. The United States government has invested 3 billion dollars into this project and who is to say they have the right to own our genes. You can t stop the U.S. government from doing what they want with them either it be ethical or not, because they could use it to grow humans for an army or something.
The big thing surrounding this whole argument is that the possibilities are endless as to what can happen in the future. Many people see this as a gateway as to what our future will be like, full of people dedicated to the world of science and wondering about the possibilities. It is difficult to analyze or discuss the future of this newly found ethical argument because the future cannot be written. It can only be guessed upon as to what can happen, as for now about all we can do is wait, watch and hold on to our blood samples.