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The issue of Family and reproductive technology addresses many issues. The most prominent of which are manifest themselves in the questions below:
• Do we have any moral obligations towards other family members?
• Is it OK to be partial towards your family?
• Is cloning of animals or humans morally objectionable?
In today’s session, the following issues were addressed:
• Stem-cell Research
• Creating designer human beings
The above technologies have been made possible due to the discovery and increased knowledge of DNA. The study of DNA allows scientists to understand human genes clearer. Once the complete genetic code of human beings is discovered, the possibilities of the above technologies could potentially be infinite.
+It could help decrease the suffering of those with debilitating diseases- This view states that healthy cells could be implanted into the bodies of sufferers of debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or Huntingdon’s disease in order to replace some of the diseases cells in an attempt to decrease the suffering of individuals with such diseases.
+The cells will go to waste otherwise- This view holds that when healthy human cells are removed from the body they should be used to enhance the health of others as these cells will go to waste otherwise
-Why implant cells into the body in order to decrease suffering when we are all going to die eventually- This view holds that there is little use in implanting healthy cells into a damaged body as this body will inevitably eventually die and this fact cannot be avoided
-Using spare human cells to enhance the human body is morally equivalent to transplanting parts of dead bodies- This argument holds that using spare human cells is equivalent to using parts of dead bodies to transplant into the body, a practice which many consider wrong.
So called designer human beings are human beings that have been implanted with certain cells in order to give them certain appearances or characteristics.
+A whole race could be developed with specific genes in order to give them perfect health- This view holds that a group of people could be born with a high level of healthy genes, that they would not be susceptible to disease.
+The parents of a child could chose its sex and characteristics- This view holds that using designer genes, it could be possible to chose the sex or characteristics of an unborn child
-By “designing un-born babies you are in fact playing God- This claims that it is unnatural to design human beings in a certain way, and therefore immoral
- Scientists could abuse the practice- This view holds that such technology could be abused in such a way that scientists may try and create a perfect and immortal human race, which amongst other things would take away the individuality of human beings.
Why should Reproductive technology be regulated? |
Why shouldn’t reproductive technology be regulated? |
| It could be abused by scientists in order to create a perfect human race | If a designer race were created everyone would be the same thus eliminating individuality
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| Such technology is potentially dangerous if it is not regulated in some way | We have survived without it for this long, why is it necessary to introduce it now |
| It could help find cures for common diseases | It is the next stage of human evolution |
David
Created 04:02:05