Conclusion | capstone-2016

Is it Ethical?

Before I dove into genetic engineering head on, I wanted to get a basic understanding of genetics so I did some research on the people who “invented” genetics like Gregor Mendel. This information really helped me understand better how genetic engineering works and how scientists are able to accomplish the things they are accomplishing. While I am in no way a master of genetics or genetics engineering, this capstone has greatly increased my knowledge on my topic. Learning about point mutations and onco mice greatly added too what I previously knew about genetic engineering and its uses. Before this capstone I only really knew OF genetic engineering but did not really know anything about WHAT it was. This capstone opened my eyes to all of the possibilities and realities that genetic engineering plays a part of. Learning about all of this allowed me to create my own opinions on genetic engineering which led to me answering my big picture question. Is it ethical?

Overall, I believe that genetic engineering is an incredible part of the evolution of humans, but there are lines that I think should not be crossed. In my opinion, I do not think that certain genes should be messed with in embryos. I do not think that people should be able to choose what their child looks like or acts like. While it could lead to astronomical changes to the human race in a good way, I feel that it would also lead to horrible things. Humans have evolved naturally and will continue to do so and I don’t think that humans should be greedy and try to speed up that process. We really have no way of knowing how it will affect us in the future if everyone gets to start choosing what there child is like. Professional sports would pretty much become a competition of whose parents chose the best genes and school would be even more competitive than it is now. Genetic engineering is an incredible thing and I truly believe humans need to utilize this amazing science, I just don't think we should use it to directly benefit us by changing our genes.