For our discussion forum of this week I want you to read all of the articles that I indicated at the top of this page, after reading them feel free to comment on any aspect that interests you about Human Cloning, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and its implications in our modern world. These questions require deep ethical thinking and reflection. Don’t forget to answer the question about the movie of your choice “The Island” or “Extreme Measures”.
1. “Three generations of imbeciles are enough!” Compulsory sterilization laws were thenceforth upheld in many states; more than 100, 000 Americans were sterilized under them. Matt Ridley says that “The tragedy of that story lies not in the science behind eugenics, but in the politics: It is the coercion that was wrong.”
Do you agree with this statement? How would you reply to Ridley?
2. Examine your own reaction toward the term eugenics. To what extent are your concerns influenced by historic uses of eugenics? Discuss what fallacies, if any, are involved in your conclusions about genetics?
3. Compare and contrast the positions of Ridley and his colleague Tom Shakespeare on the use of genetic engineering to correct genetic disabilities. Which position do you find most morally compelling and why?
From the article, “Whose Body It Is Anyway…
4. Gus Stokes has been HIV positive for over twenty years, yet he has developed no symptoms of AIDS. His physician, Dr. Sharma, thinks that Stokes might have a genetic antibody to AIDS. If this gene could be identified, it is possible that it could be reproduced and uses in somatic gene therapy, thus possibly saving the lives of millions of people who are HIV positive. When Dr. Sharma asks Stokes for permission to use a sample of his blood for research, Stokes refuses. “This body is my own,” he says, “and I don’t want anyone messing whit my genes and giving them to other people”.
Dr. Sharma already has several samples of Stoke’s blood left over from routine medical tests:
Should she use the samples and not tell Stokes? Indeed, does she have a moral obligation to do so? Or does Stokes have a moral right to refuse to let scientists use his tissue for a possible cure for AIDS? What would you do if you were Stoke’s physician?
5. Discuss how you and Ridley would most likely respond to Andrew’s and Nelkin’s concerns about the commercialization of the human tissue, including the use of genetic material from indigenous people.
6. According to Kass, what are some of the moral values violated by cloning? What are some of the inherent dangers?
7. How does “making” differ from “beginning”? What is the moral significance of this differences?
CASE STUDIES: GENETIC ENGINEERING AND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.
8. Imagine that you have been offered a chance to be genetically engineered so that your life would be extended by fifty years. Would you accept the offer? Would it make a difference whether it was germ line or somatic cell therapy? Support your answers. Discuss also how Ridley might answer this question.
Question about the movie “The Island”
9. What is your overall opinion of this movie?
10. Do you think is possible that some kind of experimental facility like that really exists out there?
Questions about the movie “Extreme Measures”
9. Is Dr. Myrick’s experimentation a noble quest in order to help humanity or a perverse abuse of human beings? Is there another alternative? Explain your position
10. In the end, Guy takes over Myrick’s research papers. By accepting the papers, have Guy’s hands now been dirtied? Why or why not?
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