Genetic Advances
9. Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues
Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues
The use of biotechnology has raised a number of ethical, legal, and social issues. Here are just a few:
- Who owns genetically modified organisms such as bacteria? Can such organisms be patented like inventions?
- Are genetically modified foods safe to eat? Might they have unknown harmful effects on the people who consume them?
- Are genetically engineered crops safe for the environment? Might they harm other organisms or even entire ecosystems?
- Who controls a person’s genetic information? What safeguards ensure that the information is kept private?
- How far should we go to ensure that children are free of mutations? Should a pregnancy be ended if the fetus has a mutation for a serious genetic disorder?
The following example shows how complex the issues may be:
A strain of corn has been created with a gene that encodes a natural pesticide. On the positive side, the transgenic corn is not eaten by insects, so there is more corn for people to eat. The corn also doesn’t need to be sprayed with chemical pesticides, which can harm people and other living things. On the negative side, the transgenic corn has been shown to cross-pollinate nearby milkweed plants. Offspring of the cross-pollinated milkweed plants are now known to be toxic to monarch butterfly caterpillars that depend on them for food. Scientists are concerned that this may threaten the monarch species as well as other species that normally eat monarchs.
As this example shows, the pros of biotechnology may be obvious, but the cons may not be known until it is too late. Unforeseen harm may be done to people, other species, and entire ecosystems. No doubt the ethical, legal, and social issues raised by biotechnology will be debated for decades to come.
CK-12 Foundation, Biology. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/