Genetic editing and the law
more severe mutations. This may cause children to be born with a more disadvantageous condition, further impacting their wellbeing. Parents whomade this decision on the behalf of their future children will have to suffer from the consequences both emotionally and physically. Additionally, this potential adverse result will increase the financial burden on the state, as the cost of care for these children will rise. Before the legality of this technology can be argued, regulatory measures have to be put in place to ensure its ethical use. He Jiankui, the rogue scientist behind the He lab incident, was able to perform the genome editing procedure through the lack of regulation in China. He, allegedly, genetically edited two zygotes in order for them to be immune to HIV. Without regulation, genome editing can be used for human enhancement, rather than curing genetic disorders. This may cause increased inequality, with wealthy families able to finance the procedure, in order to enhance their children genetically. These genetically enhanced children would perform better in both academics and sports, through their predetermined genetic make- up. The inability for unmodified children to compete with ‘ d esigner’ children will further increase the inequality and change the course of evolution in favour of the wealthy. To those with a religious persuasion, this change in the course of evolution, begs the question: will we be playing God? At Genesis 1:26 God said: ‘ Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. ’ By using genome editing technology, humans will be changing God’s work. As , Christians believe, God created man in his own image and likeness, for anyone to alter the image of man is a direct defiance of God’s will. Christian stewards have the responsibility to care for others and they will argue that genome editing may have the risk of causing detrimental harm onto future generations. Christians are also concerned about justice and equality; this technology – when abused – has the risk of causing greater inequality, which is not condoned by Christian teachings. However, if genetic editing technology is implemented in an ethical manner, in order to cure life- ruining genetic disorders, Christians may support this technology. The bible says, ‘ And Jesus went about all Galilee … healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people ’ (Matthew 4:23 ) . This technology, when used to cure genetic disorders, can be interpreted as God-given knowledge, just as God gave Jesus the power to heal disease among the people. God intended man to discover this treatment, to help the lives of anyone suffering from genetic diseases. In conclusion, I believe that genome editing technology, when applied in an ethical manner, has an immense potential to cure children, who were once destined to have genetic disorders. Furthermore, regulation would allow this technology to be used to cure diseases, rather than be abused for personal gain. It is essential that human trials are performed before the technology can be deemed safe, legalized and become a mainstream treatment. Human trials will ensure that genome editing does not have any unforeseen consequences such as increasing the severity of genetic disorders. Once regulation has been put in place and human trials have been successful, this technology should be legalized and used to help cure genetic disorders within zygotes. Implementing genome editing should be the priority for the UK government and the NHS, as it has the potential to cure all genetic disorders and reduce the cost of treatment for sufferers of genetic diseases.
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