Bioethics and Genetically Modified Organisms
GMOs have been used to make crops more resistant to certain insects, fungi and pesticides. This can reduce the use of chemical products, which in turn decreases environmental pollution.
However, there are some concerns about genetically modified foods. These concerns include the possibility that GM crops may escape into wild plants and cause harm to biodiversity.
What is bioethics?
Bioethics is a field of study that examines the ethical questions that arise in relation to fields like biology, medicine and health science. The discipline is multidisciplinary and encompasses clinical, scientific, legal, theological and philosophical approaches to ethics. It is concerned with moral discernment and the values, principles and theories that shape medical and research decisions.
While the ethical issues arising in medicine and biological sciences are complex, the discipline has developed a set of methodologies for addressing them. These methods are rooted in a variety of moral traditions including deontologic and virtue ethics.
Bioethics is often concerned with protecting individuals from moral harm. However, can a patient or research subject ever be overprotected? In Simha’s case, overprotection prevented her from obtaining genetic test results that could have saved her life. Moreover, it can hinder medical progress by placing obstacles in the way of scientific inquiries. This is known as the “paradox of bioethics”. The field must strike a balance between protecting patients and advancing science.
What are the ethical issues with gmo?
Many people come to discussions about bioethics with preconceived notions about GM crops and foods. They form a negative view without knowing the actual facts about the technology, says McLean. This often leads to absolutist rhetoric such as “genetically modified crops equals playing God.”
It also creates distrust in scientists’ reassurances that genetically modified foods are safe to eat. The public, she adds, has been sensitized to the possibility of unsafe food after such debacles as mad cow disease.
Another ethical issue with GM crops is their potential impact on traditional farming practices and ecosystems. Crops engineered to be herbicide resistant, for example, can have side effects on the environment, such as killing other plants that are essential to the ecosystem. And GM seeds that produce sterility are a concern for farmers in developing nations who depend on the ability to pass on their seed from year to year. This is another area where productive discourse could benefit from more attention.
Can bioethics ever represent too much of a good thing?
Bioethics is a field of study that deals with the ethics of biology, medicine, and technology. It also explores questions of moral discernment and applies it to the relationships between life sciences, biotechnology, politics, religion, law, and medicine.
While bioethicists try to ensure that they are objective, it is not possible to eliminate bias entirely. Biases are based on one’s perspective, position, and inherent inclinations. These biases are difficult to identify and disclose, but open discussion can help reduce them.
Nevertheless, bioethicists often take positions that may be controversial. For example, when Dolly the cloned Scottish sheep entered the public arena in 1997, left-leaning bioethicists hailed her as a therapeutic promise while right-leaning bioethicists worried that the development of cloning technology could lead to designer children. In this case, the bioethicists’ positions were polarized by their underlying worldviews and biases. They were unable to bridge the gap and reach a consensus on this polarizing issue.
Can bioethicists ever be wrong?
Bioethics is a wide and varied field of study that deals with the ethical questions that can arise in the fields of life sciences, medicine and medical ethics, politics, law, and theology. It is often thought to be a subset of medical ethics, but that is not necessarily the case as the issues explored in bioethics can sometimes overlap with those dealt with from a more clinical case-oriented perspective.
For example, an ethicist can come to the conclusion that certain non-sentient beings (such as plants and unique stone formations) should be protected because they have value in their own right. This would run counter to some medically oriented ethicists who might hold the view that these entities have no inherent value and thus should be destroyed.
In addition, many religious communities have their own bioethical traditions that they draw upon when dealing with these issues. These can be useful in guiding physicians and researchers when making ethical decisions.
