Ethics, Human Rights, and Genetic Engineering: A Philosophical View
According to Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, when someone dies or suffers a catastrophic loss, we go through five different stages of grief. We experience denial because the loss is unacceptable. We cannot imagine it’s true, we get angry with everyone, with the survivors, and with ourselves. Then, we pray, offer all we have, even our soul, in trade for another day. When negotiation fails, and anger is too much to contain, we fall into depression, until finally, we accept that we did what we could, let go, and move on to acceptance.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that includes the study of morality, happiness, and good living. It studies what is moral, how to rationally justify a moral system, and how to apply it to different areas of personal and social life. In everyday life, it is a reflection on the moral fact, finding the reasons for using a moral code or not.
“There is talk of Human Rights as a philosophy, and rightly so. The positions that devalue or deny them, the heinous crimes, the pejorative address, or downplay them, involve at its core the adoption of a philosophy that is unfavorable. ” It is the philosophy that focuses on “something” which are human rights. Caring for them, it explains, seeks to know their organization, consistency, and foundation. Only a human rights philosophy, when taken as its object, defends them.
Advances in molecular biology and genetics have expanded the possibilities in the diagnosis and treatment of hereditary diseases. Research in this field has exceeded its legal and ethical regulation. This paper does not discuss these developments from a scientific and technological standpoint, but rather reviews the historical background of genetic engineering, the legal and ethical implications of the Human Genome Project (HGP), In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer (IVF and ET), research done and that can be done on embryos, other fields of genetics and cloning, especially human germ cells, and also with regard to genetic diagnosis and its family, social, and labor impacts. It also covers treatment through genetic engineering, cloning to obtain organs and tissue for transplants, and the use of genetic engineering in the biomedical industry. It is considered that to prevent these developments from turning against humanity, it is necessary to implement and involve multidisciplinary organizations for legal and ethical control.
The principle of humanization is the dynamism that moves individuals to grow in awareness, freedom, responsibility, and social conduct, and to promote human values. Each person (adult) has the inalienable right to determine and drive their own life, and not be deprived of a life lived fully and self-determined. All human beings are equal, have equal rights and obligations. The principle of complexity is that reality is complex, and one must act according to what is known.