Genetic Editing, Biohacking, and GMOs: Impacts and Ethics

Posted on Dec 13, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

Genetic Editing in Humans: Risks and Rewards

Risks for Humans

  • Health Risks
    • Off-target effects: Unintentional alterations to genes outside the intended target, potentially leading to harmful mutations (may cause diseases like cancer).
    • Long-term consequences: Little is known about how edited genes may behave across generations. Effects are largely unknown. Edited genes may interact with other genes in unpredictable ways, potentially causing new diseases that could be passed down to future generations.
  • Ethical and Psychological Concerns
    • The potential for unintended psychological effects if editing impacts brain development or behavior, and the ethical challenges of dealing with unforeseen health problems caused by genetic modification.
  • Gene Silencing or Loss of Function
    • Editing genes might accidentally turn off essential genes, leading to genetic disorders or impairing critical biological functions like cell division or protein synthesis.
  • Social Inequality
    • Genetic modifications could become available only to wealthy populations. This could result in significant advantages for those who can afford enhancements (e.g., disease resistance, cognitive improvements), potentially creating a divide between those who have access to genetic advancements and those who don’t, reinforcing existing social inequalities.

Rewards for Humans

  • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Prevention of genetic diseases: Potential to eradicate inherited conditions before birth.
    • Cancer therapy: Techniques like CRISPR can modify immune cells to target and destroy cancer cells more effectively.
  • Organ Transplant Advancements
    • Genetic modifications in donor organs (from animals or humans) can reduce rejection rates, making xenotransplantation (e.g., pig-to-human organ transplants) more viable.
  • Environmental Benefits
    • Carbon reduction: Modified plants that absorb more CO2 could mitigate climate change.

Imperialism and Science: A Historical Overview

19th Century

  • Scientific racism: Pseudoscientific theories (measuring skulls, judging characters based on appearance) categorized races hierarchically, often portraying Europeans as superior.
  • Biological determinism: Human behavior and social status were determined by biology, used to justify oppression of non-Europeans as “naturally” inferior.

Modern Era

  • Pharmaceutical exploitation: Large pharmaceutical companies often conduct trials in impoverished regions with lax regulations, exploiting vulnerable populations. Large corporations conduct clinical trials in underprivileged regions without proper regulations.
  • Bio-prospecting exploitation: Western companies profit from indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants, often without fair compensation.

Biohacking: Risks and Rewards

Risks

  • Health Hazards
    • Unregulated experiments can lead to injury or unintended side effects, especially with DIY genetic modifications.
  • Biosecurity Risks
    • Potential misuse by individuals or groups for harmful purposes, raising concerns about bioterrorism.
  • Legal and Ethical Issues
    • Current laws often do not account for self-experimentation, creating gray areas in medical ethics and personal responsibility.

Rewards

  • Medical Advancements
    • Gene Editing: DIY CRISPR kits have made genetic editing more accessible, potentially accelerating research into cures for genetic disorders.
  • Empowerment
    • Open-source biotech democratizes access to scientific tools and knowledge, fostering innovation from non-traditional scientists.
  • Increased Accessibility
    • Biohacking democratizes science by making health innovations accessible to individuals outside traditional research institutions, fostering innovation and experimentation in the broader community.

Social Darwinism: Perspectives and Impacts

Supporters’ View

  • Supporters of Social Darwinism believe human society naturally evolves through competition, similar to how species evolve through natural selection in biology.
  • They argue that when individuals or groups compete, the most capable or “fit” will succeed, leading to overall societal progress.

Critics’ View

  • It’s viewed as a dangerous, exploitative ideology that justifies inequality, colonialism, racism, and eugenics.

Examples

  • Realistic reflection: Competitive business practices and meritocratic social structures.
  • Exploitative view: Eugenics movements in the early 20th century and the justification of social hierarchies based on race or class.

Darwin’s Key Works: Origin of Species vs. Descent of Man

Origin of Species (1859)

  • Focus on natural selection and how species evolve through adaptations to their environments.
  • Introduced concepts like common descent and speciation.

Descent of Man (1871)

  • Focus on human evolution, emphasizing sexual selection as a mechanism for human development.
  • Addressed the evolution of morality and cultural behavior, suggesting humans evolved both biologically and socially.

Evolutionary Psychology and Free Will

Evolutionary Influence

  • Traits like fear responses, mating behaviors, and social cooperation evolved for survival and reproduction.
  • Behaviors like altruism1 are explained through kin selection2 and reciprocal altruism3.

1: A behavior in which an individual acts to benefit others, often at a personal cost, without expecting anything in return.

2: Helping close relatives to ensure shared genes are passed on (mother risking her life to save/protect child).

3: Helping non-relatives with the expectation of future help in return (sharing food with a friend who might help later).

Evidence for Free Will

  • Acts that go against survival instincts, such as sacrificial heroism, suggest humans can act independently of evolutionary pressures.
  • Creativity and abstract reasoning often go beyond immediate survival needs, implying autonomy.

Religion and Science: Historical Interaction

Pre-Darwin Era

  • Natural theology: Figures like William Paley argued that the complexity of life indicates a divine creator.

Post-Darwin

  • Debates over evolution: The rise of Darwin’s theory challenged traditional religious beliefs about creation.

Scopes Monkey Trial (1925)

  • A pivotal legal case in Tennessee over teaching evolution in schools, symbolizing the conflict between religious fundamentalism and scientific progress.

Creationism as a Historical Phenomenon

Early 20th Century

  • Emerged as a response to Darwinism, particularly as public education expanded, mandating standardized curricula.
  • Seen as a defense of religious values against secular scientific education.

Modern Context

  • Continues to be debated in U.S. education policy, particularly in biology classes where intelligent design has been introduced as an alternative to evolution.

Benefits of GMO Foods

  • Cold Tolerance
    • Plants developed to tolerate cold temperatures.
    • Withstand unexpected frost that could destroy seedlings.
  • Improves Nutrition
    • Crops like rice are a staple in developing countries but are nutritionally inadequate.
    • GM “golden rice” is high in betacotene (vitamin A) and reduces eye-related problems like blindness due to malnutrition.
  • Future Benefits Might Include
    • Food without allergens (i.e. anyone could eat nuts).
    • Grains, fruits, and vegetables with improved nutrition (multi-vitamin potatoes and healthy fast food french fries!).
    • Longer shelf life and better taste (reduce food waste due to spoilage) and rice enhanced with iron (prevent anemia).

Risks of GMO Foods

  • Environmental
    • Possibility of unintended harm to other organisms.
    • Potential risk to harm to non-target organisms, e.g. a pest-resistant crop that produces toxins that may harm both crop-damaging and non-crop-damaging insects.
    • E.g. the pollen of BT corn on milkweed is thought to affect (slow or kill) the larvae of monarch butterflies.
  • Human Health Risks
    • Introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals.
    • Ex: Inserting genes from a nut into another plant could be dangerous for people who are allergic to nuts.