Bioengineering and Its Subsidiary Fields Essay examples -- Bacteria, Ge

Bioengineering and the Flaws of Consequentialism Pierce College Abstract In 1973 the first bacteria were genetically modified. In 1974 mice were genetically modified. And in 1982 genetically modified bacteria capable of producing insulin were commercialized. Genetically modified food has been sold since 1994. In a similar time frame, the ideologies of stem cell research and therapeutic reproductive cloning have come to fruition. It is the aim of this paper to demonstrate through consequentialist ethical reasoning, particularly using the concepts of utilitarianism and relativism that no definitive judgment can be made on the morality and ethical correctness of bioengineering and its subsidiary fields of genetic manipulation, stem cell research and therapeutic reproductive cloning due to the uncertain nature of the consequences of these acts. The paper will examine a brief history of these emergent scientific disciplines and the still uncertain nature of the far-reaching consequences a nd implications of their implementation. â€Æ' Bioengineering and the flaws of consequentialism Bioengineering is a broad umbrella term covering many different scientific disciplines. Under this umbrella are the specific studies of gene isolation, construction, targeting, transformation, selection, regeneration, transfer; cellular engineering, and synthetic biology. Relative to the discussion of the ethical nature of this field are the principal topics of genetic and cellular engineering, stem cell research; reproductive technologies to include gene replacement and transformation in humans and animals; and bioengineered organic food. Bioengineering, in one form or another, has been around since the mid-20th century, with the term first coined in 1954 and w... ...tation among a society of hereditarily dying people be worth the sustained existence of the society? Possibly. Would the idea of genetically altering food for weather sustainability if the world were immediately threatened by harsh weather seem more acceptable? Again, possibly. There are no concrete answers to those questions objectively however. And in the world as we know it, in 2011, it’s similarly hard to say that any of the conditions currently affecting the rapidly globalizing world are of such a dire and unpreventable nature that they require tampering with the genetic foundations of our existence. However, another, somewhere else in the world might disagree, and that leads me to conclude that consequentialist reasoning alone is an unacceptable medium for the analysis and moral rationalization of the hard choices of bioengineering and its subsidiary fields.