GERM-LINE INTERVENTION and OUR RESPONSIBILITIES to FUTURE GENERATIONS Philosophy and Medicine
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GERM-LINE INTERVENTION AND OUR RESPONSIBILITIES TO FUTURE GENERATIONS Philosophy and Medicine VOLUME 55 Editors H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., Center for Ethics, Medicine, and Public Issues, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and Philosophy Department, Rice University, Houston, Texas Stuart F. Spieker, Center for Ethics, Medicine, and Public Issues, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas Associate Editor Kevin W. Wildes, SJ., Department of Philosophy, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Editorial Board George J. Agieh, School ofMedicine, Southern Illinois University, Springfield, Illinois Edmund Erde, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford, New Jersey E~ Haavi Morreim, Department of Human Values and Ethics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee Becky White, Department of Philosophy, California State University, Chico, California The titles published in this series are listed at the end ofthis volume. GERM-LINE INTERVENTION AND OUR RESPONSIBILITIES TO FUTURE GENERATIONS Edited by EMMANUEL AGIUS Moral Philosophy & Theology, University of Malta Coordinator, Future Generations Programme, University ofMalta SALVINO BUSUTTIL F oundation for International Studies, University of Malta in collaboration with TAE-CHANG KIM Institute for Integrated Study of Future Generations, Kyoto, Japan KATSUHIKO YAZAKI Future Generations Alliance Foundation, Kyoto, Japan ~. SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS" MEDIA, B.v. A C.I.P Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-94-010-6164-3 ISBN 978-94-011-5149-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-5149-8 Printed an acid-free paper AH Rights Reserved © 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1998 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998 No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. T ABLE OF CONTENTS LOUIS GALEA / Foreword vii EMMANUEL AGIUS I Introduction ix PART I / FROM LABORATORY TO GERM-LINE THERAPY ALFRED CUSCHIERI / Screening for Genetic Diseases: What Are the Moral Constraints? 3 ATIAJINDA DEEPANDUNG AND WILAI T. NOONPAKDEE / The Moral Status of the Human Genome 13 PART II / THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN NATURE: THEOLOGICAL AND SECULAR PERSPECTIVES KIDO INOUE / The Zen World and the Mental Genes 21 SALVATORE PRIVITERA / Moral Reasoning in Bioethics and Posterity 27 KEVIN Wm. WILDES / Redesigning the Human Genome: Are There Constraints from Nature? 35 H. TRISTRAM ENGELHARDT, Ir. / Human Nature Genetically Re-engineered: Moral Responsibilities to Future Generations 51 PART III / GENETIC INTERVENTIONS AND THE COMMON HERITAGE VIEW EMMANUEL AGIUS / Patenting Life: Our Responsibilities to Present and Future Generations 67 ERIC T. JUENGST / Should We Treat the Human Germ-line as a Global Human Resource? 85 PART IV / SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF GENETICISTS TOWARD FUTURE GENERATIONS QIU RENZONG / Germ-line Engineering as the Eugenics of the Future 105 VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ALEX E. FELICE / Guardianship by Peer Review in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology 117 DAVID HEYD / Are We Our Descendants' Keepers? 131 STUART F. SPICKER / The Unknowable Effects of Genetic Interventions on Future Generations (Or, Who Guards the Genetic Engineers in Democratic Republics?) 147 UGO MIFSUD BONNICI / Homo Propheticus 165 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 169 INDEX 171 LOUIS GALEA FOREWORD As early as 1930, Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) and C.S. Lewis (The Abolition of Man) predicted that the greatest threat to humanity was not nuclear destruction, but developments in genetics, molecular biology, and biotechnology. Their statements were indeed prophetic! The rediscovery of Gregor Johann Mendel's laws of heredity in the early part of this century helped promote an understanding of the origins and workings of genetic diversity. The principal phenomena involved are segregation, mutation, and recombination of genes. Together, these three actions, through the opportunities they generate for genetic diversity, have since been used to improve plants, animals, and micro-organisms of interest to agriculture, industry, and medicine. From the beginning of this century, techniques such as planned hybridization and later, the induction of mutations, have been applied by agricultural and biological research institutions to create new genetic combinations. New antibiotics and vaccines came into use and fermentation techniques made rapid strides. Hybridization also became a method of increasing the growth of crops and animals, a phenomenon known as hybrid vigour. Progress in the field has since been marked by increasingly striking discoveries. The unravelling of the double helix structure of the deoxyri bonucleic acid molecule (DNA) inaugurated the era of molecular biology and opened up a new world of genetic engineering. Recent developments have made it possible to identify specific sequences of DNA that are associated with individual traits of organisms. Begun in 1990, the Human Genome Project is an effort to decipher the complete genetic code of the human species. It involves both mapping (locating) all the genes in human DNA and sequencing (determining the order of nucleotides) for each of these genes. Its results are emerging piece by piece as the coordi nated efforts of researchers proceed, and many of them - such as the identification of genes for colon cancer and cystic fibrosis - are already beginning to be applied in practice. While the potential benefits of the Human Genome Project to society are enormous, there are also serious risks from the unanticipated conse quences of this powerful new knowledge. The development of routine tests for predispositions to diseases and other human traits raise a host of E. Agius and S. Busuttil (eds.), Germ-Line Intervention and our Responsibilities to Future Generations, 3-11. © 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. viii LOUIS GALEA complex ethical and legal questions. In short, genetic enhancement risks violating human dignity by opening up the possibility of discriminatory practices. To make sure that this new power does not rebound against humanity, and that scientific and technological progress, source of well being for individuals and nations, would not be used for self-destructive means, constant efforts must be made not to transgress human rights and freedoms. The concept of human dignity is decisive here as fresh dangers loom on the horizon. With regard to 'dignity' one recalls the Enlightenment principle that a human being is to be treated as an end, not a means to a further end. The modern humanist understanding of dignity is in part a secularization of the previous religious commitment to the infinite value of the human being. What this means is that a human person is the locus and end of moral value, not to be subordinated to other values presumed to be higher. For this reason, it is not only legitimate but imperative for the international community to do all it can to establish a collective system to defend this essential basic value - the integrity of the human being. The formal inclusion of the human genome in the common heri tage of humanity, in other words the recognition that it constitutes one of humanity's primary "resources" which it must safeguard, would unde niably contribute to this end. The human genome, like any other component of the common heritage of humanity (the seabed, the oceans, celestial bodies), must be subject to the rule of the principle of equality and non-discrimination as regards its use. From this it follows that any advance in knowledge about the human genome must benefit humankind as such. Likewise, in my view, there can be no private rights regarding the human genome, which is not open to appropriation by anyone. In 1953 Bertrand Russell wrote: "The human race has survived hith erto owing to ignorance and incompetence; but, given knowledge and competence combined with folly, there can be no certainty of survival. Knowledge is power, but it is power for evil just as much as for good. It follows that, unless men increase in wisdom as much as in knowledge, increase of knowledge will be an increase of sorrow."l To the perilous leaps in power, associated with war and ecology, we must now add genetic knowledge. Past genetic theories, usually infected with prejudice, have brought the world much sorrow. A new ethical imagination that is slowly emerging through frank: debate on human dignity allows us to hope. REFERENCE 1. Russell, B.: 1953, The Impact of Science on Society, Simon and Schuster, New York, 97-98. EMMANUEL AGIUS INTRODUCTION In contemporary ethical discussion about the impact of modem technol ogy and its potential long-range consequences, one particular criterion is gaining more and more prominence. This criterion concerns the extent to which present human activity is seen to affect the well-being and quality of life of future generations. During the last few decades, the ecological crisis has already pointed out the urgent need of technological assess ment. For it has become increasingly apparent that although pollution and consumption of resources have local sources, they tend to have not only global consequences but also create future risks and burdens. Moreover, the immense new and large-scale threats posed by both peaceful and military application of nuclear energy have also awakened a greater