Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy Volume 13 Article 5 Issue 1 Sym[posium on Emerging Issues in Technology 1-1-2012 What Sort of People Do We Want - The thicE s of Changing People through Genetic Engineering Michael J. Reiss Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp Recommended Citation Michael J. Reiss, What Sort of People Do We Want - The Ethics of Changing People through Genetic Engineering, 13 Notre Dame J.L. Ethics & Pub. Pol'y 63 (1999). Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp/vol13/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE DO WE WANT? THE ETHICS OF CHANGING PEOPLE THROUGH GENETIC ENGINEERING MICHAEL J. REISS* Within the last decade, genetic engineering has changed from being a relatively esoteric research technique of molecular biologists to an application of considerable power, yet one which raises widespread public concern. In this article, I first briefly summarize the principles of genetic engineering, as applied to any organism. I then concentrate on humans, reviewing both progress to date and possible future developments. Throughout, my particular focus is on the ethical acceptability or otherwise of the technology. I restrict myself to cases where humans are themselves being genetically engineered. This means, for instance, that I do not cover such topics as xenotransplantation (when animals are genetically engineered to make them suitable for transplantation into humans) and the issues resulting from the production of such products as genetically engineered human growth hor- mone, al-antitrypsin, or vaccines (when micro-organisms, ani- mals, or plants are genetically engineered to produce human proteins).