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April 2002 www.curriculumpress.co.uk Number 106
Ethical issues in A–Level Biology
This Factsheet will refer to spiritual, moral, ethical, and social issues relevant to the following topics: • • • • • the human genome project. genetic engineering and its uses in agriculture. genetic engineering and its uses in medicine. reproductive control, population control, abortion. disease control, antibiotics and vaccination. • • • drug and solvent abuse. smoking and disease/cancer. effects of pollution – eutrophication, greenhouse effect, global warming. The human genome project (HGP)
Knowledge originating from the HGP has huge sociological implications for humans: 1. The HGP provides personal genetic information about individuals. Who should have access to such information and how should it be used? It is very important that the use of genetic information by, for example, insurers, employers, courts, schools, adoption agencies and the armed forces should be fair to the individual and all involved parties. 2. Who owns the genes and the other pieces of DNA? Is it the scientist or company that obtained the information, or the individual who has that genome? This has implications for: • the commercialisation of products, including property rights, patents, copyrights and trade secrets. the accessibility and dissemination of genetic data, materials and methods. It is important that individual privacy and confidentiality is maintained, and so an individual’s genetic information should not be distributed to other parties without permission. Personal genetic information should not adversely affect an individual. It is important that an individual who suffers from genetic imperfections should not be socially deprived, or psychologically traumatised, or stigmatised by society’s attitudes towards genetic differences. For example, if a potential employer or insurer has knowledge that a particular person is carrying an allele that makes development of diabetes highly probable, then the employer may not offer that person a job or insurance may be refused. 4. Should parents have the right to let their children be tested for adultonset diseases? Should testing be performed in cases where no treatment is yet available? Uncertainties exist about gene tests for susceptibilities to disease and for complex conditions such as ‘heart disease’, especially when the conditions are linked to multiple gene interactions and to gene-environment interactions. 5. Do people’s genes make them behave in particular ways or can people always control their behaviour? Are disease-causing genes considered acceptable genetic diversity? Knowledge of the human genome imposes conceptual and philosophical implications on humans, including human responsibility, free-will versus genetic determination, it also may modify concepts of health and acceptable disease.
Genetic engineering and its uses in agriculture.
Genetic engineering in agriculture is used to produce genetically modified crops (GM crops), genetically modified animals and growth hormones. • A large proportion of the world population has insufficient food. Thus genetic modification of crops to increase yields of food seems useful providing it is not done only to increase profits for the producer or does not produce environmental damage. Difficulties have arisen because: 1. Pollen from GM crops has hybridised with wild species of plants altering the ecology of the flora, thus altering native populations and communities. 2. Pollen from GM crops that have been given insecticide powers against insect pests does land on the food plants of harmless insects and does kill the harmless insects. The pollen from the GM crops may also transfer the insecticide-conferring genes into other species of plant, by hybridisation. The main ethical problem that exists is, whether to produce GM crops to feed the world population, or whether to refrain from producing GM crops because of possible serious environmental damage. • Techniques such as embryo transplantation and cloning are being developed to produce animals that perpetuate good traits, such as high milk yield, high quality meat yield, longevity and disease resistance. If this produces more food for the world population it is ethically good, but if it causes animal suffering it is ethically bad. Many people think that animals should be given proper respect and should not be exploited by genetic modifications. Genetically engineered growth hormones, for example, bovine somatotropin (bovine-STH), are injected into cattle in order to improve milk or beef yield. This is done without respect to the wishes of a large proportion of the population who have to drink milk
3. How reliable and useful is fetal genetic testing at present and will healthcare personnel counsel parents correctly, and sympathetically, about the risks and limitations arising from genetic technology? Before individuals can give consent for procedures to be carried out they must be adequately informed about complex and controversial procedures, about how to assess genetic information for reproductive decisions and about the reproductive rights of parents and children. For example, parents may be told that the baby they are expecting is carrying the allele for cystic fibrosis. Should the pregnancy be terminated or should they allow the baby to be born? The fact that gene therapy is being developed as a treatment for cystic fibrosis may help the parents to decide to let the pregnancy continue, even though the baby will develop cyctic fibrosis. So that correct decisions can be made, it is important that genetic testing is evaluated and regulated for accuracy, reliability and usefulness. Genetic tests must be reliable and interpretable by the medical professions. At present there is little quality control of such procedures. Doctors, other health service personnel and patients must be educated about the new genetic capabilities, their scientific limitations and social risks. Quality control measures and the implementation of standards must be developed properly.
The medical profession has the paramount objectives – to treat disease in individuals and to raise the health status of the population. before having children. think that abortion is the same as murder. who consider that these very young embryos already have human status. and with gene therapy treatments of cystic fibrosis and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (which causes emphysema in children). • Anti-abortion views are based on religious or moral convictions that every human life has an essential value. People with this view will not accept that it should be possible for women to legally obtain abortion. The United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights. since this hormone is a protein it is probably harmless to humans. but stem cell research could bring great benefits to the human population. Agricultural activities. hedgerow removal. or from the time of establishment of body form. God gave man the instruction ‘go forth and multiply’. However. for example.co. consider that IVF programmes should be stopped.Ethical issues in A-level Biology containing bovine-STH. raise the average standard of living and to achieve political stability. damaged heart muscle or damaged spinal cord. or by global epidemics. the main one being. which is not reduced by any disability or suffering that may be involved for the person living that life. keep infant mortality high and perpetuate poverty. and in recent years genetically engineered insulin.uk Bio Factsheet Reproductive control. use of pesticides and fertilisers. abortion Birth and population control • Because human population growth continuing at its present rate is going to outstrip world resources it is essential to be able to control birth rates. Whereas ‘pre-insulin’ diabetics tended to die young. many of which are essential for human survival. Subjecting the human population to this was unethical. because they cannot survive the stress of extra milk production for long. Abortion is seen. The development of ‘in-vitro fertilisation’ (IVF) has resulted in the availability of large numbers of live human embryos which can be frozen and stored for future use. when there is risk to the mother's life . sterilisations and even infanticide. However. drainage programmes. no matter how difficult the lives of those women and families are made as a result. It would be unethical not to try to control unwanted population growth because the result would be world wide human suffering. involving forced abortions. it would be ethically abhorrent not to treat diabetics with the available insulins. under licence. IVF has brought the possibility to infertile couples of having children. should be practised as a result of people wanting to. for example. article 16 states ‘men and women have the right to marry and found a family’. was imposed too harshly. A balance must be struck between the demands of agriculture and the need for conservation. It is unethical if agricultural exploitation proceeds without due regard to habitats and to the rights of other species to exist on the planet. Wherever possible. It would not be justifiable to abort a fetus if the life of both fetus and mother could be saved in another way. This means that the incidence of diabetes in the population is rising from generation to generation thus reducing the overall health of the population. They worry that the availability of abortion on grounds of fetal abnormality will encourage prejudice towards any individual with a handicap. There were severe penalties imposed on families who had more than their ‘quota’ of children. Bovine-STH treated cows generally have a shorter working life than untreated cows. Some believe that unplanned population growth can impede economic development. ‘what is going to happen to all the surplus embryos that are. The human species has a moral obligation to reduce suffering and deprivation of all people and to ensure its continual survival on earth. This sometimes poses an ethical question: it is obviously morally correct to treat diseases but should the treatment extend to using techniques that may be ethically dubious? For example: • The use of animal insulin. used to regulate family size to a supportable level. by many anti-abortionists. is a human being with full moral status. or used for human cloning? Many people. monoculture. before nature does it for us. diabetics now regularly have children. to clone cells from human embryos in order to form replacement tissues. Using bovine-STH in this way thus seems unethical. Britain has recently made it legal. enabling them to live a normal life and to have a useful role in society. • Some people who oppose abortion in general. At what stage in development does the embryo become human – from conception. not only for its aesthetic and amenity value. Genetic engineering and its uses in medicine. Unfortunately the control. concede that it may be justifiable in exceptional cases. or some other time? If the ‘ball of cells’ embryo is already a human individual then its destruction for stem cell research is murder. They could be used for stem cell research (stem cells are the undifferentiated cells of a very young embryo) or for human cloning (the production of genetically identical humans). the USA and most other countries of the world. • Pro-abortionists consider that abortion is not wrong in itself and need not have undesirable consequences. because it will be digested quickly in the stomach. for example. There is no apparent answer to the dilemma. wild life should be protected. Many consider that it would be immoral and unethical to prevent any family to have a child. • In the Book of Genesis in the Bible.curriculumpress. The ethical problem arises from considerations of the ‘sanctity of human life’. However. Abortion • Some people think that abortion is wrong in all circumstances because it does not recognise the rights of the fetus and it challenges the idea of the sanctity of all human life. population control. The same problem exists with the treatment of dwarfism using genetically engineered growth hormone (human-STH). • • 2 . Those who consider that an embryo. such as the ‘One Child Policy’ introduced into China in the 1970s. Abortion is considered to be a woman's right to exercise control over her own body. in many cases. aimed to reduce population. the extra milk yield is not really required. A cure for Parkinson’s disease may also arise from this stem cell research. as the destruction of a fetus in which the pregnant woman is no longer interested. Some believe that birth control with these methods. abortion should be too. by mass starvation. www. reduce standards of living. Human cloning is considered unethical and is legally banned in Britain. planting of GM crops. In spite of this. (Every species of organism on earth is trying to perpetuate its survival).but only if abortion is the only option. the likelihood of developing diabetes does have a genetic basis and the disease does tend to occur in particular families. but also to maintain essential food webs. stored in a frozen condition’? Should they be destroyed. Similar statements occur in the Koran and other religious books. • The human species has several birth control methods available to it. However. or used for stem cell research. They tend not to recognise fetal rights or to acknowledge the fetus to be a person. should be carried out with due regard to the needs of the natural environment. conserved and developed. at present. to treat diabetes has been of great benefit to diabetics (and their families). The hormone is primarily used to increase the producer’s profits but because the European Economic Community always has a surplus of dairy products. because of persuasion and education. Abortion is considered as equivalent to a deliberate failure to conceive a child and because contraception is widely available. the procedure does introduce some ethical difficulties. from the moment of conception. • Birth control imposed by legislation. eventually enabling repair of.
have always been restricted to asking the candidate to state one or two ethical/moral issues relating to what has been asked in the previous part of the question. Exam questions on these topics. Mixing drugs.000) that the vaccinated child might suffer short-term feverish convulsions after vaccination. Acknowledgements This Factsheet was written by Martin Griffin. that the baby is exposed to foreign proteins nine times as frequently and thus has a greater risk of adverse reactions to the proteins. Most drugs have side-effects that users often ignore or don’t know about. These have to be repaired. There are personal costs involved due to loss of work. a programme which takes about a year. 2. and continually ‘tie up’ innumerable staff. 120 Vyse Street. bronchitis. including passive smoking. Individuals should be vaccinated to build up the ‘herd effect’ which protects the population. Measles in a non-immunised individual is a killer disease. can cause Alzheimer’s disease. family upsets. • • • www. Pollution has the following social importances: • It can cause illness in the human population. Many drug/solvent users exhibit antisocial behaviour such as vandalism when under the influence of drugs. eutrophication can make many ponds. global warming. Part of the problem seems to lie with the fact that the triple vaccine challenges the baby’s developing immune system with three different viral pathogens at the same time. wherever pollution occurs. They often resort to crime (stealing money) to fund their drug habit. provided that their school is a registered subscriber. It can result in environmental damage. Effects of pollution – eutrophication. Because of a slight chance (1 child in 10. Exposure to radioactive fallout can increase the risk of cancer developing. A similar worry for parents occurred with the ‘pertussis’ (whooping cough) vaccine in the 1970s. to date. The greenhouse effect may result in flooding which has to be protected against – the Thames barriers were built to prevent flooding in London. However. acid rain erodes away buildings. increased sulphur and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere aggravate asthma and bronchitis. abscesses developing at the sites of injection and gangrene developing if an artery is pierced. • Drug and solvent abuse. There are several ethical or moral issues involved in vaccination programmes: • It seems unethical that millions of people worldwide die each year from diseases which could be prevented by mass vaccination programmes. or who belong to a family with a history of epilepsy. beds. wars. bereavements due to drug/solvent abuse Bio Factsheet Smoking and disease/cancer. • Because the chances of vaccine damage occurring are probably greater in some children. adult emphysema and heart disease. • There are great risks to the drug user. without the prior permission of the publisher. children who suffer from asthma. For example. 3. in any other form or by any other means. such as severe autism (when the child becomes severely withdrawn. and operating theatres. For example. most parents took the decision that vaccination was the safest option and this was ethically correct because it also protected the population. efforts should be made to stop it or to reduce it as far as possible. Birmingham B18 6NF Bio Factsheets may be copied free of charge by teaching staff or students. For example. is linked to the development of cancers (particularly lung cancer) and to other illnesses. and after a major study in Britain and the USA found no link between the vaccination and brain damage. For example. for example. Continual drug taking can lead to dependency when the user has very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms unless they regularly take the drug. For example. mumps. Thus measles epidemics should be avoided – the risks of suffering and possibly dying from measles in an epidemic is much greater than the risk of suffering vaccine damage. Smoking-related diseases take approximately one third of the National Health Service budget per year. • There is a moral dilemma with some vaccinations. Curriculum Press. Because of the possible risk some parents and doctors prefer to give the three pathogens as single vaccinations spread over time (a total of nine injections).curriculumpress. This means however. leached out of the soil by acid rain. The Big Peg.co. economic poverty. aluminium in drinking water. rubella). antibiotics and vaccination. in a small number of cases is thought to have caused catastrophic effects in the recipient. Destruction of the protective ozone layer (by CFC’s from refrigerators) can lead to more cases of skin cancer due to more UV light penetrating to ground level. Substances such as heavy metals may also persist and accumulate through food chains and so damage organisms at higher trophic levels. It should be used as a basis to stimulate discussion. ISSN 1351-5136 • 3 . even with small amounts of alcohol. many parents failed to have their children vaccinated – this led to several epidemics of whooping cough – many children ended up with permanent lung and heart damage and many babies died. social. Because most smoking-related disease is self-inflicted this seems totally unethical. in recent years questions have been frequently asked about the technique of animal cloning. increased nitrate levels in water can cause ‘blue-baby syndrome’ and an increased occurrence of heart attacks. divorced from reality. Dangers occur when injecting drugs – there are risks of infection. for example. Insecticides and herbicides may be indiscriminate in what they kill so that many useful insects (such as bees) and plants are killed also. Unit 305B. some vaccines pose a threat to individuals. the failure of more affluent countries to fund programmes. unable to communicate and subject to severe rages) and Crohn’s disease (inflammation of the ileum). Acid rain may also kill fish stocks in lakes. because drugs are expensive to buy. the MMR triple vaccine (measles. Following these epidemics. because it reduces the capability of the NHS to treat non-smoking patients.uk There is great cost incurred by health services and rehabilitation centres to treat drug/solvent related diseases and to cure users of the habit. causes serious long-term effects in survivors and is extremely infectious. overdosing (by accidentally delivering the drug directly into the bloodstream rather than into the tissues). greenhouse effect. In conclusion This factsheet has tried to give a balanced view of some of the spiritual. ethical and moral issues involved in modern biology. unless the person has no choice but to be a passive smoker. or transmitted. Mass vaccination programmes are not in place in many countries because of: 1. streams and even rivers become denuded of life. providing the ‘herd effect’ in the population is high. To ‘smoke or not to smoke’ is a matter of choice for the individual and any personal damage it may cause to the smoker can be considered to be selfinflicted. it is ethically important to identify these children and to refrain from giving them risky vaccinations. Some people would argue that pollution is a necessary evil because of the need to increase world food production and industrial output. particularly if they are built of limestone. stored in a retrieval system. • It can result in financial loss and expense. Also the baby is not fully protected until all nine injections have been given. There is now irrefutable evidence that smoking. There is considerable cost incurred by the police and prison services in dealing with drug users and suppliers. and quite frequently. However. is particularly dangerous and may result in death. No part of these Factsheets may be reproduced.Ethical issues in A-level Biology Disease control.
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