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The Next Millenium (r)

(written by iearn@iearn.org, 03/22/1996)

/* Written  4:35 PM  Nov 14, 1995 by peg:sthildas in igc:iearn.tc */
Dear Scott,

My name is Belinda Lee.  I am 15 years old and in year 10 at St.
Hilda's School, Southport, which is on the Gold Coast (in
Queensland, Australia).  I live in Mudgeeraba, which is 30 minutes
away from my school.  I read your letter requesting information
and opinions on biotechnology, and since I am interested in this
topic, I thought I'd respond.  In my opinion, biotechnology,
particularly where the genetic engineering of human life is
concerned, is not a clear-cut issue.  One cannot say that it's
good or bad, or wrong or right, because it's not that simple.
Genetic engineering may save thousands of lives in the future if
we can eliminate those genes which make some people susceptible to
hereditary diseases such as cancer, heart disease and even colour
blindness.  But thousands of human embryos must also die in the
experiments which may make this possible.  Those opposed to
abortion probably believe that it is wrong to experiment on
embryos, and most likely regard it to be taking a human life - but
what if they are 'leftovers' from in-vitro fertilisation programs
which would have died anyway?  At what stage does an embryo have
rights, and if its rights stem from its potential to become an
individual, thinking human being, then do not sex cells, with
their potential to become embryos, also have rights?  And do the
benefits of this technology and the lives saved outweigh the
drawbacks and the embryos killed?  Some people even believe that
and paindisease  are God's will, and that we should not question
them, and that it is wrong to try to prevent them.  But the
elimination of disease is not the only possibility for genetic
engineering.  Imagine if, in the future, prospective parents could
go to a genetic engineer and have their baby made to order.  They
could pay to have a girl or boy, with good looks, athletic
ability, superior intelligence, talent in music or drama, and even
a good personality.  Instead of competing with the neighbours to
see who has the best car or house, people will be competing to see
who has the best kids.  Children will become nothing more than
possessions.  How would you feel, knowing that your parents only
loved you for what you were and what you could do, rather than
just because you were their child?  And imagine the discrimination
towards those who couldn't afford to have their children
'improved', and even towards the children themselves.  The human
race could, eventually, even separate entirely into two classes -
the rich, perfect, upper class of leisure, and the poor, diseased,
lower class of squalor, who must live and work in slavery in order
to support the lifestyle of their masters, the upper class.  Or
perhaps if the governments of the world procured the technology
they could use it to breed a race of super-soldiers, similar to
what Hitler tried to do.  Like the race for nuclear arms, the
race for better biotechnology and therefore better soldiers could
become a matter of national defence.  They're awful thoughts, and
it's easy to think that we can just use the technology for
preventing disease and make laws against genetic engineering for
these purposes, but there will always be unscrupulous people, who
are just out to make money and don't care about others - or even
the future of the human race.  In my opinion, genetic engineering
is an extremely important and often overlooked issue.  All the
bureaucratic red tape means that science is moving faster than the
legislation we need in order to control it - to quote a book I
have read, we have the means to do these things before we have
decided whether or not we ought to do them.

I hope you don't mind that I wrote so much - this is a favourite
topic of mine so I tend to get a little worked up!  Some books
which I found interesting are: "Wonderwoman and Superman: The
Ethics of Human Biotechnology", by John Harris, and "Genethics:
The Ethics of Engineering Life", by David Suzuki & Peter Knudtson.
I don't know if your school library will have them, so just in
case you can't find the book by John Harris, here is a quote for
you which I think sums it up:

"We are on the brink of a revolution of quite awesome power.  The
revolution in molecular biology will give us the ability to divert
and control human evolution to an unprecedented extent.  It will
enable us to manufacture new life forms to order, life forms of
every sort.  The decision before us now is not whether or not to
use this power but how and to what extent.  It might be tempting
to pretend the revolution had not happened and try to go on as
before, but to do so would not only be futile, it might also
involve us in causing an immense amount of avoidable suffering.
There is no safe path.  If we fail to make changes to human
beings, the result may simply be that we ensure that the future
will be much worse for everyone than it need be.  If we make the
wrong changes, the same may be true.  What we must try to do is
learn to choose responsibly, but there is no sense in which doing
nothing is necessarily a more responsible choice than doing
something." - Harris, 1992, pp. 5-6.

I hope this letter is of some use to you, and I wish you good luck
on your paper!

Yours sincerely, Belinda Lee.

P.S.  If anyone else reads this letter and is interested in or
concerned about the topic, I would love to hear from them!