The Social Impact of Genetics of Reproduction

The Social Impact of Genetics of Reproduction

Introduction

There are various social issues related to the changes in genetic engineering. For example, some serious issues of prejudice and social suffering are focused on behavioral differences between races and sexes. Is there a correlation between IQ and race? Do men and women show different genetic predisposition to aggression? Genetics provides a way to analyze and think about these complex issues which are unresolved. One of the major global concerns of biologists is the alarming speed with which we are destroying natural habitats, especially in the tropics. However, the ability to create, through experimentation, genetically identical sheep has sparked heated debate over the ethical goodness of applying the same technique to humans (Evans,1997,451-69). Also the access to information on the genetic constitution of individuals creates problems in areas related to health insurance. There are already credible reports published about specific genes that predispose people to forms of aggressive behavior or homosexuality. Knowing the presence of these genes in a person could have an impact on individual rights. To say that these problems are not scientific, but of society, would be too naive that scientists must share the responsibility of the social impact of their findings.

Discussion

Genetic engineering has reached a very rapid development in recent years, which promises a future free of genetic diseases and cancer, but to reach a better analysis of the topic, one can see that many of these promises can lead to misuse of these possibilities and thus bring great consequences for humanity. Genetic engineering is more like a double edged sword that promises great things but the application will result in irreparable cost to humanity, so it can be called the worst enemy of humanity. To say that engineering or genetic manipulation can be considered the worst enemy of humanity is that because of this one can reach a very important segregation in society, therefore it is very important to study the issue and possible social consequences. As important points, we will look to what has been the development of the Human Genome Project and its meaning and the social impact it can have and the possible future consequences (Evans,1997,451-69).

The Human Genome Project was proposed in the journal "Science" by scientist Renato Dulbecco in 1986. The proposal of this scientist had aimed to decipher the human genetic code for human understanding of the behavior and thus being able to account for how the heritage of the fathers differ to the children and what are the variations from one person to another. To begin with the explanation, the genome is the set of genes that specify potentially expressible all characters of an organism, which has some code, which differentiates human beings from other species. The main objective of the project was to obtain complete knowledge of the human being at the molecular level, for which it is a map of the genome (Henneman,2001,1-9).

The human genome project has brought several controversies, which have come ...