Bioengineering and Its Subsidiary Fields Essay examples -- Bacteria, Ge

Bioengineering and the Flaws of Consequentialism Pierce College Abstract In 1973 the first bacteria were transmittedally modified. In 1974 mice were genetically modified. And in 1982 genetically modified bacteria capable of producing insulin were commercialized. Genetically modified food has been sold since 1994. In a similar clip frame, the ideologies of stanch cell research and therapeutic reproductive cloning have come to fruition. It is the aim of this paper to demonstrate through consequentialist ethical reasoning, particularly development the concepts of utilitarianism and relativism that no definitive judgment can be made on the morality and ethical correctness of bioengineering and its subsidiary fields of genetic manipulation, stem cell research and therapeutic reproductive cloning due to the uncertain nature of the consequences of these acts. The paper will examine a brief history of these emerging scientific disciplines and the still uncertain nature of the far-reachin g consequences and implications of their implementation. Bioengineering and the flaws of consequentialism Bioengineering is a broad umbrella term covering many different scientific disciplines. nether this umbrella argon the specific studies of gene isolation, construction, targeting, trans clearation, selection, regeneration, transfer cellular engineering, and synthetic biology. Relative to the discussion of the ethical nature of this field are the principal topics of genetic and cellular engineering, stem cell research reproductive technologies to include gene replacement and transformation in humans and animals and bioengineered organic food. Bioengineering, in one form or another, has been around since the mid-20th century, with the term first coined in 1954 and w... ...tation among a society of hereditarily dying people be worth the sustained existence of the society? Possibly. Would the inclination of genetically altering food for weather sustainability if the world were im mediately threatened by harsh weather seem more acceptable? Again, possibly. There are no concrete answers to those questions objectively however. And in the world as we know it, in 2011, its similarly hard to say that any of the conditions currently affecting the rapidly globalizing world are of such a dire and unpreventable nature that they require tampering with the genetic foundations of our existence. However, another, somewhere else in the world big businessman disagree, and that leads me to conclude that consequentialist reasoning alone is an unacceptable medium for the analysis and moral rationalization of the hard choices of bioengineering and its subsidiary fields.