What alternatives to genetic engineering are possible?
There are a lot of ways that we can still work to improve human lives without actually modifying genetics. In an article about biomedical engineering, Weibell (2014) suggested that with research, we could work to improve things like prosthetics, hearing aids, and artificial organs rather than modifying human genes. By researching other options, we could still work to improve human lives without the many debates about justice, moral code, and safety.
Weibell, F. J. (2014). Biomedical engineering. Access Science. Retrieved from http://www.accessscience.com/content/biomedical-engineering/083600#083600s006
To who would genetic engineering be available to, if made useable?
This question has raised a lot of concern thus far. No one has been able to come to a reasonable and agreeable solution; rather, there has been a lot of debate about the unnecessary inequality this could create in society. According to an article against biotechnology in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Pijnenburg and Leget (2006) claim that it would be nearly impossible to be fair to everyone without any regard to money or status (p. 585-587). Therefore, the availability of genetic engineering -should it become a possibility in the future- is still an ongoing debate.
Pijnenburg, M. A. & Leget, C. (2006). Who wants to live forever? Three arguments against extending the human lifespan. Journal of Medical Ethics, 33, 585-587. doi: 10.1136/sme.2006.017822 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2652797/
What are the safety concerns/side effects of genetic engineering in humans?
There are many questions being raised about the safety of genetically engineered humans. One of the biggest examples of this is from an online article about bioethics. It brought to light the possibility of a new germ cell being formed in a genetically engineered humans that could pose a major threat to humans without altered genes. This germ cell would be foreign to non-genetically engineered humans, and thus could potentially cause a lot of havoc to society in the future.
Macer, D. (2000). Bioethics. AccessScience. Retrieved from http://www.accessscience.com/content/bioethics/YB000141
What other conflicts could this make in our society?
A lot of conflicts could stem from genetically engineering human beings. According to Dr. Simmons (2008) it “may create a genetic aristocracy and lead to new forms of inequality” (p. 173). The idea that some people could afford the genetic engineering while others could not, as well as the fact that not everyone would want genetic engineering, could easily create rifts in our society.
Simmons, D. (2008) Genetic inequality: Human genetic engineering. Nature Education 1(1):173 Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/genetic-inequality-human-genetic-engineering-768
Does society as a whole want people to live that long?
As a whole? No, but humanity, or at least the United States, is split very evenly on this topic. The entire public of the United States is split and according to The Washington Post, “...fifty-six percent of Americans say they would personally not want treatment that would allow them to live dramatically longer lives.” (2013).
Boorstein, M., & Bahrampour, T. (2013, August 6). Americans sharply divided about dramatically extending human lifespan, poll finds. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2013/08/06/65e76e08-fea9-11e2-bd97-676ec24f1f3f_story.html
How much money is being used for this research?
At this point, because this project is ongoing, there is no number that can be given about how much is being spent to research genetic engineering in humans. However, according to an article on Forbes by Byrne and Miller (2012) over $2.5 billion is spent each year in the U.S. alone just on agricultural biotechnology. Human biotechnology is a much newer and much less understood branch of genetic engineering, so it makes sense that it costs even more money than agricultural biotechnology. So, even though there is no known amount being spent on human genetic engineering, we can assume that it is several billion in the U.S. alone based off of the amount spent on agricultural biotechnology.
Byrne, J. & Miller, H. I. (2012). The roots of the anti-genetic engineering movement? Follow the money!. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2012/10/22/the-roots-of-the-anti-genetic-engineering-movement-follow-the-money/
Are we ready as a society to have genetically engineered human life?
As was said earlier, the country is fairly evenly split between whether or not it wants extended life. Furthermore, the split widens when the public is split into ethnicities, particularly African Americans in comparison to caucasians, “Fifty-six percent of black Americans say radical life extension would be a good thing for society, compared with 36 percent of whites.” (Boorstein 2013). In short, it would be hard to say that we, as a society, are ready for something as big as eternal, or at least extended, life since we are unable to even agree on whether we want it.
Boorstein, M., & Bahrampour, T. (2013, August 6). Americans sharply divided about dramatically extending human lifespan, poll finds. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2013/08/06/65e76e08-fea9-11e2-bd97-676ec24f1f3f_story.html
How much longer would lives be extended?
With proper techniques and methodology, it would be more than possible to extend human life, and even youth, indefinitely. As of now, it is hard to say how long our lives would be extended. For one, there are few conclusive results in many of the studies involving extending life as they are still ongoing. The other reason why it is hard to say how long we could extend our lives, is that there are still more than a few ways to go about extending life. According to Dvorsky, VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam is working on ways to extract stem cells from super centenarians to extend life (Dvorsky 2014). On another hand, there are doctors at Harvard University that are working on extending life through increasing NAD+ in mice. There is no easy way to tell how long lives would be extended immediately, however, with the right materials we could extend it indefinitely.
Dvorsky, G. (2014, April 23). Supercenarian's blood provides clues to extending human life. Retrieved from http://io9.com/supercentenarians-blood-provides-clues-to-extending-hum-1566718220
Would this pose a threat to society, particularly overpopulation and resource allocation problems?
Extending human lives through genetic engineering could easily create overpopulation issues on our society. According to an article about the ethical debate on life extension, Yang (2012) overpopulation would be a major problem, bringing with it multiple problems like decreasing water levels, increasing pollution and faster disease spread. All of these resource allocation and overpopulation issues would definitely be an issue, should genetic engineering in humans become reality.
Yang, B. (2012). Life extension: moral and ethical ramifications. The Triple Helix Online. Retrieved from: http://triplehelixblog.com/2012/08/life-extension-moral-and-ethical-ramifications/
How well have current experiments worked?
Current experiments are still in the fledgeling stages but show great promise. The most notable experiment we research would be Dr. Sinclar’s study on extending the lifespan of mice in which he found that that increasing NAD+ in older mice was able to revitalize various organs, particularly muscles, to resemble a time in which the mouse was in its prime (Sinclair 2013).
Gomes, A., Price, N., Ling, A., Moslehi, J., Montgomery, M., Rajman, L., White, J. ...
Sinclair, D. (2013, October 25). Declining NAD+ induces a pseudohypoxic state disrupting nuclear-mitochondrial communication during aging. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867413015213
How can we be sure that it will work without putting human life at risk?
As with most cutting edge scientific advances, it is impossible to tell how well it will work, if it works at all. However, it is possible to get an idea of how safe it will be to introduce it to humans, testing on animals with similar DNA. Another possible way to test without putting humans at risk is to use the blood and DNA of people without actually using the people, for example, using the blood of supercentenarians to increase the quality and quantity of stem cells in a human, extending life (Dvorsky 2014).
Dvorsky, G. (2014, April 23). Supercenarian's blood provides clues to extending human life. Retrieved from http://io9.com/supercentenarians-blood-provides-clues-to-extending-hum-1566718220
What are currently being used as test subjects?
Small rodents, like mice or rats, are being used in many studies across the country. A notable study we referenced is David Sinclair’s study on mice. In his experiment he, “raised nuclear NAD+ in old mice [to] reverse pseudohypoxia and metabolic dysfunction” (Sinclair 2013).
Gomes, A., Price, N., Ling, A., Moslehi, J., Montgomery, M., Rajman, L., White, J. ...
Sinclair, D. (2013, October 25). Declining NAD+ induces a pseudohypoxic state disrupting nuclear-mitochondrial communication during aging. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867413015213
