The Ethics Of Using Genetically Engineered And Cloned Food

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26TH OCTOBER, 2017
Introduction
Although this GMOs and cloned food can be used to enhance productivity in both livestock and crop production, critical and ethical issues raised must be confronted before the widespread of technology. Most importantly, its impact on the health of the affected animals must be ascertained and addressed. In addition, research institutions should conduct comparative studies between the benefits of these technologies to producers viz a viz the research costs involved. Thirdly, scientists must establish the indirect impact of cloning crops and livestock to human cloning. Therefore GMO and cloned food should be labeled to protect people who find these technologies abhorrent. Notwithstanding the apparent benefits of these technologies, particularly in food production, ethical issues surrounding their use are weighty and warrant further research. Genetic engineering of animals has raised critical ethical issues such as animal welfare, anthropocentricism and deep ecology. Other ethical concerns raised include procedural invasiveness, large number requirement, unanticipated welfare issues and determination of ethical limits in genetic engineering. This research paper will review and discuss different ethical concerns raised with regards to the use of GMOs and cloned food. Before delving into the discussion of ethical issues surrounding GMO and cloned food, the research paper will provide a brief definition of the key words: “Genetic Engineering” and “Cloning”.
What is Genetic Engineering?
Genetic engineering can be defined as the process of using modern biotechnology to introduce new DNA or genetic traits, or altering the existing genetic composition of an organism with the aim of introducing new traits (D’Ambrosio et al., 2016). Some of the terms used to refer to Genetic engineering include “genetically modified”, “genetically altered”, “transgenic” or “Genetically manipulated”(EFA, 2013). These terms are used to indicate the interference with the natural genetic composition of an animal. Thus a genetically altered or modified animal is one whose natural genetic composition has been modified, for example RDNA thereby giving the animal new superior traits. There are different types of GMO animals, namely Biopharm, research, xenotransplant, companion, disease resistant and food use animals (Wang, 2012). This research will only focus on disease resistance and food use. Genetic engineering of animals has gained widespread popularity among farmers due to the efficacy and economies of scale related issues. However, this has not been without ethical concerns. Different ethical issues have been raised pertaining to the use of genetically modified animals as human food.
What is Cloning?
Cloning can be defined as the process of replicating particular animal cells, or replication of a specific animal cell component or DNA with the aim of multiplying the desirable genetic trait. Cloning exists in three forms namely “….DNA cloning, therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning”(Wu, 2012). This paper will primarily focus on reproductive cloning as it is the only form ...