Keywords: ethical issues of transgenic technology, ethical principles
I. Overview of Transgenic Technology
Gene is a fragment of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) with genetic effect, and it is the unit of heredity and variation of organisms. It can control the characters of organisms by controlling the synthesis of enzymes or structural proteins. Transgenic technology is to introduce artificially separated and modified genes into the genome of organisms, and the heritability of biological traits is modified due to the expression of the introduced genes, so that people can modify and transform the genes according to their own wishes, thus directionally changing the operation of biological genetic traits. With the development of transgenic technology, this technology gradually penetrated into agriculture, industry, medicine and other fields, and thus produced transgenic plants, transgenic animals and transgenic microorganisms.
However, the development of everything has two sides. While we see that the application of transgenic technology brings great benefits to the development of human society, we should also see that it may also bring negative effects to the development of human society and environment. The development of transgenic technology has broken the law of natural development and more or less destroyed the harmony in the field of biology. At the same time, due to the high technology content, transgenic technology can not be generally accepted and understood by all walks of life, and even some people are full of fear and rejection of genetically modified products, or are blind. All these require us to attach great importance to the influence of genetic technology, find reasonable management and research and development technology as soon as possible, and make transgenic technology better serve mankind.
Second, the ethical issues caused by the application of transgenic technology
First, the threat of transgenic technology to food safety.
The safety and health of any kind of food, whether traditional or genetically modified, has always been the primary concern of people. Since 1996, the first batch of transgenic tomatoes in the United States was put on the market, more than 200 million people around the world have eaten thousands of genetically modified foods, but the safety of these genetically modified foods has always been a concern, and whether the toxic content of genetically modified crops will increase is also a worrying issue. For genetically modified foods, some people may have allergic reactions to foods that have never been allergic before, because they may have allergic reactions to new genes inserted into foods. In the process of transgenic, some unexpected things will happen in the metabolism of organisms, leading to the production of some potentially toxic components.
Second, the impact of transgenic technology on the natural environment.
According to the theory of biological evolution, gene exchange between natural species has evolved for hundreds of millions of years, while transgenic technology has abandoned the boundaries between species. Because transgenic crops are superior to other natural organisms in characters and quality, according to the competition mechanism, this will eliminate wild species in the biological community, and indirectly affect the structure of the biological community through the food chain, threatening biodiversity. As far as the environment is concerned, the most serious risk comes from the natural gene flow between genetically modified crops and wild relatives. More importantly, transgenic crops exchange genes through natural hybridization with wild relatives. In this way, other genes will be displayed in the next generation of hybridization; As far as animals are concerned, it is also possible to introduce animal genes into other plants, which will have serious consequences and have a great impact on the environment and biodiversity. For example, herbicide gene crops may cross with the surrounding weeds, thus forming a more difficult "super weed", and the introduction of insect-resistant genes will have an impact on the surrounding insects and interfere with the ecological balance among insects.
Third, the unfairness caused by the intellectual property rights of transgenic technology.
With the development of transgenic technology, people began to pay attention to the intellectual property protection of artificially modified genes and life. Biotechnology companies in developed countries control and monopolize most of the intellectual property rights of transgenic technologies and products by virtue of their financial and technological advantages. However, the intellectual property monopoly of transgenic technology has led to many unfair situations. First, biological companies use intellectual property rights to prevent farmers from keeping crop seeds to ensure their economic interests. Biological companies have gained a lot of economic benefits, but farmers have been deprived of the right to keep crop seeds in traditional agricultural production. Secondly, developed countries have gained a lot of economic benefits in developing countries by controlling and monopolizing the patents of transgenic technology, while developing China countries are burdened with huge debts.
Fourthly, the dispute of consumers' informed choice caused by the labeling of genetically modified products.
At present, many countries have basically reached a unified understanding of the labeling of genetically modified products. However, due to the ignorance of relevant laws and regulations by production enterprises and lax supervision by relevant management departments, there are still a large number of genetically modified products on the market that are not labeled according to regulations. However, consumers have the right to obtain information about genetically modified products, and have the right to choose whether to buy genetically modified foods. Producers of genetically modified products should fully respect consumers' informed choices.
Third, the ethical principles that should be observed in the development of transgenic technology.
(A) the principle of respect
Respecting the autonomy of patients or subjects means respecting their right to make their own decisions. In the development and application of transgenic technology, we should respect the rights of others. Different countries, different nationalities, different religions and different cultural backgrounds. In today's civilized society, everyone is endowed with many rights, which the public living in the world should have. Consumers can have the right to know and the right to choose, so that consumers can know which genetically modified crops are processed or whether the feed eaten by animals is genetically modified products. Clear logo is a kind of respect for consumers, and the development of technology should be people-oriented, so as to contribute to social stability. Respect includes not only respect for people themselves, but also respect for animals. Animals have their own lives, and now the experiments of transgenic technology are all carried out on animals. Many animal protection organizations are opposed to experimenting with animals. We should respect the rights of animals.
(2) The principle of no harm
The principle of no harm is the most common principle in bioethics, which requires that the harm to patients or research objects should be considered first and minimized. Transgenic technology can't harm people and other organisms in the development process, which involves the safety of transgenic technology in the development and application process. Only safety can guarantee not to be hurt, and life safety is the most basic principle of not hurting, and life can continue. Food produced by transgenic technology may pose a threat to human health. Although transgenic therapy can bring good news to patients, it will hurt patients if the privacy of genes is leaked.
(3) the principle of justice
For a long time, the issue of justice has been one of the topics concerned by human society, and it is also a classic topic discussed by ethicists, economists and sociologists. Justice principle is the most important ethical principle. China wrote justice into the moral code in the Spring and Autumn Period, and his concern was how to balance conflicting rights and ensure that the reasonable interests of different stakeholders were met. Patents of transgenic technology are held by developed countries, mainly Monsanto, DuPont and Novartis in Switzerland, which monopolize transgenic technology. This will lead to the monopoly of technology, and the gap between the rich and the poor will become wider and wider. In addition, any life has the right and value to exist. Human beings' ethical thinking on the application of other transgenic technologies and their concern for life are basically their own concerns. The fundamental reason why people are responsible for all life is to be responsible for themselves. The sanctity of life is the eternal pursuit of mankind. Therefore, we must also maintain biological fairness.
(3) Ecological principles
Human beings are the product of the long-term development of nature, and human development cannot be separated from the unique natural environment of the earth. Emphasizing people's purpose and attaching importance to people's initiative and positive creativity does not regard nature as the object of conquest, domination, possession and utilization, but strives to protect nature while transforming it. Nature is the foundation of human survival and development, and the harmonious coexistence between man and nature can ensure sustainable development. Only by realizing the transformation of human civilization from industrial civilization to ecological civilization and raising the thinking of environmental crisis to the height of civilization criticism can we really find a way to solve and overcome the current serious environmental crisis. Only by taking respect for nature as the basic criterion to adjust the relationship between man and nature can human beings achieve the reconciliation between civilization and nature. This is the ethical need of human survival and development, and it is also the basic moral principle that transgenic technology should have.
Principles of protecting species diversity
Ecological ethics holds that we must maintain the cycle of the ecosystem, the integrity of the whole ecosystem and the balance of the ecosystem. Biodiversity helps to maintain the stability and balance of the ecosystem. There is a law of "survival of the fittest" in nature, and there are all biological chains, which constitute the whole ecosystem. All living things on the earth are equal, have the right to survive and reproduce, and cannot be destroyed to satisfy human conquest of nature. Exogenous genes in transgenic crops are mainly herbicide-resistant, disease-resistant and insect-resistant genes, which may be transferred to adjacent wild crops with pollen to produce weeds with strong stress resistance in nature. Insect-resistant transgenic technology may not only kill beneficial insects, but also make pests more resistant to drugs and become more difficult to kill. Transgenic technology can reduce the harm of pests to plants, but improper application will also lead to the destruction of biological chains between species, lack of competition between species, and accelerate the speed of species extinction. When people study and apply transgenic plants, they should also consider the destruction of species diversity.
refer to
[1] Ethical principles in the policy-making of poplar transgenic technology. Journal of Nanjing Forestry University, 2009( 1).
Xue Dayuan. Safety and management of genetically modified organisms. Beijing: Science Press, 2009.
[3] Mao Xinzhi. Ethical perspective of genetically modified food safety. Journal of Wuhan University of Technology, 2007( 1).