Ethical Issues. Much of the debate about genetically modified food and crops has been a matter of comparing benefits and risks

Much of the debate about genetically modified food and crops has been a matter of comparing benefits and risks. As described in Chapter 4, cost-benefit analysis first involves estimating risks and benefits— an empirical matter—and then a comparative eval­uation in which one tries to determine the various values to show whether the positive values out­weigh the negative consequences. Longer and healthier lives for more people weigh on the posi­tive side, and risks to both weigh on the negative side. There is also the problem of how to count speculative and unknown risks and who should prove what. If we are risk-averse and come down on the side of conservatism, then we may avoid unknown risks but also eliminate possible benefits, including that of saving lives.

A different ethical issue that concerns some people is the whole idea of interfering with nature. Are there not natural species of plants as well as animals that we should respect and not manipu­late? One problem with this line of criticism is that it is difficult to distinguish good forms of manipu­lating nature from unacceptable ones. Those who object on these grounds may point out that cross-species transfers are what is objectionable. One problem with this objection is that similar trans­fers have occurred in nature—that is, if some essential elements of evolutionary theory are true.

418 PART TWO ■ ETHICAL ISSUES

Genetically modified animals may present some of the same ethical problems, for there are benefits and risks to be compared and also transfers among species. Some of the benefits from genetic modifi­cations can be seen in animals such as goats, rab­bits, and cows, which may be modified to include pharmaceuticals in their milk. PPL Therapeutics in the United Kingdom, for example, has been "exper­imenting with transgenic sheep's milk to produce protein drugs for cystic fibrosis and hemophilia."⁵² Other species may be modified to produce more meat or meat with less fat or to have better resis­tance to disease. Still, in other cases, these prac­tices promote economic efficiency. Genetically modified animals may also benefit us in other ways. For example, pigs have been created with human genes. The reason for this is that pig organs are sim­ilar to human organs and, if modified with human genes, may be transplanted into humans without immune rejection. This is called xenotransplantation. Cloned animals also present a kind of case of genet­ically modified animal. In the process of cloning, genes may be inserted or removed. One company has cloned five pigs—Millie, Christa, Alexis, Carrel, and Dotcom—with human genes as a prelude to use for transplants.⁵³

Genetically modified (GM) animals are used in research. (See, for example, the knockout mice example from the previous chapter.) But they also might provide "better yields of meat, eggs, and milk."⁵⁴ Still, they may also pose risks. For example, some critics worry that farm-raised and genetically altered salmon, if released into the wild, might harm other species of fish.⁵⁵ There is uneasiness, too, about combining elements of different species because it transgresses natural boundaries. The same responses to these ethical problems here can be given as in the case of plants, however. In addi­tion, the yuck objection is sometimes raised here also. For example, just the thought of having a pig heart or lung within one's own body might provoke this reaction in some people. The same response regarding the objection to human cloning noted earlier in this chapter may also be given here. Among the ethical issues that apply to animals but not plants is their ethical or humane treatment. This may involve not only the engineering of them but

also their suffering and death—as in the case of pigs whose organs would be transplanted or mice who would be given a human cancer. (See the previous chapter on animal rights for more on this problem.)

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