Ethical aspects of genetically modified organisms release into the environment

Abstract

The introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment has become highly controversial worldwide. The main objections concern possible risks to human health, environment and unease about the ‘unnatural’ status of the recombinant DNA technology. The general principles of ethics are respect for life and the need for a balance of benefit over harm resulting from any intervention. Ethically based decisions depend on two kinds of judgements: factual (based on scientific evidence and theories), and ethical (based on the best available moral philosophy theories). Science is concerned with understanding the world in which we live in and in particular the causal relationships that shape the world while ethics is concerned with what we ought to do or not to do. Ethical principles provide standards for the evaluation of practices of policies. Decisions on what is right to do will be made after balancing the benefits of a technology like genetic engineering with its potential harms. However, ethical decisions concerning genetic modification has proved to be very challenging because it brings together so many ethical aspects of our life that include personal, medical, environmental, political, business, animal and scientific ethics besides religion. In this paper, several ethical principles, guidelines and issues for the release of GMOs into the environment and related problems are discussed