Keywords: life science, biotechnology, the impact on human life
With the development of biological science, biotechnology has an increasing influence on human society. This is mainly manifested in the following aspects: 1. Ideas that affect people, such as evolutionism and ecology, are being accepted by more and more people. 2. Promote the improvement of social productivity, such as the biotechnology industry is forming a new industry; Due to the application of biological science and technology, agricultural productivity has been significantly improved. With the development of biological science, more and more people will engage in biology-related occupations. 4. Promote people to improve their health and quality of life and prolong their life. 5. Affect people's way of thinking, such as the development of ecology to promote people's overall thinking; With the development of brain science, biotechnology will help to improve human thinking. 6. Impact on the ethical system of human society, such as IVF, organ transplantation, artificial modification of human genes, etc. Will challenge the existing ethical system of human society. 7. The development of biotechnology may also have a negative impact on society and nature. For example, large-scale production of genetically modified organisms to transform the natural gene pool of species may affect the stability of the biosphere. Understanding the relationship between science and technology and society is an important part of scientific quality.
I. Biology and Gene Technology
The progress of biology and gene technology has prompted biomedical research to enter the post-genomic medicine era. These cutting-edge medical technologies not only improve people's health and well-being, but also bring unprecedented influence to families and communities. Some of these effects may still be potential.
(1) transgenic organisms
Scientists use genetically modified crops to promote bumper harvests, control pests and diseases, improve economic benefits, and hope to solve human food shortage or nutrition problems. But will genetically modified crops produce new allergens, new health problems for human beings, insect resistance and so-called genetic pollution? How to evaluate the risks, safety and benefits of genetically modified crops to nature and human society? How will the patent rights of genetically modified crops be regulated? Will its huge commercial interests aggravate the capitalist's economic control or exploitation of vulnerable groups and third world countries? In the final analysis, what should be the ideal relationship between people and plants and natural ecology?
(2) Gene detection:
Genetic testing is helpful to the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of genetic diseases. The timing of implementation is common in premarital health examination, pre-implantation examination, prenatal examination, neonatal screening, genetic examination for children and adults, etc. The nature of detection can be divided into diagnostic detection, carrier detection, pre-onset detection and disease tendency detection. Because genetic information is not only related to individuals, but also closely related to the health of families or other family members, obtaining and informing genetic information often brings special medical ethics problems, including: psychological burden and social pressure brought by genetic information, the influence of informing genetic diagnosis results on individuals and families, the conflict between protecting personal privacy and the interests of family members, the allocation of medical resources caused by genetic testing, social justice and so on.
(3) Gene therapy:
Scientists hope that gene therapy can bring dawn to the treatment of various major causes of death, chronic diseases and genetic diseases, which are generally divided into somatic gene therapy and germ cell gene therapy. Somatic cell gene therapy is aimed at the somatic cells of patients who have been ill or will be ill, and medical intervention is carried out at the gene level, and good genes are delivered to the somatic cells or tissues to be treated by using viruses as carriers or physical methods to replace or repair defective genes and exert normal physiological functions. Ethical issues related to somatic gene therapy are basically the same as those that must be considered in general new medical technology and clinical trials. Among them, what procedures should be adopted to fairly select patients for treatment? What measures should be taken to ensure the informed consent of patients or their parents or guardians? Germ cell gene therapy is to control germ cells or embryos through genes, so as to eradicate the cause once and for all. However, direct gene intervention in germ cells may change the gene combination of newborns, cause long-term iatrogenic damage, and may cause doubts about the development of designers, gene supermarkets, selling genes for profit, coupmakers and so on. These problems are or will soon have a great impact on human family, social ethics and moral practice, and should be included in the thinking scope of bioethics.