[Is gene technology immoral?].

Abstract

Since it came into being in the USA in the early 1970s, gene technology has always been fundamentally controversial, especially in the German-speaking countries. The optimistic--or critical--supporters of gene technology are convinced that, in view of gene technology's not otherwise attainable advantages for human and animal health, for food production and other important aims, it would be ethically unacceptable to restrict to the minimum or even ban it. On the other hand, the radical critics are convinced that gene technology, in view of its anthropologically false starting-point, the questionable interests behind it, and above all its unforeseeable, serious negative implications for mankind and environment, is unacceptable on ethical grounds. Critical reflexion on these polarized arguments must start from the question why precisely gene technology is so controversial, and what are the criteria for ethical assessment. These reflexions presuppose that the prior judgement of gene technology as a technology in the ideological field is rooted in life attitudes, history and nature in general, and this is true not only of gene technology's opponents but also its supporters. It is thus a question of one ideology vs. another. Chief importance here attaches to the mankind-nature relationship and the need to take seriously the fundamental ambivalence of all (!) human action with unforeseeable consequences. The conclusion is that neither to demonize nor to glorify gene technology, as a matter of principle, does justice to its wide and varied positive or negative potential. The ethical assessment of gene technology must be differentiated according to the aims and possible implications.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)