Team:SDU-Denmark/Tour52

Ethics

Living organisms can be manipulated genetically so they obtain specific characteristics. Such modifications of organisms are obtained by inserting genetic material from other living organisms. Source: Marshall, S: Genetically Modified Organisms and Food. Nutrition & Food Science, 1994.94:1,4-7. (Link) A genetically modified organism (GMO) is associated with uncertainty by many. Source: Mehta, M.: Public perceptions of genetically engineered foods: “Playing God” or trusting science Risk. Health, Safety and Environment, 2001. 12,205–220. (Link) Consequently, many countries have strict regulations or laws against use of GMOs or both. The European Union particularity tend to have strict regulations regarding GMOs. Source: Davison, J.: GM plants: Science, politics and EC regulations. Plant Science, 2010. 178,94–98. (Link) Source: Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2003 concerning the traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms and the traceability of food and feed products produced from genetically modified organisms and amending Directive 2001/18/EC (Official Journal L 268, 18/10/2003 P. 0024 – 0028) (Link)
In Africa regulations of GMOs are also strict although GMOs have great potential in relation to food and crops. Source: Paarlberg, R.: GMO foods and crops: Africa's choice. New Biotechnology, 2010.27:5,609–613. (Link) The regulations of GMOs in Africa are based on the consumers perception’s, rather than on health and food safety, which is noteworthy. Source: Viljoen, C.D and Marx, G.M.: The implications for mandatory GM labelling under the Consumer Protection Act in South Africa. Food Control, 2013.31:2,387–391. (Link)

Manipulation of living organisms gives rise to questions of the public whether the interest of the GMO seems profitable or not. One of the central questions, which has given rise to public debate is whether scientists pretend to be God by constructing GMOs. Source: Mehta, M.: Public perceptions of genetically engineered foods: “Playing God” or trusting science Risk. Health, Safety and Environment, 2001. 12,205–220. (Link)

But what role does the scientist play in the debate?
Studies suggests that individuals with lower levels of scientific knowledge are equivalently skeptical towards science. Source: Einsiedel, E.F.: Mental Maps of Science: Knowledge and attitude Among Canadian Adults. Int J Public Opin Res, 1994.6:1,35-44. (Link) Lack of scientific knowledge indicates a necessity of dissemination of research done by the scientists. Especially research of genetically modified food is dependent on the applications in society. This is emphasized by the distinction between the use of GMOs in agriculture compared to the production of pharmaceutics, which has been described by C. Marris in her article about public views on GMOs. Source: Marris, C: Public views on GMOs: deconstructing the myths. EMBO reports, 2001.2:7,545-548. (Link) This means that people are more likely to accept GMOs if they recognize an effect of a product, which is a well-known property of pharmaceutics. It is therefore important to include the public in the laboratory work in hope of preventing the linkage between synthetic engineering and insecurity. Thereby, it is important that a scientist does not become ignorant to this reality but rather aims at converting science.

Would it be an ethical issue to eat genetically modified bacteria?

One question in our questionnaire was: Would you eat GMO or food produced by GMOs? Possible answers were yes, no, maybe, I don’t think so, and I don’t know. We received a total of 259 answers; 43.66 % yes, 8.11 % no, 33.98 % maybe, 8.11 % I don’t think so and 6.18 % I don’t know. As mentioned above, GMOs are organisms where the DNA has been modified; some people might even say has been tampered with. It is important to notice, that not everyone is familiar with the procedure of genetically modification, and this perhaps leads to skepticism or the development of fear for the unknown. But is it only the ignorance which means that people are hostile to GMOs or what else is the reason why 16.22% of the surveyed maybe or for sure see an ethical issue in eating genetically modified bacteria. Maybe it is even the opposite, that people does know a lot about GMOs, and that they are afraid of the risk and hazard, that is enclosed in genetically modification. Maybe those people would change their minds, if they can be guaranteed that the system is safe, for humans and for the environment. Furthermore, it might be import to well consider, which genes are going to be used in the development of GMOs. As synthetic biologist we know that genes are build up by the same four bases, Thymine, Guanine, Adenine and Cytosine, and we know that the difference between genes is the sequence of these four bases, but vegans and vegetarians for example might see an ethical issue in using genes from animals. Would people, who for various reasons don’t eat meat, eat a product produced with genes from an animal? Is the use of animal genes in GMOs a real ethical issue, or is this a good example of lack of knowledge? Another aspect that could be taken into consideration is the fact that medicine produced with the use of GMOs, is accepted by many people. Do they accept the medicine because they don’t know how it is produced, or do they accept it because they can feel and notice an improvement when using these products? Would people though also accept Edible coli as a food source once they even can feel the many advantages that Edible coli leads to?