Ramos, Kimberly G. Feb.

23, 2019

Reaction Paper On Unethical Experiments' Painful Contributions To Today's Medicine

“In the 20th century, we had a century where at the beginning of the century, most of the world was agricultural and
industry was very primitive. At the end of that century, we had men in orbit, we had been to the moon, we had people
with cell phones and colour televisions and the Internet and amazing medical technology of all kinds.“
-David Gerrold

From having been breathed by the Creator, to building empires, being in the great famine,
formulating a theory about evolution and natural selection, discovering penicillin, all while this planet moved
according to the laws of gravity. From simple beginnings endless forms most beautiful, yet ugly at times and
most wonderful but sometimes painful have been and are being, evolved. For over sixty years, we have
known the structure of DNA thanks to Watson and Crick, and for over a decade we have known every letter
in our DNA. ATCG: These four letters represent the molecules that make up our DNA, is subject to potentially
deadly or disabling mutations from the moment of conception, even the slightest error involving a single
letter can change our fate. In 2012, a biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues unveiled a gene-
editing tool CRISPR-Cas9. But what is CRISPR and how does it work? Right now, scientists understand some of
the basic syntax of the genetic code and can identify some obvious genetic errors or mutations that cause
disease. What sets CRISPR-Cas9 apart from earlier genetic modification techniques is its accuracy and
versatility: the enzymes that cut the targeted DNA are guided by short sequences of RNA that can be
custom-designed for any site in the genome. Sort of playing God with our genes!

The article for review talks about how scientist He Jiankui revealed that he modified the DNA
of twin girls before their birth. The modification with the gene editing tool mentioned above made the babies
resistant to HIV. Scientists from all over the world provided their opinions and many of them say that it is
unethical and unnecessary. Medical research involving human subjects is not new and has been
accompanied with scandal given its gruesome and abusive nature throughout history. Often the earliest
cited case is English physician Edward Jenner’s development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796, where he
injected an eight-year-old child with the pus taken from a cowpox infection and then deliberately exposed
her to an infected carrier of smallpox. Although Jenner’s experiment was, fortunately, successful, and we are
still reaping it’s benefits up to the present, the method of exposing a child to a deadly disease in this way
would undoubtedly be seen as unacceptable nowadays. Other examples include: the experiment that
involved prisoners to test anti-malarial drugs and perhaps the most notorious cases of unethical research
were revealed during the Nuremberg trials concerning Nazi experiments on concentration camp prisoners.

“You are priceless— fearfully and wonderfully made. God shaped and modeled you in your mother's womb. God
created you in his own image. You were created, redeemed, and are deeply loved and valued by God. Therefore, the
man who wants to be involved with you should have to count the cost.”
― Michelle McKinney Hammond
Ramos, Kimberly G. Feb. 23, 2019

Reaction Paper On Unethical Experiments' Painful Contributions To Today's Medicine

Research on human subjects is not intrinsically ethically dubious. That is not to say it doesn’t
contain ethical challenges, but these concerns can often be met. Nor does it diminish the immense social
importance and scientific relevance of involving human subjects in experiments and the huge improvement
in the quality of lives, the advancement of medicine and number of lives saved through such research. The
most pressing question in research ethics is often not whether we should be doing research but how can we
balance or justify exposing individual human subjects to risk for the sake of the advancement of science?
Matters are made even more complicated in cases where trials are conducted on subjects who are
potentially vulnerable or desperate. Particularly in this article where gene editing, originally intended for
Identifying and disabling a disease inside a cell was done on healthy embryos intended for IVF, which I think
are still part of the population who in general, lack the legal, moral, and practical ability to provide freely
given informed consent and the procedure became more of a gene surgery rather than a therapy. Sure,
there will be more implications and repercussions since they are now infants, who may be subject to further
studies since the extent of mutation is unknown and hence may pose harm to their future. I think that
experimental therapies may be justified for vulnerable populations only when such therapies are medically
necessary for them, and I cannot see that in this particular case

Since medical researches and clinical trials involving human subjects are inevitable, and the
DNA of the twins have already been modified. I firmly believe that what we can do now is not to create new
regulations but rather a strong enforcement of the guidelines that govern researches. Also, in a YouTube
video about Lulu and Nana, I saw that the scientist initially had good intention when he performed the gene
editing to prevent HIV and discouraging people to use the tool to make “designer babies” however the
timing and the execution of the experiment has a lot of loopholes as of this writing and hence his experiment
is frowned upon by the scientific community. I think that researches like this should be strongly built upon
compassion, competence, integrity; with the researchers using their God-given knowledge and skills for the
greater good and embodying the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence and justice as we carry out
our own studies and ensure that participants in these experiments are selected fairly and always treated with
respect for their autonomy; having said that, it is vital that we remain open for new possibilities and allowing
researches involving human subjects such as therapeutic trials (which would also include gene therapy) to
continue in the hope of disease prevention and finding cure, which may affect future generations. We must
also be cautious and be able to recognize the dangers that these advancements may cause us. As these
dangers lurk in the ways our society sometimes treats the vulnerable population especially children as objects
to be manipulated for the sake of science rather than as human beings who call for equity, acceptance,
and nurturing. Ultimately, my opinion as to how such researches shall proceed may not matter as I am but a
small voice… as we look at our past, may we always cultivate a sense of gratitude and reverence for what
our predecessors have given us — our evolved human nature, which brings forth bodies, minds, knowledge,
and practices that are awe-inspiring, and beautiful beyond anything in this world: It is a gift that we should
steward responsibly for the generations to come.

“You are priceless— fearfully and wonderfully made. God shaped and modeled you in your mother's womb. God
created you in his own image. You were created, redeemed, and are deeply loved and valued by God. Therefore, the
man who wants to be involved with you should have to count the cost.”
― Michelle McKinney Hammond