Designing Animals: Ethical Issues for Genetic Engineers

• Published in: Journal of dairy science Vol. 75; no. 8; pp. 2294 - 2303
• Main Author: Thompson, Paul B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Savoy, IL Elsevier Inc 01.08.1992; Am Dairy Sci Assoc; American Dairy Science Association
• Subjects: Animal productions; ANIMAL TRANSGENIQUE; ANIMALES TRANSGENICOS; Animals; Bioethics; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; BREVET; ethical issues, genetic engineering; Ethics; ETHIQUE; ETICA; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic Engineering; GENIE GENETIQUE; INGENIERIA GENETICA; PATENTES; Patents as Topic; Personal Autonomy; Religion; Terrestrial animal productions; Transfection; Vertebrates; ethical issues, genetic engineering; Biotechnology; Patents; Ethics; Reproduction; Transgenic animal; Genetic engineering; Patent rights; Genetics and Reproduction; Biomedical and Behavioral Research
• ISSN: 0022-0302; 1525-3198
• DOI: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(92)77991-0

Two general philosophical approaches to ethical issues in property rights are described. Instrumental approaches take property rights to be means for achieving goals such as social efficiency or economic growth. Labor approaches take property rights to be fundamental human rights that protect liberty or that assign ownership of goods based on criteria of desert. A thought experiment is used to illustrate the relevance of these theories to intellectual property. Alternative strategies for application of ethical theory to animal biotechnology are surveyed. The choice of an approach determines a burden of proof that must be met before property claims can be ethically sanctioned, but the question of which approach should be applied to animal biotechnology remains open. Ethical issues raised by unwanted consequences of biotechnology and religious objections to gene transfer are briefly summarized with emphasis on how these issues have influenced public debate on animal patents.