It is always important to give some thought to your own ethics and to your expectations relating to the ethics of others. The strongest tool for influencing ethics in your society is to cast your vote with knowledge and confidence. Answer the following questions in relation to the way you may cast votes in the future. Read carefully, voting can be tricky.
Circle your “vote” and explain your position on the issue with as much clarity as possible:
1)Reproductive cloning research in humans is banned. Would you support a law that allowed for the use of human cloning for reproduction?
YES NO Explain your reasons: ______
2)Transgenic pets are banned in most of America because irresponsible pet owners may release pets accidentally or intentionally into the wild. Would you support the lifting of this ban? This would allow people to own genetically modified pets without limitation as to what types of modifications engineering may create.
YES NO Explain your reasons: ______
3)Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis has been used for years to test for certain genetic disorders. This allows couples who are going through in-vitro fertilization a chance to select the healthiest of their embryos for implantation. There will likely be the possibility in the future for parents to select embryos based on other traits besides health. Would you support a law that limited freedom of choice for parents who are creating their future children, requiring them to prove the benefit to the child for their choices?
YES NO Explain your reasons: ______
4)Genetically modified food has been used in America for decades. These foods have not yet shown to be harmful to most humans, although they may have different nutritional value. Some GM crops have shown that they can negatively affect the ecology of the areas where they grow. America has no laws requiring labeling of GM foods even though other countries have these laws in place. The absence of labels is due to concern from manufacturing companies that sales would decrease due to unfair bias against GM foods. Would you support a law that required labeling of all foods with even trace amounts of GM products?
YES NO Explain your reasons: ______
5)Recently a new law passed that made it illegal to own or patent a gene. Many corporations want to have this new law overturned so that they can make more profit from genetic information. Would you support a petition to have this law overturned?
YES NO Explain your reasons: ______
6)Insurance companies do not usually pay for experimental medical procedures and treatments. For many patients with genetic disorders there are no approved treatments for their conditions. Gene therapy offers hope of treating several diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, but the patients must pay for these treatments. Would you support a law that required the government (taxpayers) to pay for experimental gene therapies for any family who could not afford the extremely high costs?
YES NO Explain your reasons: ______