The Commited MAY 2015 | Page 38

TED ANTALYA COLLEGE / 8-B Today’s Ethical Dilemmas Nehir ARNAZ 36 With the developments of technology, we encounter new ethical dilemmas each day. For example, people have discussed about the project, “designer babies”. In this project, people can change their babies’ genes in the embryo stage. The project can be used to remove genes that cause health problems. A lot of people count it as a treatment so they think it is ethical, while others believe that it is changing things that are meant to be. Another ethical dilemma is whether or not extinct species should be brought back to life. Some people say that they should be brought back to life to balance ecological issues, while others think that they shouldn’t be brought back to life because that would mess with the environment. In my opinion, species have become extinct because of natural selection or a natural cause shouldn’t be brought back to life, but extinct species can be brought back to life to balance the eco-system. A different example would be the question of GMO based crops. People ask whether all crops should be GMObased or not. Some think that they should be because they are more nutritious and with the amount of crops we get, we can feed more hungry people while others think that they shouldn’t be because they harm the environment and they cause cancer. In my opinion, instead of making all crops GMO-based, making a part of them GMO-based would be much more sensible. The last ethical dilemma is about technology that increases human lifespan dramatically. Some people think that they contribute to the nature. In my opinion, we shouldn’t increase our lifespan. People have already damaged the planet enough and it would be way worse when we live even longer. Finally, ethical dilemmas are one of the endless discussions. Whatever side you are on, you will always find the other side sensible too. The best thing we can do is not to damage the environment.