Article Tools BIOETHICS FOR BEGINNERS Future Direction In Medical Ethics New challenges that will continue well into the 21st century by Arthur L. Caplan, Glenn McGee New genetic technologies promise to make medical ethics an even more central part of social decision making. The Human Genome Project, a 15-year, federally funded $3 billion effort to code the entire human genetic map, has already resulted in the discovery of a number of genes that may lead to particular diseases or traits. This project will also give individuals more information about their own genetic make-up. Medical ethicists are debating whether or not this genetic information is the exclusive property of patients, or is instead properly the concern of insurers, employers, and society. Gene therapies are also being developed that use genetically engineered viruses to manipulate the cells of patients. Some have wondered about whether the manipulation of human cells through genetic engineering is somehow contrary to the laws of nature or religion; others have proposed that it will lead to the manipulation of human sperm or eggs for eugenic purposes (improving the hereditary qualities of a race). Cloning, the production of organisms genetically identical to a parent, has also become a controversial topic in medical ethics. In 1997 Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut and his colleagues announced the birth of a sheep named Dolly that was produced from a cell of an adult female sheep. The next year scientists in South Korea announced that they had created an embryo from the cells of an adult woman, although they halted the embryo's growth when it consisted of only four cells. These events, and several other successful attempts at cloning mammals, made many people think that cloning humans may one day be possible. This possibility has touched off a debate about the ethics of creating human clones, the circumstances under which human cloning might be used, and the possibility of using the technique to manipulate the traits of children. This issue, as most of the ethical issues mentioned in this article, remains unresolved and will continue to challenge medical ethicists well into the 21st century. Posted: 2004-06-07