This is a striking book (original title: 遺伝子改造). Osamu Kanamori (金森修) is a leading scholar who has critically studied interactions between science and society. He has been assigned to governmental committees on bioethics and has strongly opposed the hasty introduction of new medical technologies. In this book, Kanamori carefully examines the ethical problems of genetic modification. The conclusion is rather striking, or even shocking: it is quite difficult to resist our tendency to modify our own genes.
The genetic modification of human beings has constituted one of the most important debates in bioethics. Can we design and construct a “better embryo” to make a healthy, beautiful, and intelligent child? Can we recombine our own genes to enhance our physical and mental abilities? Although these questions seem somewhat fictional, they are becoming more and more real after the achievement of the Human Genome Project. Most arguments in bioethics, especially in Japan, have adopted a negative view of genetic modification. These arguments support only gene therapy, which is used to treat patients with incurable diseases such as ADA deficiency. Further, they have argued that this therapy should be limited to somatic cells and that modifications of germ-line cells should be considered taboo. This is because genetic modification reminds us of the appalling history of eugenics. In recent American bioethics, however, many scholars such as Arthur Caplan have begun to adopt a positive stance on genetic modification. They argue that, under the principle of autonomy, it is impossible to prohibit someone from modifying his or her own genes. Kanamori refers to these scholars as “liberal new eugenics” and carefully examines their arguments.
