Roberta Berry

Roberta Berry, an associate professor in Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy, told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that the U.S. Constitution should provide the framework to debate policy and ethical issues surrounding genetic engineering of humans.

The Constitution provides a set of values, or foundational norms — such as the promotion of welfare, science and the useful arts, the protection of liberty and equal protection — that are part of Americans’ shared political heritage, Berry said. Debate ensues about how to apply these norms in such cases as embryonic stem cell research.

"But controversy has arisen about whether other values — in particular, the safety of human subjects and the sanctity of human life — have been given short shrift in the push to make scientific and technological breakthroughs," she said. "Genetic engineering will be one focal point of debate about this interface between science, technology and society because it will force consideration of the value and meaning of human life itself."

Although genetic engineering of human beings may seem the stuff of science fiction, researchers have already created human artificial chromosomes to produce transgenic animals and to administer gene therapy to living humans. Some observers believe gene modules copied from known natural genes that seem to predispose humans to certain desirable features could be inserted on these synthetic chromosomes and introduced into a human ovum or zygote, Berry said.

"Genetic engineering will be the focal point of disagreement about whether parents, if they are permitted to engineer their children, will be exercising their rights to raise their children as they see fit, or will be engaged in child abuse or inappropriate efforts to control rather than educate their children — thus requiring the intervention of the government to protect and promote the welfare of these future children," she said.