When genetic engineering was first discovered, governments rushed to place bans and restrictions on it. The sheer power one could wield was enough to scare anyone. The problem now is that the governments have other things to do now, and genetic engineering is blown to the side. This has two different effects, with each being the complete opposite of the other. The first is the extent of the laws surrounding human engineering and eugenics. Since there is no real push for the government to start making it easy to do genetic engineering, there will be no immunization to diseases and increased health that genetic engineering could lead to. There are other problems going on, and the government can't be focusing on possibly creating another with the loosening of laws on genetic engineering in humans. Another problem in human genetic engineering is that much of the human genome has been patented by one party or another. Most of a human's DNA is owned exclusively by some corporation. This makes it difficult to actually mess with any piece of the human genome because you would have to work through all of the patents. Also it can be hard for the new people in the field to get a patent as “In order to be patented, an invention must fulfill 3 criteria- it requires an innovated step, it must be novel, and it must be useful. Many patents on life struggle on the first two” (News Internationalist, 94)
The other problem is the inverse. While the laws for human engineering are strict, the laws for engineering food and animals are incredibly loose. Tons of what we eat is not how that organism would occur in it's natural state. We use engineering to make crops bigger, better, and immune to to common diseases. However, this leads to a vast decrease in genetic diversity as the natural state of the crop would be far harder for a farmer to grow. So when w finally find a disease that can harm our 'super crop' it will wipe that crop off the face of the earth. With no diversity, there will be no crops that are able to withstand the disease. Also we don't fully understand the specifics of every change in an organism that we might make. And with out someone to monitor it, we could be creating very dangerous food products that are unfit and unsafe to consume.
Some currently instated laws concerning genetic engineering:
The Human Cloning Prohibition Act makes it illegal to "1) perform or attempt to perform human cloning, 2) participate in an attempt to perform cloning, or 3) ship or receive the product of human cloning for any purpose. The Act also imposes penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment and no less than $1,000,000 for breaking the law."
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety Environment is a treaty signed by over 50 countries that protects the countries from the dangers of biotechnology."The Protocol applies to the transboundary movement, transit, handling and use of all living modified organisms that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health (Article 4 of the Protocol, SCBD 2000)."
