UNIT ONE
Basic Genetics: A Starting Point

Get Your Ethical Bearings

Instructions
Section One: Human and Non-Human Considerations
Section Two: Mendelian and Post-Mendelian Considerations
Section Three: Mutations
Section Four: The Human Genome Project

Instructions
The following exercise is designed to help you think about your current opinions about some ethical issues tied to current genetic research. Do one or both of the following:

• Print out the following form or copy and past it into a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Read each section and answer the questions. There are no right or wrong answers. This exercise is designed to give you a benchmark of your current opinions. In this way you will be able to gage your progress as you consider the variety of ethical and policy issues presented in this course. Keep a copy of your answers in the binder or notebook that you are using for this course.

• Read each section and participate in a group discussion about the questions.

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Section One: Human and Non-Human Considerations
Review the information presented on page 17 of the Basic Genetics Manual: “Human and Non-Human Genes. Consider the following:

In terms of numbers of genes, human beings are not much more complex than certain worms or plants. In many cases, the genes themselves are also very similar (e.g. humans share 90% of our genes with mice; 98.4% of our genes with chimpanzees).

What does this imply about the idea that humans have a lot in common with other creatures?

How does this manifest itself?

Does this mean that humans are, in fact, one with other creatures?

Despite genetic similarities, common sense tells us that humans are different in key ways from other creatures.

Does anything in the Basic Genetic Manual address these differences?

In your opinion, what other factors influence these differences?

Do they contradict or compliment what you have learned so far about genetics?

Genesis 1:26 states “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

How does the genetic information in the Basic Genetics Manual impact your understanding of this passage?

Does this compliment or complicate you current view about humans being created in the image of God?

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Section Two: Mendelian and
Post-Mendelian Considerations
Using the information on Mendelian and post Mendelian genetics in the Basic Genetics Manual (pages 11 and 12), consider the following:

How do Mendelian and post Mendelian genetics add to your understanding of how each human being is unique from the other?

Does this information compliment or compliment your current view about redemption and resurrection—or what the source of healing and new life is?

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Section Three: Mutations
Using the information on mutations on page 13 of the Basic Genetics Manual, consider the following:

The scientists who are learning to read our genes area discovering that our DNA has many errors or mutations. The DNA in our cells undergoes an estimated 30 new mutations in our lifetime. And each of us inherits hundreds of genetic mutations from our parents.

How does this information impact your current view about humans as creations in the Image of God?

Most mutations are harmless. Others have been tied to genetic disorders that could be fatal or cause disabilities that range from mild to severe. These disorders or their potential is then transmitted from generation to generation.

How does this information impact your current view about the pervasiveness of sin?

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Section Four: The Human Genome Project
Using the information on the Human Genome Project (HGP) that appears in Unit One, consider the following:

In June 2000, scientists announced a stunning achievement: the generation of a working draft sequence of the entire human genome (approximately 30,000 genes). This achievement is dramatically changing almost all biological and medical research.

Based on your current knowledge, what implications do you think this type of research will have on life in the 21st Century?

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Image source: Genomics and its Impact on Medicine and Society: A 2001 Primer, http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/publicat/primer2001/