in the profession of genetic bioengineering, how could one stay loyal to the faith but continue research? i mean, how does the church feel about altering genes of a fetus to change a mutation? how do they feel about altering a humans genes to stop a tumor, or to prevent a tumor. Is it alright to test DNA to see if you have a probabitlity for cancer? any help would be good

pls, only catholics, cause i need christian view points|||Bioethics and Biotechnology cover a lot of issues.

The Catholic Church supports some of those issues and does not support others.

Catholics believe that from the moment of conception until natural death, each human being is endowed by God with dignity and rights.

As long as this human dignity and these human rights are protected, the Church has no problem with Biotechnology.

For example, the Church

Supports stem cell research as long as the stem cells were not taken from an aborted human being

Is not against the use of Biotechnology in agriculture but advocates prudence and regulation

Is absolutely against human cloning but rarely mentions non-human cloning

Websites:

http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/bioe…

http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/bioe…

Articles:

http://www.catholic.org/featured/headlin…

http://www.catholic.org/featured/headlin…

With love in Christ.|||Two different types of gene therapy exist: somatic and germ line. There are three forms of somatic gene therapy: ex vivo, in which cells are removed from the body, corrected, and replaced to correct the disease; in situ, in which the new gene is placed directly into the locus of the disease; and in vivo, in which the corrected gene is put in the bloodstream to travel to the appropriate tissue. Germ-line therapy remedies a genetic problem by placing corrected cells in the germ cells of the embryo, thus correcting the condition for the individual and ensuring that the correction passes to his or her descendants.

Although there is some disagreement on this point, in my opinion, in general, the Catholic tradition, which places primacy on the dignity of the individual, would view such forms of therapy as it would other forms of medical experimentation. The key ethical issues are informed consent and the risk-benefit ratio. Thus Catholic healthcare providers would have no general objection in principle to gene therapy, but would resolve the issue on a case-by-case basis.|||You are going to get a very narrow view of bioethics if you insist on limiting replies to catholics. Read about the inquisition and the crusades and of catholic participation in the Holocaust to learn the catholic ethic.