For my communication research task, I decided to do it based around the topic of genetic modification. I wanted to go into the details of genetic modification specifically in humans and babies and explore the ethical considerations surrounding it. I decided to choose this as my topic because first of all it is a topic I’m personally quite interested in because the idea that we can change so many aspects of a human like even their physical ability and do all of these changes before they’re even born just fascinates me. I also thought it would be a good topic to pursue because it covers many aspects of STEM such as the science, technological and engineering aspect of it. Genetic modification is also definitely something that is starting to become an important part of our lives, genetic engineering for example is used on a daily basis in food. It also has a really strong impact in our lives as well. However, just many advancements in science and technology, comes along some ethical issues, and after touching on this topic before in grade 8, i liked learning about the opinions society has on this matter. So I decided to make my question, “after considering ethical principles, to what extent should genetic modification in humans be deemed acceptable?”

Starting off, I had to decide how I wanted to present my project. At first I was thinking of doing an infographic as it is a great way to quickly and efficiently convey across information but then after thinking about it for a while, I realised it probably wouldn’t be suitable for my project because infographics are quite useful for presenting information with lots of charts and data and my project doesn’t involve much quantitative data. My next idea was to do a simple google slides and do a voiceover but I figured that wouldn’t be interesting, So I decided to go with the idea of having slides with a voiceover but tweaked it a little so that it would be more animated and more visually appealing to watch. Next was doing the research.

So during this process I touched on the form of genetic modification that is used for eradicating diseases and disabilities. Starting off, I did some research into the process to do all this and how it’s done is basically during IVF a process where sperm and eggs are extracted then fertilised together before being put back into the mother, doctors also do something called PGD where they just scan the embryos for any diseases or disabilities that may be inherited from the parents, they then choose the embryos that are not affected and put those back into the mother. Of course an ethical issues came up that it is unfair for people with disabilities because who gets to determine the idea that a child who may be born with a disability is seen as something to be gotten rid of.

Next I moved forward onto the other type of genetic modification which modifies traits in people. Now this had A LOT more ethical problems that came up, starting off, people don’t like the idea that it is possible to genetically engineer and change traits in their children because parents may be influenced by beauty norms meaning most of them may stray towards making their children look a specific way, and overtime there is risk of people developing a eugenic mindset, thinking that only those with a specific appearance is superior and obviously we don’t want that because it is very similar to the nazi experience and we all know how that turned out. Another problem was that only rich people would be able to afford this procedure and if the rich have the ability to make their children smarter and more athletically capable, for example,  this automatically gives them an even larger advantage over poor people and will eventually result in even larger economic disparity. 

These are just some of the ethical problems related to genetic modification, that I decided to explore in order to understand to what extent it should be considered acceptable.

my final conclusion was that genetic modification can be considered extremely beneficial to some people and can be seen as acceptable and good but only to some extent,  to help those who are affected by diseases, i see that form of genetic modification as acceptable. in terms of eradicating disabilities however, i think that’s still up for a lot of discussion. for the other aspect, which is more focused on changing appearances intelligence etc, this aspect of genetic modification is not something that should be made possible. All of the ethical issues that come along with this one leads only to a strong divide between members of society something we should not want.

While I already knew some opinions people had on the matter of genetic modification, while making my presentation and doing my research, I found out about some new opinions that I had never considered before and it was just really interesting to get both sides of the story and even find out the opinions of those who are directly affected by this matter for example people with down syndrome. 

When looking into the different ethical issues, I realised how much of an impact genetic modification can have in all of our lives especially the form of modification where you can change traits and abilities, because as you can see from my research, if it became possible and also got approval by governments to be done on people, it could really change the way society works and how people perceive each other and it really would have a most probably negative impact on future generations as well. 

In terms of making the project itself, I got to first of all, develop my research skills including slowly making it easier for me to skim through a website and pick out only essential information, but also how to effectively convey across my information within a time constraint. By making an animated presentation video, this gave me the chance to learn how to better utilise online resources and websites to make my project, this is useful for if I ever need to make another one of these presentations in the future. 

well starting off, in terms of improvements, I could try and incorporate more quantitative data into to my presentation, maybe finding some data that can be conveyed across numerically such as percentages on… maybe the number of people affected by inherited diseases or the number of countries that have banned genetic modification.through this i would be able to convey across my information both quantitatively  and qualitatively. I could probably also try and do more research into the scientific aspect, going even more deeper into the sciences of the different processes of genetic modification. I could also try and include more real life photos or videos, or use icons that are more relevant and scientific to the task at hand. I could also get more into the details of scientists or governments and their own ethical considerations on genetic modification or any set guidelines they have on this matter.

Overall this was fun project as it let me pursue a topic I’m personally interested in but also get a deeper understanding on genetic modification and its impact on our lives.