Genetic Engineering and Buddhism

Abstract

"Ancient religions such as Buddhism cannot be expected to provide any direct guidance on recent technology such as genetic engineering. However, the enduring strength of an ancient religion that continues to have hundreds of millions of adherents is that its principles can be interpreted without distortion to provide helpful guidance on issues that were undreamed of in the Buddha‘s day. Genetic engineering (hereafter GE) is one such issue. This paper defends the view that GE is not inherently inconsistent with Buddhism, but that Buddhists are rightly concerned about the risks of uncontrolled GE use. Indeed it may be that until we have learned a great deal more about these risks, we should adopt a moratorium on the release of GE organisms into the human body and the wider environment."