Faith in Biotechnology

Biotechnology refers to the use of biological systems to generate health and agrobasedproducts. Advances in biotechnology not only have led to useful applications butalso posed some ethical issues conundrums. Public awareness and perception of thesafety of biotechnological products and processes appears to be low, especially forhuman use. ʹGenethicsis proposed that applies philosophical and ethical theories tosolve moral dilemmas in gene-based research such as genetic engineering and genetherapy, or cell-based studies like therapeutic and human cloning, and stem cellsresearch. The concept of agroethics is suggested to cater for moral questions in issuespertaining to genetically modified foods. The ethics of marine bioprospecting can belooked at from religious prescriptions. Although biotechnology is perceived as havingled to numerous ethical dilemmas, this discipline has also been instrumental in solvingreligious issues. Two examples are described, one, is the introduction of humanrecombinant insulin that enables Muslim patients to decline porcine-derived insulin, andtwo, the use of recombinant erythropoietin to promote red blood cell formation inpatients whose faith proscribe blood transfusion. In conclusion. though some may claimthat biotechnology seems to challenge faith, it would not hurt to have faith inbiotechnology.