Human ethics is derivative from the ecological imperative. The earth is a single ethical system, as the universe is a single ethical system. This is the first principle of an ecological ethic. Such an ethic would demand a legal framework where the rights of the geological and biological as well as the human component or the earth community are protected. Before examining the ethical issues involved in genetic engineering it might help to briefly, and in a very simplified way outline what is involved.
Genetic engineering is a by-product of the relatively young science of genetics.
The science emerged out of the pioneering work of the Austrian, Augustinian priest, Gregory Mendel. In a paper published in 1865 he developed his theory of organic inheritance from his work on the hybridisation of green peas. Unfortunately, his work remained unrecognised until the early 1900s. By the 1920s genetics was being used to help plant breeders improved their crops. They discovered that the DNA structure was a double helix.