Genetic Engineering and Building a Better Soldier: Captain America vs. Ironman

COMMENTARY: Volunteering our bodies for non-therapeutic enhancement and experimentation isn’t patriotic. I will admit the question was loaded. I asked various Catholics, through my blog and social media, who was a better role model: Captain America or Ironman? The answers weren’t surprising. The overwhelming choice was Captain America. Steve Rogers isn’t only a paragon of courage and patriotism, he’s an all-around nice guy, a champion for the weak and an example of self-sacrifice. Tony Stark, on the other hand, is a greedy narcissist whose philandering nearly everyone finds repugnant. The question seemed outright ridiculous to some. Captain America was the obvious choice. But being a role model doesn’t just hinge on personality traits. Captain America is a quietly subversive character. His origin is morally problematic. Rogers was an otherwise healthy soldier who was experimented on by his government — to make him a weapon of war. He was irrevocably changed by enhancements to his body. The Catholic Church is very clear that genetic enhancements are unethical. Genetic engineering to cure or treat disease is good, but genetic engineering of a healthy person to make him stronger, faster or smarter is morally wrong. The “Charter for Health Care Workers” by the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance states: “In moral evaluation, a distinction must be made between strictly ‘therapeutic’ manipulation, which aims to cure illnesses caused by genetic or chromosome a...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs