HUMAN GENETIC ENGINEERING IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT WITH ITS INEQUALITIES: A DISCOURSE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN DIGNITY

There are still severe inequalities in presentday democratic South Africa; this is no secret. The ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor also contributes to increasing disparities of access to health care and medical treatment, as well as the ability to afford them. Human genetic engineering (HGE) is fast becoming an everyday reality and, though it is not forecast to become commercially available in South Africa very soon and many of the promised benefits are still very far in the future, anticipatory reflection is needed. This article considers just one of the challenges that HGE poses to Christian ethics within the South African context and its inequalities, especially with regards to health care, as part of the discourse of human dignity and human rights.