Genetic engineering, in definition, is the artificial manipulation, modification and recombination of DNA or other nucleic acid molecules in order to modify an organism or a population of organisms. Genetic engineering is beneficial in many ways. In an experimental context, the technology has been shown to be able to modify human cells to eliminate defects in genetic sequences. It is therefore possible that it could be used to treat inherited genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis and Fanconi anemia. Furthermore, genetic engineering has also been used in the agricultural field where crops are genetically modified to increase their yield, improve drought tolerance and improve their nutritional properties. Genetic engineering has also been used to create bacteria capable of producing medically useful substances such as insulin and human growth hormone (Augustyn, et al., 2019). However, despite the many benefits this technology could bring to humanity, there are controversies surrounding it and ethical issues are one of them. Ethics are necessary for scientific research to decide what questions to address and what we can do that is deemed appropriate for living things. The importance of ethics in scientific research was illustrated through the news of a pair of newborn twins from China who were genetically engineered to be resistant to HIV (Cyranoski & Ledford, 2018). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Because of the shocking news, a group of scientists published an article in Nature calling for a global moratorium on hereditary gene editing. The moratorium is proposed to allow discussions on the technical, scientific, medical, social, ethical and moral issues that need to be considered before allowing germline editing. There are many ethical issues that are discussed by scientists about genetic engineering, especially germline editing. One of the ethical issues under discussion is the need for genetic engineering to eliminate inherited genetic diseases in human embryos. Some scientists believe that germline gene editing is unnecessary as there are other more ethical procedures that could be performed, such as selecting embryos through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Another concern is the unpredictable risks that genetic engineering could pose for future generations. Genetic engineering could cause unintended changes through off-target mutations, or changes to the genetic sequence could cause unanticipated adverse effects. Another ethical question widely discussed in the scientific community is whether parents have the authority to make decisions on behalf of their future children in whether or not to modify their genes. By nature, it is impossible to acquire informed consent from unborn children. Therefore, by default, the right to modify children's genes lies with their parents. At the 2015 International Summit on Human Genome Editing, this claim was supported by Hille Haker, PhD, ethicist at Loyola University Chicago, where she argued that germline gene editing presupposes the reproductive rights of prospective parents prevail over the rights of future children (Hampton, 2016). Genetic engineering is undoubtedly a revolutionary technology that could be humanity's hope for eliminating terrible inherited genetic diseases. However, ethical issues must also be considered).