The Attitude of 17-18 Years Old Students to Socio-ethical Issues of Genetic Engineering

The products of modern biotechnology processes such as genetic engineering, DNA testing, transgenic organisms, therapeutic and reproductive cloning have increasing impact on the society. Although, these scientific techniques have many benefits, their social and ethical effects are controversial. It is important for young people to have not only basic knowledge about genetic engineering, but also moral and social issues must be thought in schools so that they are able to contribute to public debate and make informed personal decisions. The focus of this paper is to investigate the high school students’ attitude towards genetic engineering’s applications. A written questionnaire, which includes Likert type scale with 11 statements, is given to students aged 17 to 18 years and wanted to answer. The statements in attitude scale are grouped into 4 categories according to species of organisms. In order to evaluate the responses to the statements in attitude scale, percentage values and category differentiations are calculated by SPSS. The results indicate that students’ attitude to the usefulness, safety and moral acceptability of genetic engineering changed depending on the main groups of organisms and the objective of the study.