One aspect of RNA silencing to consider is its possible off-target affects, toxicity, and delivery methods. If RNA silencing is to become a conventional drug, it must first pass the typical ethical issues of biomedicine. Using risk-benefit analysis, researchers can determine whether RNA silencing conforms to ethical ideologies such as nonmaleficence, beneficence, and autonomy.
There is a risk of creating infection-competent viruses that could infect non-consenting people. There is also a risk of affecting future generations based on these treatments. These two scenarios, in respect to autonomy, is possible unethical. At this moment, unsafe delivery methods and unintended aspects of vector viruses add to the argument against RNA silencing.
In terms of off-target effects, siRNA can induce innate interferon responses, inhibit endogenous miRNAs through saturation, and may have complementary sequences to other non-target mRNAs. These off-targets could also have target up-regulations such as oncogenes and antiapoptotic genes. The toxicity of RNA silencing is still under review as there are conflicting reports.
RNA silencing is quickly developing, because of that, the ethical issues need to be discussed further. With the knowledge of general ethical principles, we must continuously perform risk-benefit analysis.