Genetic engineering is the directed alteration of genetic material by intervention in genetic processes (Webster’s 9th New Collegiate Dictionary). Genetic engineering is a controversial subject. Some people think that it is necessary while others think that it is harmful. Genetic engineering can be used in agriculture to make better plants. It can also be used in the courtroom for fingerprinting. Some techniques in genetic engineering are the selective breeding of plants and animals, recombinant DNA, and the reproduction between different strains or species (hybridization) (Encarta Encyclopedia 2001).
B. Julie Johnson fears that genetic engineering will result in the devaluing of life because genes, embryos, and ultimately people will all be thought of as commodities to be bought and sold (Bender, 17). Test tube birth is mostly controversial because of religious and ethical reasons. People wonder if test tube babies will have souls or if they will go to a form of afterlife when they die.
“In our society there are two values which will allow anyone to do whatever he/she wants in human reproduction,” said ethicist Daniel Callahan. “One is the nearly absolute right to reproduce-or not- as you s
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Some scientist fear that dangerous traits, such as the ability to cause cancer or resist antibiotics, would become incorporation into bacterium that might accidentally escape from genetics laboratories and go on to infect humans (Yount, 65-66). Department of Agriculture is studying an improved potato containing a chicken gene that fights bacteria and moth gene that prevents bruises. Critics of recombinant DNA fear that the pathogenic, or disease-producing, organisms used in some recombinant DNA experiments might develop extremely infectious forms that could cause worldwide epidemics (Encarta). The traits may be things that natural selection would have removed because they do not support the continued existence of the species. Vaccination with genetically altered vaccinia is now being used against influenza, herpes simplex viruses, and hepatitis. Meanwhile, in May 1992, Gen-Pharm International, a silicon Valley biotech company announced that USPTO would soon grant it the world’s second and third patents on mammals. Scientists use recombinant DNA to directly alter genetic material.
Safety fears of recombinant DNA resulted in a groundbreaking meeting of 140 molecular biologist at Asilomar, California, in February 1975. One thing is certain: Genetic engineering will change people’s relationships with nature, medicine, and perhaps, as in the case of genetic testing, people’s own cultural values. Pesticides are also being engineered.
Other uses of genetic engineering include making fruits and vegetables resistant to bruises during machine harvesting and improving the efficiency of a plant’s photosynthesis. One technique turns viruses into pesticides.
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