Davis1

SarahDavis
MissStone
English1010Period1
7December2015
GeneticEngineering:OneofSciencesMostControversialTopics
Imagineaworldwherethereisabsolutelynodiseaseandyouhavetheabilitytopossibly
changethecharacteristicsofyourfuturechildsotheycanaccommodateyourwantsandneeds.
Thiswouldallbeduetogeneticengineering.Whilegeneticengineeringhasbeentestedonmost
knownorganisms,ithasnotbeendramaticallytestedonhumans.Scientistshaventchangedthe
actualgenesofahumanbeing.Geneticengineeringiseasilyoneofsciencesmostcontroversial
topics.Thisincludestheethicalness,theeffectonthefuture,andthemoneysideofthings.While
thismightnotactuallyaffectourgenerationattheimmediatemoment,itcouldwithinthenext
30years.Thisputsusallinthepositiontoseewhatsideweapproveof.Thiscouldaffectthings
muchsoonerthanwethink.
SinceIwaslittle,thethoughtofgeneticengineeringhasalwaysfascinatedme.Thefact
thatscientistscouldgoinandchangetheactualDNAofahumanorotherorganismandalterit
tochangetheappearanceorgeneticshasalwaysintriguedme.Sincethistopichasalways
interestedme,Iwantedtoseethedifferentpointsofviewassociatedwithit.Wehadtopicka
topic,andIthoughtImightaswellchooseatopicthatreallyinterestsme.Iamprettyneutralon
thistopicforthemostpart,justbecauseIcanseebothsidesofitanditisultimatelytoughtojust
pickoneside.Thereareprosandconstoeitherside,andbecauseofthis,Icantjustpickone
side.

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Technically,geneticmodificationhasbeenoccurringsincearound12,000B.C.withthe
domesticationofanimals.Butin1973,
HerbertBoyer
and
StanleyCohen
didagenetictransfer
fromoneorganismtoanother.Sincethen,geneticallymodifiedfoodsandanimalshavebeen
produced(Pelliccia).OneoftheprojectsthatreallygotpeopleinterestedwastheHuman
GenomeProjectin1990.By2001,scientistshada90%completesequenceofthethreebillion
basepairsinthehumangenome(Rubenstein).Thisiswhenpoliticsandscientistsbecamereally
interestedinthegeneticengineeringofhumans.
Asstatedbefore,geneticengineeringhasbeentestedonmostknownorganismsexcept
humans.AnexampleofgeneticengineeringonananimalisDollythesheep.Dollywasthefirst
mammaltobeclonedfromanadultcell.IanWilmutattheRoslinInstituteinScotlandattempted
227timesbeforeDollywassuccessful.Todothis,theycopiedanembryoandplanteditintoa
surrogate,afostermother(Clone...).

ImageCredit:Retrievedon12/16/2015from
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SinceDolly,scientistshavebeencloningmanyotheranimalstotrytoperfectthetechnique.This
isverysimilartowhatengineerswanttodowithhumanstoday.Therehavebeenafew
controversialscenarioswheretheyhavehadtodothisinhumans.
Oneofthemostcontroversial
ofallapplicationsofthistechnologyisinallowinginfertilemotherstoconceive(
Genetic...).
DoctorswilltaketheDNAfromonemother,injectitintoanegg,fertilizetheeggandplaceitin
athirdpartymother.Afterwards,thechilddevelopsthesamecharacteristicsasthesurrogate
mother(Pelliccia).Additionally,thechildwillhavethegeneticblueprintinheritedfromthree
differentpeople.
Geneticengineeringcouldhaveapositiveeffectoneveryoneintheentirewor
ld.One
goodpointforgeneticengineeringwouldbethatitcangreatlyreduceoreliminatediseasesand
geneticdefects.Anothergoodpointforgeneticengineeringisthatitwillhelpusbeginto
understandthehumanbodytoalevelwecannotcurrentlyunderstand.
Withgeneticengineering,
scientistswouldbeabletogointoanembryoandfindtheDNAstrandandalterittopreventthe
childfromhavingalifethreateningdisease.Geneticengineeringwillultimatelyproveusefulin
thediagnosisandcureofcommonhumangeneticdiseasessuchascysticfibrosisandmuscular
dystrophy(
Pelliccia
).Manydiseasescouldbepreventedfrommovingfurtherdownafamilys
line,includingMultipleSclerosisandhereditarycancers(i.e.prostatecancer,ovariancancer,
etc.).
Geneticengineeringcouldpossiblyhelpwithourownfutureandthefutureoftheworld,
inregardstoclimatechange.Bychangingsomeofthecharacteristics,wewouldbeabletostop
somediseases(Liao).Onethingthatcouldhappenischangingthesizeofhumans.Bymaking
humanssmaller,themetabolicratesandbodymasswouldeasilyreducebyatleast15%inmen

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andwomen(Liao).Thusresultinginhumanseatinglessandusinglessmaterial,whichwould
haveapositiveeffectonourenvironment.Foranexample,bybeingsmaller,wewouldntputas
muchwearontothingsandtheenvironment,suchascarpet.Whichinturnreducesouruseof
fossilfuels.WhileLiaoarguesthatitmightbeslightlyunethical,itmightbecomenecessaryif
wewanttosaveourplanet.
Moneyisanotherargumentthatpeoplehavewithgeneticengineering.Eventhoughit
mightbeslightlymoreexpensive,itwouldcompletelybeworthit.Manysayifwehavetospend
themoneytohelpfixtheirkidsandthentheirchildrenskids,itisworthallthemoneyinthe
world.Everyparentwantstowatchtheirchildrenandgrandchildrengrowold,andmanysayitis
unbearabletowatchthemgothroughsomethingsopainfulthatcouldnthavebeenprevented.
Bypayingtohaveitfixed,theywouldnthavetowatchthemsufferbecauseoftheirgenetics.
Thiswouldalsohelptoimprovethetechnologyandadvanceeverything.Theuseofmoney
towardsthiswouldbeworthalmosteverypenny(Pinker).
Otherpeoplearguethatgeneticengineeringonhumansisoneofthemostinhumaneideas
ever.Peoplequestionthemoralityofmanipulatingthegeneticmaterialoflivingcreatures
(
Rubenstein
).Ethicsisoneofthemaindiscussionsconcerningtheuseofgeneticengineeringon
humans.Thefactthatachildwouldhavenochoiceiftheywantedtochangetheirgenesisthe
realconcern.Evenparentsopposedtomanipulatingtheirchildrensgeneswouldfeelcompelled
toparticipateinthisrace,lesttheiroffspringbeleftbehind(
Hayes
).Anotherreasonthatis
broughtupwiththisisthatitdestroyshumandiversity.Manydontagreewiththegenetic
engineeringbecauseitgivesparentstheoptiontomaketheirchildrenhowtheywantto.To
some,theysayitwontbeyournaturalbaby.

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Whileethicsisaoneoftheworstthings,themoneyconceptofgeneticengineeringisnt
verygoodeither.Forageneticengineeringoperation,itwouldeasilycostaround$100,000.This
wouldmakeitonlyavailablefortherich.Ifsomeoneinthelowerormiddleclasshadavery
strongdiseasethatwaspasseddowngenerationtogeneration,thatwouldmeanthatthosepeople
wouldnothavetheoptiontotryandhelptheirchildren.Geneticengineeringwouldbecome
morepopularandwouldbeadvertisedonbillboardsandcommercialsonT.V.(
Regalado
).Since
thewealthywouldhavemoreopportunitytousegeneticengineering,theycouldpossiblybuythe
genesthattheywantedfortheirkids.Thiscouldincludegenestobesmarter,afasterrunner,and
differenteyecolors(
Green
).Thereisnodoubtthatwealthyfamilieswouldtakeadvantageof
suchtechnologytotrytogivetheirchildreneveryadvantageintheirfuturelife(
Genetic...
).
Peoplewhodontagreewithgeneticengineeringusuallyagreethatifwestarteddoing
geneticengineering,itwouldnthelpwithclimatechangeorthefuture.Theysaythatsincewe
arealreadysofarintoclimatechange,doingsomethinglikethiswouldjustcombatthewhole
thing.Wewouldjustbechangingthesizeofpeopleforourownneeds(
Tapson
).
Anotherthing
thatscientistsrunintoisthat
itwouldtakethem4050yearstoevenseeiftheeffectsofthegene
changingcouldpossiblyaffectsomeone.Itisjustawasteoftime(
Green
).Cancerandmost
diseasesdonthitapersontilltheyareintheir40s.Ascientistwouldhavetowaitalmost50
yearsbeforetheycouldevenseeiftheengineeringworked.
Whiletherearethegoodsandthebadstowardgeneticengineering,therearethepeople
whojustcantdecide.Theseneutralpeoplefindtheethicsofgeneticengineeringveryconfusing.
Manyseeitasbeingethicalbecauseparentsarechangingthegenestohelppreventdiseases,but
thenitgetsmoreconfusingbecauseyouwouldbechangingthegenesofababy,someonewho

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hasnovoiceorchoiceyet(Green).Thisishowmostpeoplefeelbeforetheyreallyunderstand
thedifferentsviewsofgeneticengineering.
Whilemoneyisanothercontroversialtopic,theinbetweenersusuallytakeoneside.They
usuallyagreethatifitisonlyfortherich,thanthepoorerpeoplewillbebetteroff.Itwouldonly
affecttherichandeveryoneinthelowerclasswouldbeokay.Thismeansthatthelowerclass
andmiddleclasseswouldjustliveon,justhowweareliving,likenormalpeople.Thiscouldbe
greatforsocietybecauseitwouldallowtheorderoflifetostayjusthowithasalwaysbeen.
Whilegeneticengineeringcouldpossiblychangetheclimateofthefuture,theneutral
peopleusuallydisagree,anditwilljustbeindifferent.Theythinkthatthiscouldpossiblyhave
noeffectonclimateatall,andexecuteitwithoutaffectinganyone.Theybelievethatweare
alreadysofarintotheclimatedisasterthattryingtogeneticallymodifypeoplewouldnt
contributetoanything.
Idefinitelyagreethatgeneticengineeringisagoodthing.IwasmoreneutralwhenIfirst
starteddoingresearchaboutthistopic,butifdiseasescanbecuredandtreated,thenitisagreat
solution.ThemostinterestingthingIlearnedwastheamountofethicsthatissurroundingthis
topic.Ihonestlyneverthoughtitwasascontroversialasitreallyis.
Whilegeneticengineeringisstillaverycontroversialtopic,humanshaventevenstarted
toexperimentwithitonours
pecies.Otherthanhumans,geneticengineeringhasbeen
experimentedonanimals,foodandalmosteverythingyoucanthinkof.However,itcanbe
assumedthathumanswillalsocomplytogeneticengineeringinthefuture.Becauseofallthe
rulesandregulations,experimentingcantevenbedoneanywhereintheworld.Ge
netic
engineeringissoadvancedthattheopportunitiesforhumansarejustendless.

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