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Genetic Engineering |
Genetic engineering is a major scientific discovery of the twentieth century which promises to widen our understanding of life development and endow humanity with the capacity to combat hunger, fight diseases and even control human behaviour. The far-reaching implications of this “discovery” gave rise to heated moral and philosophical debates on its wisdom and on the possible risks it might pose to different groups of people. In this brief article, genetic engineering will be defined, with its major methods clarified. The article will proceed later to examine potential uses of genetic engineering in agriculture, the environment, medicine as well as in controlling human behaviour.
What is Genetic Engineering?
Genetic engineering could be defined in one of two ways. It used to refer initially to “any of a wide range of techniques for the modification or manipulation of organisms through the processes of heredity and reproduction”. Thus , the term referred to both artificial selection and all the interventions of biomedical techniques, among them artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, sperm banks, cloning and gene manipulation. However, it is used now to denote “recombinant DNA technology, or gene cloning, in which DNA molecules from two or more sources are combined either within cells or in vitro and are then inserted into host organisms in which they are able to propagate. Gene cloning is used to produce new genetic combinations that are of value to science, medicine, agriculture or industry”.Different forms of Genetic Engineering
| Methods of genetic engineering in this narrower sense include four techniques, recombinant DNA, which has been explained in the preceding paragraph, gene transfer, embryo transfer and nuclear transplantation. In gene transfer “molecular biologists isolate segments of DNA containing a gene or genes of interest and then incorporate them into the DNA of somatic cells in culture”. Embryo transfer, on the other hand is the “process of transferring a pre-implantation embryo from the reproductive tract of one female to that of another, where it often implants and goes through a normal gestation”. As for nuclear transplantation, molecular biologists “ transfer the entire nucleus of one cell into a second, enucleated cell that has its nucleus removed. |
SHEEP FACSIMILE. The young lamb named Dolly (left), with her surrogate mother, was created by cloning at the Roslin Institute. |
Applications and Uses of Genetic Engineering
Genetic engineering in this way opens new vistas for science and for many areas of practical applications. In science, it enables investigators to understand how living organisms form and acquire their essential hereditary qualities. In agriculture, the manipulation of genes would make it possible to develop varieties of plants that could better serve needs of mankind. An example of such applications is to produce seeds that would give rise to better yields, more nutritious, and more resistant to diseases. This application is known already and it led to a significant increase in cereal production in some Asian countries. But public opinion in Europe and also in USA is opposed to food that is partly genetically-engineered. In medicine, David B. Weiner ad Ronald C. Kennedy have argued in an article in Scientific American that if bits of DNA or RNA were “introduced properly into the cells of the body”, they could “stimulate powerful immune responses against viruses, bacteria and even cancers”. They added that “such genetic vaccines hold promise as safer, better controlled preventives and therapies for diseases currently beyond medicine’s reach”. Other scientists have shown the potential that genetic engineering is opening for the treatment of many wild diseases. Thanks to GE , they argue, it would be possible in future to replace a patient’s defective genes and tame viruses and other vehicles of diseases by introducing proper genes into them. This kind of therapy will make it possible to effectively treat aids and brain disorders. However, scientists have a long way to go before such therapies are developed and made available. Finally, some scientists have ventured into contemplating the use of genetic engineering to improve people’s cognitive abilities or even to control their behaviour. Studies of twins and adoptees suggest that about half the variation seen in verbal and spatial ability is genetically-based. Thus the two US scientists Robert Plomin and John DeFries are searching for genes responsible and for genes involved in such cognitive disabilities dyslexia . Much more controversial is the notion that genetics can "explain, predict and even modify human behaviour”. With such belief, some scientists have linked mental illness, alcoholism, homosexuality ad even high intelligence to specific genes and they believe that with more profound knowledge of these genes, they could come to control those dimensions of human behaviour and existence.
Arguments against Genetic Engineering
It is easy to realize now how such discoveries of genetic engineering could give rise to a heated debate pitting environmentalists, clergymen, philosophers, scientists and ordinary people against each other. The major arguments are the following:
God is the only creator of the universe, and human-beings should not challenge his will by modifying some of the traits of what He has created in a specific way for reasons known only to Almighty.
There is a delicate natural balance in the environment, and human intervention through genetic engineering could unwittingly upset this balance with unknown and possibly dangerous consequences for mankind.
For some, not only nature is beautiful, and products of nature are therefore much more preferable to products of genetic engineering, but the former products could cause unpredictable diseases.
