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GENETIC ENGINEERING¡¡ 'Engineering'
is a fancy word for making something. So genetic engineering (often
just called GE) is making something with genes. Clever people have learned
to spot which gene does what in building a new organism. At least they
think they have. They've found out that simple organisms like bacteria
or viruses often have genes which are useful because they can be snipped
out and put - spliced - into plant genes. Doing this could give the
plant special new abilities like resisting disease. This is rather like
grabbing a large scorpion by its claws because you know about them and
what they're for. Now you know it can't nip you but - ow! - it's got
a sting in its tail you didn't know about. There may be a 'sting in
the tail' which comes from splicing strange genes into other organisms
- from viruses to plants, for example. No-one can be certain what will
happen. It is unpredictable. ¡¡ ¡¡ ¡¡ ¡¡Copyright
2001 by Team C0123260 |
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