Term paper on Genetics

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Genetics
Evolution and Genetic Engineering Activity 1: Why is AIDS so difficult to cure? How does the AIDS virus attack the body? à In 1979, the first reported AIDS case occurred in New York, and by mid-June 1981, unusual immune system failure among gay men was surfacing in the United States. The Centers

Advertisements' Manipulation On Teens Today In Society.
Advertisements' Manipulation on Teens Today in Society. Teens today, who watch television, listen to the radio, and read magazines and newspapers see, hear, or glance at advertisements. The business men and women behind the creation of the advertisements make millions of money because of consume

During the past decade, genetic engineering has been a very controversial issue facing our world that ultimately questions our power as humans to control nature. Genetic engineering has many potential benefits, such as curing all diseases, growing more food, and altering our genes, but these advantages also cause some disadvantages, such as overpopulation, ecological, ethical, and social issues, which all must be assessed before we advance any further in this field. We should definitely move ahead with genetic engineering because its advantages are very important to us, and its problems can be addressed.

Probably the most important reason why we need genetic engineering is to cure diseases. Through genetic engineering, we will probably be able to cure many of the diseases plaguing our world today. By altering genetic code, we can cure diseases, such as AIDS, and increase the life expectancy of humans. We can optimize everyone's genes to certain physical and mental characteristics. In 1991, the National Institute of Health patented over 2,000 gene sequences from human brain DNA (Christianity Today, 1994). This indicates that our ability to control every facet of human life is rapidly coming within our reach. Despite many ethical issues opposing genetic engineering (read on), it will definitely help us cure the sick, and that reason alone is enough reason for us to go ahead with this new field of science.

One of the main reasons why we should use genetic engineering is to solve our global food shortages. Through genetic engineering, scientists can grow larger tomatoes, more apples per orchard, and crunchier lettuce. With all the recent natural disasters and ecological problems, such as El Nino, wild fires, and global droughts, acres of crops all over the world are being destroyed. Places such as Florida and the mid-west are among the many that are being hit severely. And with scientists predicting increased global warming, and droughts in the future, genetic engineering is the only safe alternative to solving this crisis. So far, the only genetically engineered product in the market is something called the "Flavr Savr" tomato, which is engineered to stay firm longer than ordinary tomatoes (The Economist, 1997). The principle behind transferring genes between plants is not new. It is actually almost like hybridization (to produce crossbreeds), except more precise in its method. With genetic engineering, scientists take individual genes from one plant and insert them in another. There are no chemicals needed, such as those used on many crops lately. Overall, genetically engineering plants to make them better tasting or larger is a natural process similar to gene mutations, except it is controllable.

Another major advantage of genetic engineering is manipulating genes to change physical and mental characteristics. Eugenics, a field of genetic engineering, has the potential to manipulate human characteristics, such as intelligence and weight, to any specifications. By making people more intelligent, we can shorten the years spent at high school and college because people will be able to learn much faster than before. In turn, this will make our global economy more efficient because there will be more people in the work force at a younger age. No one will have to go to costly and timely exercise classes to lose weight also. We will not have to spend money on making new health care programs, and older people will be more productive. This technology will make our world much simpler because it will save us valuable time throughout our life and, thus, focus our intelligence towards more productive things, such as work and family. It will also give us more free time to do what we want. The benefits of eugenics are clearly outstanding, but if we get out of hand and do not regulate our manipulations of humans, we might cause a catastrophe.

As we excel in genetic engineering and discover more information about the human body, we are met with new ethical issues that have never been revealed before. One of these issues deals with treatment vs. enhancement. Most writers in the past have stated that when genetically intervening with the human body, a distinction must be made between therapy and enhancement. Neither therapy nor enhancement is totally morally correct, but therapy is considered better than enhancement because it is trying to get rid of something that has entered the system to cause harm. On the other hand, enhancement is aimed at making the body better, or superior to someone else, which opposes the general Western belief that "all men are created equal". However, this ethical argument made by many writers, scientists, and religious officials, all depends on each individual's standard of disease and enhancement. One person might think that losing 100 pounds with genetic engineering is enhancement, but another person might percieve it as therapy because the excessive weight could be a result of hormonal imbalance and may cause disease in the future. In other words, laws cannot be made that determine what is therapy and what is enhancement because each human characteristic might directly or indirectly cause physical or mental harm. This also means we really cannot determine whether certain kinds of genetic engineering are morally correct (e.g. changing intelligence, weight, height etc.), and, thus, we should just leave it to each individual to decide according to his/her values and beliefs whether changing height is worse than curing the common cold.

Another lingering ethical issue with genetic engineering concerns our right to act like God. According to the Christian religion, God is the sole creator of life, and he/she is the only one with the ability to create it, manipulate it, or destroy it. This...