Utter Perfection

Ever think of what might lay in the future? Imagine being able to look at a screen and pick exactly what your child might look like, anything from it’s physical appearance to it’s athleticism and smarts. Imagine a world where there was the opportunity to have the “perfect” child. A little boy with athleticism like Michael Jordan and smarts like Einstein. A little girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a perfect face/body measurements for a model. Impossible? Not anymore. With today’s advances in technology and genetics, it is becoming possible to pick not only a perfect baby, but an animal too.

What is specifically is genetic engineering? How does it work? Genetic engineering is the deliberate use of genetic material to manipulate characteristics in an organism. There are two different kinds; cloning and transgenic animals. There is three different kinds of cloning; therapeutic cloning, reproductive cloning, and DNA cloning. Therapeutic cloning is when the embryo is cloned and produces a whole new human embryo for scientific research. Reproductive cloning is used to create a like organism to one that previously lived. DNA cloning is the act of taking DNA from one person and putting into into a self reproducing organism. First, a scientist will take an egg from a host with defective DNA and implant the live DNA of a desired donor into the original egg and then place the newly designed egg back into the original host. The egg will then mature at a slightly quicker rate than normal maturity. Soon after, the mother will give birth to this newly created offspring. These animals are called transgenic animals. Transgenic animals can be used for scientific research for diseases, medicinal purposes, or better product. The first transgenic...

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...ormones in humans to have a excessive strength and muscle growth and improve athletes. If this was to happen, athletes would not need steroids anymore and these enhancers would not show up on test. They have tried gene doping on both a species of cattle and mice. The very first subject was on Belgian Blue Cattle. The problem that arose with this experiment was the fact that their muscle never stopped growing. The females couldn’t even give birth naturally because they were too big. The next animals at the prey of the scientist hands was mice. These mice were called “Schwarzenegger mice” because they were abnormally muscular. They were genetically engineered to have excessive strength to help with muscle diseases and to reverse the decreased muscle mass in old age. The results were positive as the mice’s muscle was infact increased without any immediate consequences.