Ever since the rediscovery of Gregor Mendal’s pea plant experiments through which he determined the laws of hereditary, new interests in the Genome Revolution ignited. Opinions were across the charts from being drastically pessimistic to the contrasting optimistic. Through the years up to recent day, issues concerning the impact of the fields of medicine, reproduction, insurance, law and even our sense of self have completely filled the minds of those who are in touch with the happenings of the Genome Revolution, whether they are against or for it. The affects of the Genome Revolution will be felt both individually and also as a society. In the Rio Grande Valley, the mentality of the people is for the most part that of indifference, because they feel they are not affected by most occurrences through out the world. For instance, when the horrible catastrophe of 9-11 occurred, the rest of the country was frightened of another attack, but my peers and myself disregarded the possibility of the attack being in our particular part of Texas. With the Genome Revolution moving along at full throttle, the Rio Grande Valley will receive a shocking revelation: that people in the Valley will be affected by the changes and discoveries in this particular field of science, and that they may be able to afford to sequence their own genome. With the advancement of the Genome Revolution, the consequences will start being felt in the near future.
The field of Medicine will greatly be furthered with the help of genome sequencing. By making it possible to make plants with drugs in their DNA structure, people will be able to take the drug in a purer, safer form because the plant is not susceptible to human or animal diseases such as potatoes that contain a drug for liver cirrhosis. With the Rio Grande Valley being so close to the border of Mexico, many diseases tend to get passed over to the United States causing the people in the Valley to take precaution of these dangers by using injected vaccinations. I know that I would rather eat a fruit that contained the vaccine for influenza than get a shot every year. On the other hand, the seeds of a plant such as this could somehow get released uncontrollably into the environment and effect it in an unpredictable way.
The more we know about genetics and the building blocks of life the closer we get to being capable of cloning a human. The study of chromosomes and DNA strains has been going on for years. In 1990, the Unites States Government founded the Human Genome Project (HGP). This program was to research and study the estimated 80,000 human genes and determine the sequences of 3 billion DNA molecules. Knowing and being able to examine each sequence could change how humans respond to diseases, viruses, and toxins common to everyday life. With the technology of today the HGP expects to have a blueprint of all human DNA sequences by the spring of 2000. This accomplishment, even though not cloning, presents other new issues for individuals and society. For this reason the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) was brought in to identify and address these issues. They operate to secure the individuals rights to those who contribute DNA samples for studies. The ELSI, being the biggest bioethics program, has to decide on important factors when an individual’s personal DNA is calculated. Such factors would include; who would have access to the information, who controls and protects the information and when to use it? Along with these concerns, the ESLI tries to prepare for the estimated impacts that genetic advances could be responsible for in the near future. The availability of such information is becoming to broad and one needs to be concerned where society is going with it.
Willis, E., 2009. The Human Genome Project: A Sociology of Medical Technology. In: Germov, ed. An Introduction to Health Sociology. Melbourne :Oxford University Press, pp. 328-341.
Peterson, Dr. Alan. "It's not all In our genes- social and political implications of human genome project." The New Statesman. 3 July 2000. 13.612: 5,1
Elizabeth L. Marshall was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She grew up in areas of southern California, and in parts of New York City. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, and is currently married and has two daughters. She attended and graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in English. She then graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Master of Fine Arts degree in fictional writing. She has worked form several scientific journals and magazines and is a member of the National Association of Science Writers. She has also written several well known books including Conquering Infertility: Medical Challenges and Moral Dilemmas, and High-Tech Harvest.
The past twenty years have seen rise to a new burgeoning scientific field: genetically modified foods. During the plant breeding process, geneticists interfere with the reproduction and modify the genes of the new seedling by introducing a fragment of DNA from another organism that possesses the desired trait. With genetic modification, scientists can increase the pest, herbicide, cold, and drought tolerance so that the crop can survive in harsher climates. In some cases, the nutritional value can even be increased (Ulrich 9). Despite the obvious benefits of more nutritious foods and crops that are hardier and more resistant to harsher climates, there are some concerns surrounding GM foods. Each new alteration can cause an unforeseen allergic reaction, negate the effects of antibiotics, or potentially cause some adverse effects to the environment (Falkner 101). Every newly developed GM food must be tested on a case by case basis as there is no universal method that determines the safety of all modified components. As a result, long term effects of ingesting food with altered material are unknown.
Genetically modified foods can have many positive effects on the world. We can use fewer pesticides by inserting a pest resistant gene into the gene of plants. Farmers use many pesticides over and over to keep the insects from eating their crops. This is usually a high costing process and time consuming. When the plants receive water the excess water runs into another source of water and when that happens it picks up the chemicals that the pesticide had left on the soil. By injecting a gene into a crop to make it resistant to the pesticide we can use fewer pesticides and clean up the contamination that they cause, we can save money, and we can also harvest more crops. Weed killers is also a problem but there reason and solution is the same thing as the pesticides. Another positive is that you can protect plants from diseases. Many fungi, viruses, bacteria can cause a plant to die. Genetically we can modify a plant so that if a plant became intertwined with a virus it could still survive, and when you can protect the plant you will increase your chances for a healthy harvest. Another way to increase your food supply is to take a gene that can help a plant survive cold weather, drought or salinity tolerance. When you have a frost many plants die from being in the cold, or when you have a drought. So again we have another reason to save money and crops from being wasted. For many places when you have a bad harvest the price of the fo...
The Human Genome Project The Human Genome Project began in the mid - 1980s as an international scientific mission to map all the genetic material (i.e. genes) in human chromosomes and ultimately build the complete set of genetic information contained within molecules of deoxyribosenucleic acid (DNA) known as the genome. The project aims to improve the methods used to prevent and cure diseases because the keys to many of the worst illnesses of our time, like cancer and diabetes, can be found in genetic variations in DNA. The Human Genome Project is international, and has involved collaborations and contributions from researchers throughout the world, all of whom have donated their results freely to the public databases. It is the largest collaborative project ever attempted in biology, involving scientists in the USA, Australia, Japan, Germany, the UK, Italy, Russia, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Israel and elsewhere. The Human Genome Project aims to: * Determine the sequence of the four bases (adenine, cytosine, thymine and guanine) throughout all the DNA in human cells; * Identify the estimated 100 000 genes formed by the bases; * Find the locations of the genes on the 23 human chromosomes; * Store all this information on databases for future research; * Consider all the ethical, legal and social issues which arise from obtaining information about the human genome.
The main focus of the article is not to completely oppose genetic manipulation of crops but to point out the adverse health effects these crops can possibly have on both humans and environment. The article cites
“Life is Complicated,” by Erika Check Hayden, explores the depths of biology and the many challenges biologists face. Hayden, a reporter for “Nature,” writes about how the technology and genetic information boom has impacted biologists, asserting that biology has become more difficult, yet more promising. Hayden discusses how genetics and technology have shown biologists that their knowledge is not as extensive as they thought it was, leaving the doors open for more exploration. “Has the Revolution Arrived” by Francis Collins, also speaks of a genetic and scientific revolution yet to come. Collins also discusses the technological advances that have changed the face of genetics, making it a more widely available subcategory of biology and medicine. Collins also outlines the important lessons we have learned from the first decade of the “genome era” and how we can use these lessons to keep the momentum going in the future decades. He cites technology, education, privacy, academic and private sector cooperation, and large-scale research projects,
You may think that you have full control over your body, the way you may look, how you dress, and even how you do your own makeup. You have control over your hair color, how much knowledge you have, and even how strong you can be, but could you imagine having control over how tall you would like to be, the color of your eyes, and potentially the color of your very skin? Can you imagine altering EVERY aspect of yourself, including the omission of disease? These are some of the questions that the USDE hoped to find solutions to through The Genome Project.
From that one could conclude that western science at least functions as a more or less monolithic enterprise. However, although western science as a whole is based on a shared methodology and epistemology, distinct preoccupations of the cultures in different regions of the western world exert powerful influences over the construction of scientific discourses. In the United States, there appears to be a strong need in middle class culture to define oneself through ‘one’s biology’. This ‘biology’ however does not signify the body itself, but a metaphorical, linguistic construction of the self around which many aspects of contemporary life are becoming organized. (2) The central metaphor of one’s biology is one’s genes, and ‘one’s genes’ are seen as the essence of the person. For complex historical, political and cultural reasons, the human genome is increasingly equated with the ‘essence’ of human-ness. Coming from New Zealand, this definition of identity through a genetically oriented ‘biological’ discourse is anything but self-evident, in fact, it seems deeply culturally determined. Within the scope of this paper, I will not attempt to identify what drives the need for this view of the self, but would like to stress the importance of seeking answers to this question. It seems to me to be a central concern in any critique of the contemporary gene cult(ure) in American society. The growth of a biotechnological economy and the promotion of matching societal attitudes are obviously contributing to this phenomenon, but they alone do not explain the deep resonance a genetically defined construction of human-ness appears to invoke in people’s psyches.
There are some great things about GMOs as well. They can help increase yields. This helps the farmers make more money, and produce more grain for the livestock producers. They can also reduce the prices for pharmaceutical production. If we can g...
"We used to think that our fate was in our stars, but now we know that, in large measure, our fate is in our genes, "quotes James Watson. This fate that Watson is talking about is contained in our genes, and deals with a new technique, gene therapy. Gene therapy is revolutionizing the world of medicine. Many physicians are predicting that in twenty years gene therapy may change the practice of medicine from a treatment-based to a prevention-based practice. Our future is l ocked away inside of our genes. Gene therapy is unlocking these doors. Researchers are starting to move away from developing new drugs, and towards finding an ultimate solution. That solution is to use gene therapy as a treatment for many genetic diseas es. Researchers hope that in the coming years, every genetic disease will have gene therapy as its treatment. Gene therapy could be the last therapy that the human race will ever need.
The possibilities of science always fascinated me. When I first read a chapter on The Human Genome Project , I came to know that it was one of the greatest achievements of Bio-informatics methods, then it had a great impact on my thinking about how science can play a key role in understanding the elements of nature at minute level. For collecting this sort of information of zillions of genes and maintaining it would not have been possible without the invention of computers. My interest towards computing and programming started when I was first introduced to HTML programming in my school. Then creation of basic web pages with some lines of code amused me so much that I have developed a new curiosity to understand the extent to which these computers
One of the most important pros about GMOs that everyone is concerned about is that it will produce a longer shelf life, which will make it safer to transport to different countries. GMOs can also supply more nutrients and help fight world malnutrition, making it better for Americans to eat, by making it healthier. “Seeds are genetically modified for multiple reasons, which include improving resistance to insects and generating healthier crops. This can lower the risk of crop failure, and make crops better resistant to extreme weather.” (Mandel).