At the start of my freshman year in high school, I had the honor of competing at the South Dakota FFA Convention. In my spare time, my teacher mentioned that I should go watch our agricultural issues team. The group presented a skit on genetic modification that planted curiosity within me and forever changed my view on science. It was then that I learned the world population is currently nearing seven million people. This number is projected to reach nine million by the year 2050. Scientists have long been asking how we are to feed and clothe such a growing world. They have turned to genetic modification.
Genetic modification is defined as ‘the use of modern biotechnology techniques to change the genes of an organism, such as a plant or animal’. This process takes the genes from one organism and inserts them into another, therefore removing all undesirable traits. At this point, you might be imagining a mad scientist attempting to create Frankenstein. The practice, however, is safe and has been around for years.
The first correct structure of DNA was discovered in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick. Following their discovery came the creation of recombinant bacteria in 1973. The first example of genetic modification came about when scientists placed an exogenic Salmonella gene in an existing E. coli bacterium. Scientists, however, recommended in 1975 that the government should oversee recombinant DNA research until it was proven safe. Later, Genentech became the first company to use genetic modification in 1976. Two years later, the human protein insulin was produced by genetically altering an E. coli strain. Soon, plants were also being modified, and in 1986, scientists found a way to prevent frost damage...
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...ing safeguards, for the future. The world is growing; that cannot be denied. Through genetic modification, scientists have provided us not only with improvement to agriculture, but expanses in the medical field and the solution to feeding and clothing a world that will double in only 61 years. We have reached a crucial point in our history where our next step determines the future of the entire population. It is my belief that the answer to this great predicament lies in genetic modification. The key lies with science.
Works Cited
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2009/ucm109066.htm
http://agribiotech.info/details/AlisonGE%20Animalssent%20to%20web%2002.pdf
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09371.html
http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/agri_biotechnology/gmo_planting/
Morgan, S. Philip, Suzanne Shanahan, and Whitney Welsh. "Brave New Worlds: Philosophy, Politics, and Science in Human Biotechnology." Population and Development Review 31.1 (2005): 127-44.
genetic engineering as inevitable, due to consumer demand for it as a technology and the unrelenting
Science and technology are rapidly advancing everyday; in some ways for the better, and in some, for worse. One extremely controversial advance is genetic engineering. As this technology has high potential to do great things, I believe the power genetic engineering is growing out of control. Although society wants to see this concept used to fight disease and illness, enhance people 's lives, and make agriculture more sustainable, there needs to be a point where a line is drawn.
Naively, we human beings believe we live in the dazzling golden age of technological advancements. Only, news flash: we’re not. Global food insecurity is at an all-time high. We’re struggling to feed a population that rises as quickly as the mercury in my thermometer. As demand soars and food dwindles, the men in power only seem to grow in size: from their wallets to their waistlines. So, you must ask yourself: what’s the easiest way to produce high quality crops to satisfy our hunger and their lust for money and power? The answer: Genetic Modification. As the documentary Food Inc. suggests, the concept may be brilliant, but the outcome is abhorrent.
If you read the paper or watch the news, you’re undoubtedly aware of the debate raging over genetically modified food. Is it bad or is it good? Between the feuding sides, you might find yourself a little lost and wondering which side is right. Answers to seemingly simple questions have been blurred or exaggerated by both sides. On one side genetically modified food is more sustainable, safe, cheaper, easier to grow and has the potential of creating disease-fighting foods. Although this is positive and good intentioned, there may be unintended consequences that we have been quick to overlook. Those opposing genetically modified food clam that it is dangerous, harms the environment, increases health risks, and causes infertility and weight gain. Even things like the declining bee population may have closer ties to modified food than previously thought. We must look to science for answers. By studying genetically modified organisms (GMOs) we can guide our decision about whether we want to be consuming them.
Lambrecht, Bill. Dinner at the new gene café: how genetic engineering is changing what we eat, how we live, and the global politics. New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2001.
Genetic modification has been around since the early 12,000 BC, when humans started domesticating organisms. Genetic modification also known as, Genetic Engineering is The process of manipulating genes for practical purposes. Modern Genetic modification started in the early 1970’s and since then people have been genetically modifying organisms, from fruits to animals. An organism that has been genetically modified is GloFish. GloFish is a patented and trademarked fluorescent fish.
The world is a hungry place. It 's hungry for love, hungry for passion, hungry for money and hungry for work. But more than anything, it 's hungry for food. People are starving around the globe while the rest of us live a comfortable existence. Several companies have used their scientific expertise to genetically modify seeds to increase crop yields in an attempt to feed the masses and end world hunger. Can they do it? In the short run, yes they can, but it is important to ask "at what cost?” What are they not telling us? If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Although the genetically modified food industry has so far been instrumental in successfully feeding a hungry and growing world population, those same foods are polluting the environment, poisoning our food supply and killing us slowly.
Throughout the course of human history, new technological advancements have always created opposing views, and conflict between the different groups that hold them. Today, one of the greatest technological controversies is over the morals and practicality of genetically modifying crops and animals. Reasons for doing so vary from making them more nutritious to making plants more bountiful to allowing organisms to benefit humans in ways never before possible. Genetic engineering is a process in which genes within the DNA of one organism are removed and placed into the DNA of another, a “…reshuffling of genes…from one species to another” (Steinbrecher qtd. in Epstein). However, uncertainty about the practice has resulted in several groups who argue for its future. Some believe that genetic engineering should be encouraged to its greatest potential, others argue that the cons of genetic engineering greatly outweigh any benefits and feel it should be entirely banned, while a final group feels genetic engineering should be continued but only under much more strict moderation and regulation.
Although humans have altered the genomes of species for thousands of years through artificial selection and other non-scientific means, the field of genetic engineering as we now know it did not begin until 1944 when DNA was first identified as the carrier of genetic information by Oswald Avery Colin McLeod and Maclyn McCarty (Stem Cell Research). In the following decades two more important discoveries occurred, first the 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA, by Watson and Crick, and next the 1973 discovery by Cohen and Boyer of a recombinant DNA technique which allowed the successful transfer of DNA into another organism. A year later Rudolf Jaenisch created the world’s first transgenic animal by introducing foreign DNA into a mouse embryo, an experiment that would set the stage for modern genetic engineering (Stem Cell Research). The commercialization of genetic engineering began largely in 1976 wh...
Morgan, S. Philip, Suzanne Shanahan, and Whitney Welsh. "Brave New Worlds: Philosophy, Politics, and Science in Human Biotechnology." Population and Development Review 31.1 (2005): 127-44.
The modern age of genetic study first began in 1953 by Francis H. C. Crick (1916-2004) and James D. Watson (1928) with the identification of the DNA molecule with its four bases: adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine. Watson and Crick laid down the foundation for genetic engineering and provided a model of DNA, which was in the shape of a double helix (Genetics and Genomics Timeline 1953). The first accomplished genetic experiment using living organisms occurred in 1973 by Herbert Boyer (1936) and Stanley N. Cohen (1935). Both Herbert Boyer, of the University of California at San Diego, and Stanley Cohen, at Stratford
The world has changed in various ways as humans discover technological and biological advances through the concept of modification. Ever since the beginning of time, people have been modifying the original to better suit the human nature. More specifically, scientists have come up with a method to directly manipulate the DNA of an organism to yield a more favourable characteristic. According to the University of California, the outcome of this manipulation is known to be a genetically modified organism. In reference to Natural Revolution (2014), people often assume that the nature of genetically modified organisms, GMOs, are negative and harmful to the body however, many of the uses these days are rather productive
Genetic engineering is the intended modification to an organism’s genetic makeup. There have been no continuing studies on this topic or action so there is no telling whether or not it is harmless. Genetic engineering is not safe because scientists have no absolute knowledge about living systems. Given that, they are unable to do DNA surgery without creating mutations. Any interference on an organism’s genetic makeup can cause permanent damage, hereditary defects, lack of nutritious food, or a spread of dangerous diseases.
Technology has a significant influence across the world, as it has become a fast growing field. Modern biotechnology has been in the major forefront of this influence. From the discovery of DNA to the cloning of various animals, the study of genetic engineering has changed the way society views life. However, does genetic engineering have the capacity to influence the world to its best abilities? Products, which are genetically engineered, may cause severe negative effects on our society. This industry, carrying the potential of leading us toward the unnatural selection of humans to possibly environmental disasters will put humankind in peril. Society, along with humankind, will be in jeopardy since to genetic engineering has the potential of being disastrous.