Genetic Engineering In Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World

Genetic engineering, by definition, is "the science of making changes to the genes of a plant or animal to produce a desired result" (Genetic Engineering). Throughout Aldous Huxley 's novel, A Brave New World, genetic engineering played a key role in the "utopian society" (Huxley 5). The people are no longer born naturally by reproduction, but instead they are born from bottles (Huxley 12; Huxley 36). This occurs in order to fulfill the World State 's motto, "Community, Identity, Stability" (Huxley 3). Similarly, today genetic engineering, an ever exploding field with far reaching effects, is used as a tool for improvement. 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

However, genetic engineering is perhaps more closely associate with medicine than the other three. In medicine, genetic engineering has been utilized for solving health problems. With genetic engineering, scientists are able to produce large quantities of insulin, interferon, tissue plasminogen activator, urokinase, human growth hormones, follistim (for treating infertility), human albumin, monoclonal antibodies, antihemophilic factors, vaccines, and many other drugs (Applications of Genetic Engineering). The medical advances due to genetic engineering has saved many