The Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Genetic Engineering

During the last 30 years, genetic engineering has been on the

forefront of many scientists’ minds, and the but of many people’s

discussions. Are their any disadvantages with treating diseases by

implanting genes which code for specific antiviral proteins which in

turn are specific to each antigen? Throughout this essay, I will be

discussing the advantages and disadvantages of Genetic Engineering.

One of the main advantages of genetic engineering is genetically

modified crops. Genetically modified crops (transgenic) may provide

increased profits to farmers while providing cheaper and more

nutritious food. Genetic engineering also has helped make crops

available that could not otherwise tolerate adverse environmental

conditions .This is particularly useful to countries with extreme

weather climates such as Ethiopia , Sudan when before hand , they

couldn’t produce many crops of their own , and relied heavily on

international aid. The genetically modified crops are capable of

resisting pests, generating higher yields, and producing food with

high nutrient content. They are considered an effective means of

dealing with pest problems while reducing production costs.

Another of genetic engineering is that diseases could be prevented by

detecting people that are genetically prone to certain hereditary

diseases, and preparing for the inevitable. As well as preventing

disease, with genetic engineering infectious diseases can be treated

by implanting genes that code for antiviral proteins specific to each

antigen.

Another advantage of genetic engineering is that animals and plants

can be made to have desirable characteristics which could help solve

some of the world’s problems. For example in trees, genes could be

manipulated to absorb more carbon dioxide. This would help reduce

global warming, and thus solve one of the biggest problems earth

faces.

Another advantage of Genetic Engineering is that is could increase

genetic diversity, and produce more variant alleles which could also

be crossed over and implanted into other species. An example of this,

is that genetic engineering could be used to cross over the genetics

of wheat plants to produce insulin.