Genetic Engineering: Friend or Foe?

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Genetic Engineering: Friend or Foe?

There is much debate these days over genetic modification of organisms. Many

religious groups claim genetic engineering is "doing the work of God" but scientists

believe it is crucial for our future benefit. You can hear about it in the news, read about it

in magazines and journals as well as the internet. Is this process helpful or harmful in the

long run?

Before I delve into the pros and cons of such a procedure, I must first define

exactly what genetic engineering (a.k.a biotechnology) is. It involves splicing genes and

manipulating them in such a way that is outside an organisms natural reproductive

process. DNA is isolated then reintroduced into cells in an effort to create new attributes

to the organism. These attributes could include crop resistance to herbicide, introducing a

novel or more improved trait, or producing a new protein or enzyme. Many agricultural

and biotechnological companies envision a variety of benefits stemming from genetic

engineering. They include animals engineered for leaner meat, plants with longer shelf

life, and bacteria engineered to produce drugs for livestock.

Genetic modification permits alteration of the structure of proteins and is a strong

tool in analyzing the structure-function relationships in protein research. In
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developmental biology an experimenter may engineer an organism to lack one or more

genes. On the flip side, he/she may provide extra copies inducing synthesis of the gene.

These techniques are useful when he/she wants to discover the function of certain genes.

Some of the most successful endeavors during the beginning of genetic engineering

include the production of human insulin by bacteria, the first GE vaccine for Hepatitis B,

as well as new types of experimental mice for cancer research. These early discoveries

have expanded to ...

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