DBQ: Every Living Thing Has Genes

The altering of human genes could save lives. You could cure cystic fibrosis or alzheimer's. This would save the lives of many (Doc. 3). This technology could also give you children with specific traits of your choice. Also, this engineering can leave people painfree. This is not good because they can’t detect danger. As a plus side, scientists will eventually take the gene that causes this and help cure those with chronic long lasting pains (Doc. 2). This would make more people happy and healthy across the nation! Eventually we could go so far as to make a genetically engineered nation. As you can see, Genetic Engineering also could have a positive effect on

Like it was said, humans should not be genetically modified because the modification could harm the person or others around them. The painkiller gene is meant to help people not feel pain, but it can also harm

In this paper I will be arguing that genetic engineering of embryos, genetic therapy, and genetic enhancement should be permissible. Genetic engineering is modifying an organism’s genetic makeup. There are two different methods in genetic engineering: genetic therapy and genetic enhancement. The two differ because genetic therapy serves to treat diseases, whereas genetic enhancement “go beyond” that of therapy. For example, an enhancement would be to use genetic engineering so that one’s child could have blue eyes instead of brown. Also, an enhancement could improve upon features that are deemed “abnormal” to the standard norm, such as deafness or depression. My first argument for genetic therapy is that this technology will be able to help cure serious genetic illnesses that would otherwise cause tremendous suffering. My second argument for genetic enhancement is it would eliminate the randomization of genes, so parents could decide what features their child should have.

Medical research and discoveries have rapidly expanded in the past decade due to the advancement of technology. Genetic alterations are just one of the many discoveries made by scientists in 1973. Some people argue that genetic engineering is wrong and shouldn’t be legal, but some people think that this is a good idea and should be practiced. Genetic alterations should be accepted by society because they enhance characteristics, prevent diseases from spreading, and can give people things they never had or had the chance of getting.

Humans have evolved so much that we now have the ability to speed up this process of evolution by using genetic engineering to our advantage. Genetic engineering is the process of manually adding new DNA to an organism. Indeed, there are people who say that genetic engineering is unethical or even harmful to a person’s body. However, I believe that genetic engineering has the potential for eradicating all disease and for creating superior human beings.

Regardless to what gene therapy is, it has been characterized as unethical by society, and reveals to be quite dangerous. An article, “Genetic Engineering”, states, “If scientists can cure genetic disorders, they can also design individuals in accordance with the cultural and intellectual fashions of the day. Will humans know when to say “enough” to the changes that can be made with HGT?” [17] According to this article, many people are standing out and protesting these sort of procedures for not being rectitude. Adding on, many fear that this medical life-saving treatment will be used to alter the physical appearance of someone without a medical purpose. Say if in the future, gene therapy is used to modify a person’s appearance, it could possibly

Genetic Engineering has been exponentially growing over the years with the media unsure of whether they should support the advancement of genetic engineering or not. While the term genetic engineering is often used in mainstream media, much of the general population does not have a clear understanding of its meaning, current uses, and potential applications. This leads to misinterpretation of the information that the public's receive creating problems which worry them. Despite the risk and ethical concern, genetic engineering holds the potential to benefit and advance humanity by eliminating disease, improving medicine, and developing a better understanding of the human genome.

Science has brought us very far in the world. Included in this science is genetic modification. Genetic modification can be bad or good depending on the reaction. This topic of genetic modification has been debated about whether it should be used on people or not. For now, genetic modification is only being applied to non-reproductive cells.

In genetic engineering, DNA is producing new types of organisms by being manipulated and either inserting or removing genes. Likewise, the modification of genes has been around since 12,000 BC. In 1972 the first DNA transfer from an organism to another was successfully executed by Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen. Moreover, there are three types of genetic engineering. The first is germline which adds genes to human eggs and sperm. Next is somatic which adds genes to body cells. Last but not least is cloning which creates a copy of an organism. Genetic engineering is not beneficial to humans because it could cause problems for the environment, it is unethical, and it could reduce genetic diversity.

The process of genetic engineering employs viral vectors that carry functional genes inside the human body. No previous research has proven where the functional genes are being placed in the body, running the risk that the important genes would be replaced instead of mutated genes. Therefore this may lead to another health condition or disease to humans that is yet unknown. Also, as defective genes are replaced with a functional gene, then it is expected that there will be a reduction in genetic diversity. By replacing naturally occurring genes, human beings will begin to have identical genomes. If this occurs, then population as a whole will be more susceptible to viruses or any form of diseases because mutations in the genome will be reduced. Genetic engineering could also create unknown side effects that could ultimately be more harmful than helpful. Certain changes in a plant or animal could cause unpredicted allergic reactions in some people which, in its original form, did not occur. Other changes could result into the toxicity of an organism to humans or other organisms. Additionally, "Playing God" has become a prominent argument against genetic engineering. Several issues have also been raised in regards to the acceptance of this technology. As more human genes are utilized in non-human organisms to create new forms of life, they are genetically becoming part human. Therefore, new ethical questions are arising. For instance, the percentage of human genes an organism must have to contain before it can be considered human is questioned. Human genes are now being spliced into the genes of tomatoes and peppers to make them grow faster. It can be asked, how many human genes would a green pepper have to contain before it can be eaten without raising a moral issue? People are now suggesting that one can now be a vegetarian and a cannibal at the same time. For carnivores, the same question could

The use of genetic engineering for the prevention of disease and disorder. There are places that hold over a 100,000 genes that are essential for the human body to function. In fact, “A

For as long as DNA has been used for storing the information for life, genes have controlled the development and evolution of all living things on Earth. Today genetics influences aspects of our behavior and health, and will continue to be the focus of biological research in the near future. Aside from our health, genes have control over our entire perception of reality. This sobering fact, along with the sheer ubiquitous nature of genes in all living things, has only recently been elucidated. Since Mendel made his famous observations on heredity we have achieved enormous strides in understanding and even manipulating our genes to obtain a better grasp on how they rule us. However, the advances we are making now will likely only pale in comparison to the ones to come in the future. Some of these advances will cure complex diseases and assist us in understanding the evolutionary context of our existence, but they may not provide all the benefits they promise and careful consideration on the consequences of such technology is strongly warranted.

Genetics is a field of science that explores how cells work and how traits are passed from one generation to another. The study of genetics is divided into four major categories: Classical or Mendelian genetics, Molecular genetics, Population genetics, and Quantitative genetics. An organism’s genes, are the basis units of heredity which control the traits of an individual. There are two basic kinds of organisms: prokaryotes, whose DNA is circular and cells lack a nucleus, therefore, the DNA is in the cytoplasm and eukaryotes, that have a linear DNA that is inside the nucleus. In most multicellular eukaryotes, cells are divided into somatic cells (body cells) and sex cells. Somatic cells are produced by a cell division process called mitosis, and sex cells undergo a process called meiosis. Humans have a total of 46 chromosomes per cell – 2 sex chromosomes and 44 autosomal chromosomes, which means we have 22 pairs of autosomal chromosomes plus one pair of sex chromosomes for a total of 23 chromosome pairs. Chromosomes are homologous (identical) to one another and one set is referred to as “n” = 23, therefore, humans are 2n = 46. Chromosomes are shaped in a string- like form and each chromosome is characterized by the placement of the centromere, whether its in the middle, or closer to the top or bottom, - metacentric, submetacentric, acrocentric and telocentric, and the centromere is the point of attachment to a spindle fiber during cell division. The ends of the chromosome,

In the second portion of A History of Genetics by A.H. Sturtevant, the foundational research and theories provided by Mendel and his contemporaries are expanded and built upon. Topics discussed in the first half, such as germ –plasm theory, inheritance, and chromosomes, are beginning to have their mechanisms uncovered and questions about why they occur are answered. As the second half progresses, Sturtevant discusses the beginnings of many modern-day topics and fields of Genetics.

Genetic Engineering is the editing, erasing, or replacement of a gene to evoke positive change in a patient’s health. This is a serious moral conflict in today’s society where scientific research and experiments have yet again attempted what was once the impossible. It is incredible that we are capable of creating life saving devices and tools, but at some point we need to find a limit. Sometimes research and curiosity exceeds its boundaries and can become harmful to other people. Genetic Engineering is controversial because it is intended to be beneficial to one’s health but it may eventually expand from preventing disease to choosing your baby’s eye color and intelligence levels. These babies with unnecessary changes to their phenotype are called “designer babies” because their parents are picking traits rather than trying to escape pain and disease. This technology is not fully developed and commonly used today, it is more theoretical for future testing.