Human Genetic Engineering Essay

Genetic engineering is a great thing that can help our society grow in a healthier way. Genetic engineering can prevent deadly diseases in children [babies] before they are born genetic engineering can also be used on fruits and vegetables not just humans and animals.

Picture a young couple in a waiting room looking through a catalogue together. This catalogue is a little different from what you might expect. In this catalogue, specific traits for babies are being sold to couples to help them create the "perfect baby." This may seem like a bizarre scenario, but it may not be too far off in the future. Designing babies using genetic enhancement is an issue that is gaining more and more attention in the news. This controversial issue, once thought to be only possible in the realm of science-fiction, is causing people to discuss the moral issues surrounding genetic enhancement and germ line engineering. Though genetic research can prove beneficial to learning how to prevent hereditary

Modern technologies are constantly advancing in a multitude of ways to the degree that scientists have gained enough knowledgeable about the human genome to be able to find specific genes during the embryonic stage of reproduction. Scientists have already begun to use this knowledge to allow parents the ability to select the sex of their child and screen for genetic diseases via preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) with in vitro fertilization (IVF). Sex-selection has already created world-wide discussion regarding the ethics of such a situation. However, scientists are now looking toward germline engineering which will essentially allow parents to select and alter genetic traits of their children before implantation of the embryo into

Genetic engineering is the “altering of genetic material”, typically deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA (Parker 4). Human genetic engineering could advance today’s civilization, however, too many ethical dilemmas such as human testing associate with it. The future based World State in the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley uses human genetic engineering as the basis of their society and issues continue to appear, causing damage to their society like it would to this one.

Genetic engineering is a very beneficial thing for every human. Some advantages involve individuals health and affect society in general. The lifespan of a human is increased, the extinction of illness in children and babies and healthier foods with a cheaper production cost are all rewarding devices of genetic

Some scientists also fail to see any benefits of this technology and believe that germ-line engineering fails to be necessary. They “are adamant that germ-line engineering is being pushed ahead with ‘false arguments’” (Regalado). Through in vitro fertilization, people fertilize several embryos in order to choose a healthy embryo that lacks the disease-causing gene. This process eliminates disease from the offspring without altering the genes of all future generations, and this form of fertilization is understood and accepted with no chance of unknown, negative effects. Many scientists agree that germ-line engineering, in which this technology is used to alter embryos and pass changes to offspring and all future generations, is unethical

It’s been seen in movies like Gattaca, and now reality is catching up to fictional genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is defined as the deliberate modification of an organism’s characteristics by manipulating genetic material. Rapid progression in this field has already taken place; today, over 40% of the world’s food is genetically modified and this science has begun to allow parents to select the traits they want in their children. As of right now, genetic engineering is a fresh concept not completely accepted or understood, but by 2041, it will as common practice as smartphones are commonplace because of its contribution to the quality of life.

On the other hand, genetic engineering can also be a great benefit as through gene therapy, genetic diseases can be prevented and quite possibly being wiped from existence. Another benefit of genetic engineering is that it can also allow infertile couples to have a baby but to do this would require the genetic information of a surrogate alongside the couple’s genetic information [12]. This could result in many complications which is why there is a great controversy on this matter. Although cloning is known by a plethora of people, whereas the minority of the population knows of genetic engineering which brings up the question, what is genetic engineering?

Presently streamlined amongst animals, germline engineering stagnates as an imprecise technology, demanding mileages of attempts prior to the manufacture of a successful genetically modified animal. Concurrently, human germline manipulation has

Picture a young couple in a waiting room looking through a catalogue together. This catalogue is a little different from what you might expect. In this catalogue, specific traits for babies are being sold to couples to help them create the "perfect baby." This may seem like a bizarre scenario, but it may not be too far off in the future. Designing babies using genetic enhancement is an issue that is gaining more and more attention in the news. This controversial issue, once thought to be only possible in the realm of science-fiction, is causing people to discuss the moral issues surrounding genetic enhancement and germ line engineering. Though genetic research can prove beneficial to learning how to prevent hereditary diseases, the

The ethical arguments for the use of germ line engineering largely centre around its therapeutic possibilities, and that it is therefore ethically appropriate to prevent children suffering from genetic diseases if we have the technology to do so. John Harris, a bioethicist and Manchester University says that “It is ethically imperative to positively support this technology” because “the human genome is not perfect” (Regalado, 2016). This

Genetic engineering is the process of being able to manually add new DNA to an organism. This is to try and add one or more new traits to an organism, which does not have these certain traits. An example of this being done is how bacteria have been genetically engineered to produce human insulin. Insulin is a hormone, which is produced by the pancreas that allows the body to use sugar from carbohydrates in food that is eaten for energy or to store glucose for future use. Basically insulin helps your body keep your blood sugar levels from becoming too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia). But for people with type 1 or 2 diabetes it can be a challenge to produce insulin, as their beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed/damaged or do not respond well or are resistant to insulin. Therefore these people need to gain their insulin from an external source. For many years it was gained from the pancreas of a cow or a pig. However this was very expensive and difficult, also the insulin could cause allergic reactions. This is where genetic engineering came in. Once the structure of human insulin was found in 1955 cow and pig insulin could be chemically modified to be the same as human insulin. Genetically engineered microbes now make it. They produce human insulin in a pure form, which is less likely to cause allergic reactions.

Many people may not realize this, but genetic modification has already taken shape. A process known as in vitro fertilization (IVF) has aided numerous people who have had difficulty in fertility. Many years ago, the idea of a women getting pregnant through artificial insemination was a far cry from being feasible. The technology and science was not advanced enough to perform something as delicate and complexed as this. Even so, the development of IVF has created many people who could not have been born through traditional needs.

That is already true to some degree today. If a man or a woman is infertile they can look for sperm or egg donors, try fertility drugs or use in vitro fertilization to bring

By choosing genetic combinations expressing a mixture of overall better health, children of the future will grow up to be happy and healthy. Such blueprints can then be passed on to their children, who will continue the process. Parents can rest assured their child will come into the world without any surprises such as red hair in a brown haired family, or an extra pair of toes. For those who believe such a program is unattainable due to financial reasons should consider the program to be run by a government organization through the state or federal government. Such polarization of our biological makeup has no physical prrof that it could create a sect between the enhanced and non-enhanced (Fox, D. American Journal of Law and Medicine, 572). In fact, such a breakthrough in modern science would also be advocated alongside planned pregnancy, allowing doctors to recommend and support families seeking to improve their future children. These parents to be are left with “the genetic constitution of the offspring for themselves,” (Fox, D. American Journal of Law and Medicine, 569). With the benefits offered with such modification of DNA, our future children will pass on their desired genetic traits to their offspring, allowing for greater adult longevity.