Pros And Cons Of Genetic Engineering

No antibacterial compounds are available resistant to this disease but genetic engineering has developed the first trees to resist this devastating disease and increased the consumption level. Specific foods have been developed to correct malnutrition problems. To this end, plants have been modified to provide increased and more stable quantities of essential amino acids, vitamins, or desirable fatty acids. For example, golden rice has been genetically modified to increase beta-carotene content which may help to overcome the severe vitamin A deficiencies that cause blindness and iron. Plants can also be genetically modified to grow well in areas of low production potential. For example, two researchers in Mexico inserted a gene from a bacterium into papaya and tobacco to produce acid-tolerant crops. The crops thus secrete citric acid from their roots by combining with toxic metals which in turn making the soils accessible to protect the tropical forests which contain most of the world’s species of plants and animals. Genetic engineering also helps to decrease or eliminate the allergenic proteins that occur naturally. For example, it has been already used to reduce the levels of major allergen in rice and peanuts. Genetic engineering brings closer the prospect of commercial production in plants of edible vaccines and therapeutics for preventing and treating human diseases like cancer and diabetes. The genetically derived vaccines are potentially

Humans have been altering the genetic makeup of plants for millennia, keeping seeds from the best crops and planting them in following years, breeding and crossbreeding varieties to make them taste sweeter, grow bigger, last longer. In this way we've transformed the wild tomato, Lycopersicon, from a fruit the size of a marble to today's giant, juicy beefsteaks. From a weedy plant called teosinte with an "ear" barely an inch long has come our foot-long (0.3-meter-long) ears of sweet white and yellow corn. In just the past few decades plant breeders have used traditional techniques to produce varieties of wheat and rice plants with higher grain yields. They have also created hundreds of new crop variants using irradiation and mutagenic

This finding became the foundation of the genetic modification process. In 1983, the first transgenic plant was created. Scientists were able to create a tobacco plant that could resist anti-biotic. Shortly after this creation, genetically engineered cotton was effectively field tested in 1990. Five years later, Monsanto the leading biotech company, released herbicide-immune soybeans. Finally, the promising science of genetic modifications was improved even further in 2000 with the discovery that the modification process could be used to bring vitamins and nutrients to enhance foods.

Throughout the years, scientific and technological advances have benefited the world in a huge way. Nevertheless, scientists continue to look for new beneficial methods or experiments, and genetic engineering is one of these. This is a new advance and employment of scientific methods, processes, and technologies that allows direct management of genetic material, or the addition of DNA, in order to alter the inborn traits of a cell, organism, or population. This is done by physically removing the desired gene from an organism, and placing it in another who will acquire the trait responsible by that gene. Inside the receiver organism, the gene may be slightly modified but will still perform its function.

Biotechnology offers a variety of potential benefits and risks. It enhanced the food production by making plants less vulnerable to drought, frost, insects, and viruses and by enabling plants to compete more effectively against weeds for soil nutrients. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are defined as organisms (except for human beings) in which the genetic material has been altered in a way which doesn 't occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. GMO 's have widespread applications as they are used in biological and medical research, production of pharmaceutical drugs, experimental medicine, and agriculture. The use of gene technology in food production has become interesting due to increased needs of

“Genetic engineering refers to any changes in genetic makeup that result from the direct manipulation of DNA using various technical methods” ( source 1). More simply put, genetic engineering involves cutting, pasting, and/or editing DNA, specifically targeted ones, to produce a valuable effect produce a useful or desirable characteristic in an organism. The results can greatly modify a certain species or even create a new one. The Biotechnology to do such things were only available in the 1970s, making genetic splicing a relatively new compared to other sciences.

This principle demonstration of the medical benefits that genetic modification could pioneer became the basis for a new biotech science that now involves both prokaryotes such as bacteria, and eukaryotes including yeast, plants, insects and mammals.

In 1996, two types of genetically engineered seeds were introduced commercially, known as herbicide-tolerant (HT) and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) (Budinger, 2010). The herbicide-tolerant seeds were engineered to survive the direct application of herbicides. Herbicides are used to kill unwanted weeds or plants that could damage the crops. Regular crops are not able to withstand the intensity of herbicides and would otherwise die from direct application. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), other type of genetically engineered seed, was created to produce toxin within the plant cells. These toxins are meant to kill certain agricultural insect pests that would destroy millions of acres of crops. By using these types of GE seeds, farmers are able

Genetic modification (GM) of crops is not new. In fact, it has been around for over 10,000 years, dating back to prehistoric times when hunters and gatherers, and farmers and plant breeders created hybrid plants and seeds by selective breeding – selecting the best naturally related plants in the field to naturally crossbreed. Since the 1990’s there has been a more “modern” way of growing (GE) crops. Genetic engineering typically involves the transfer of related and sometimes unrelated organisms, gene editing, splicing together parts of existing genes or creating new ones. This process has been widely criticized due to the manipulations of genes/DNA that alter and disrupt the DNA of another organism with consequences that are unpredictable and uncontrollable. Today, 80% plus of corn, soybean, cotton, canola and sugar beets in the United States is from GE seeds. Currently, there are approximately twenty-six countries with partial or total bans of GMOs and the pesticide glyphosate

With today’s extraordinary advances in the field of sciences, more and more efforts are being spent on increasing the quality of human life on Earth. Scientists have now applied what they have learned in the study of genetics to help modify and improve the properties of plants and organisms that we can benefit greatly from. Genetic engineering can be beneficial for humanity in the modern age as they are considered safe, able to support the demand of resources by the ever-increasing human population, and provide potential cure to many incurable diseases and possible life extension.

in WT and transgenic lines compared to NT; WT and transgenic plants. It is concluded that

Technology promotes the wellbeing of mankind; genetic engineering should be only used for preventing diseases. Being as parents, they have no right to choose either the appearance or the gender of their children. In Brave New World, infants are produced using assembly line, which means these infants have the same personalities, same traits, etc. Although it is efficient, but using this method, there will be no differences among people. Just like genetic engineering method, if everyone alters genes, then people are no longer “born”, they are “created”. But preventing disease by genetic engineering is totally different, because it prevents people from developing a genetic disease; it allows more people to remain healthy throughout the whole life.

Altering with the DNA sequences that codes the body and functions of an living organism. Cloning is procedure of obtaining organisms with the same or identical genetic information. In the process of cloning the experiment, scientists create the animal by transferring the nucleus from an adult animal cell and placed into an enucleated egg. When the embryonic cells is ready to active, it differentiated the adult cells by shutting down the specific gene functions that they did not want in the animal. The embryonic cell must reset to the embryonic state for the embryo to be able to develop with the genetic information. Genetic engineering can be a potentially menacing implement, that can be fatally ill or if working can bring great benefits in the future, until we begin to clone the human race.

In addition to helping the economical aspects of the food-consumer market by decreasing the overall cost of food production, genetically-modified species are beneficial to the environment in which they are raised. According to the Ecological Society of America, “Some GEO’s could play a positive role in sustainable agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, bioremediation, and environmental management both in developed and developing countries” (Snow et al.). Studies are underway to develop plants that create less nutrient depletion in the soil, such as is found the in the large-scale growth of many crops like corn. This would decrease the amount of arid land worldwide. Furthermore, GMO’s present a chance to alleviate some of the damage already caused. Research is underway to create plants that can grow in these damaged lands and provide nutrients and life to the seemingly deadened soil.

Genetically modified crops also known as GMCs, GM crops or biotech crops, are plants, which DNA has been modified using genetic engineering techniques. In most cases the goal is to introduce a new trait to the plant, which does not occur naturally in the species, for examples in crops and food. Since 1960, there are many introducing genetic engineering in crops production as it can bring a lot of benefits e.g. increasing food production, it is also environmental friendly and it gives high quality production. However, there are also many negative issues related to in genetic engineering such as it can harm the environment, and can be detrimental to human health.