Genetic Engineering
Genetic Engineering is one of the new fronts in science for the 21st century.
Recent development in biotech has brought the topic to the news front.
There is a lot of debate about whether to use this new technology and what
could it mean for our future.
Every living organism on this planet has DNA. The more complex the life the
more complex the DNA. DNA forms the bases for life. Like an instruction DNA
partly tells your body over the course of your life. DNA can also change
accounting to the environment around you. DNA gives you traits. Some of
the most obvious ones is eye colour. The traits are passed down from both
parents. Often small countries or countries which the majority of the people
were born in that county will have a common trait. One is possible height of
people. This applies to many Asian countries where immigration is low. DNA is
sets how your body functions. Certain Genes tell cells what function they
have. DNA is held inside a tightly bond string called a chromosome. There is
36 in just about every human. You get 18 from your dad and 19 from your
mother. This is the reason why you are slightly different from your parents.
Genes can also be tracked and matched to see human movement or when
humans were once another spices. You share 99.9% with the rest of the
human race. It is that 0.1% makes you look and act different. 99.6% of your
genes are shared with apes and monkeys suggesting that a long time apes
and humans were just one species. DNA has also helped to prove that
humans came out of America genes can be grouped and also show the
movement of humans through a complicated process.
Genetic engineering also known as biotechnology means that humans can
change, copy or replace genes to our advantage. Depending on your
definition of genetic engineering, this is not a new technology. Humans have
been doing it for hundreds of years on plants and domesticated animals.
Dogs are one of humans biggest susses at genetic engineering. Centuries
ago farmers started breeding certain dogs with certain traits for work. Often
new breeds would come with stronger or faster dogs. Dogs are considering
one spices but come in many different kinds with different traits. One way
dogs could have gotten these traits is being isolated from other species
maybe on islands like England. They over time change but it hasn’t been long
enough to completely change into a different species. These dogs can still
be breed to get a new breed with a mixture of favourable traits. That is why
today there are so many breeds of dogs. It is still happening today but on a
much smaller scale. Mules are a mixture horses and donkeys. Horses are fast
and argali but weak and have a temper to work while donkeys are stronger
and much kinder but slow. So breeders but them together to get a good mix
of both the traits. It is not a sure why to do it but it does give a consent result.
Genetic engineering has come much further then that today. Today we are
able to add and take traits from plants and animals. Older methods took
many generations for the trait to reach its full potential. Today it might only
take one or two generations for the trait to show in the species. In 2010 we
made the first syndic life. It was only microbes but it was a major milestone for
science. Currently we do most of our research on plants. In the US GM
(Genetically Modified) vegetables are being allowed to be sold in just about
every supermarket. Accounting the department of agriculture all the foods
sold have passed the necessary tests and are safe to eat. Food that is GM
and sold in the US has to be labelled to tell consumers what they are buying.
Certain meat has added hormones to make it bigger and can be found in
Australia.
Cloning is a part of the research that is going on. Dolly was the first every
animal to be cloned. It brought big media attention to the subject of cloning.
Cloning happens naturally. When cells split it makes and exact copy of its
DNA which is sort of cloning because it has the same DNA. Identical twins
have the exact same genes from the process. Cloning on humans is banned
in most countries. In the UK experiments are only allowed to run for two weeks
before it has to be destroyed.
Many people are ageists the idea of genetic engineering. Many say it is like
playing god and messing around with natural balance of nature. Scientists do
agree there are dangers and try everything to minimize the danger. One of
the biggest risks is if a GM plant releases its pollen and it interacts with normal
plants it could have destroys affects on the environment. Another big risk is
bio weapons. Someone out there might be mad enough to create new
dieses or rebuild an old one and realise into the public. I wouldn’t take too
long for it to spread over a long distances. A couple of years ago the US
forces destroyed a bio lab that was owned by alkada. It was believed they
were trying to make bio bombs to hide in congested areas. If someone
cloned a human what would happen to the clone. Some think that cloned
person would have the only propose of replacing organs of other people.
There is no certain future for any of this technology. But as time goes on I bet
that rules will change allowing people to do the unthinkable. The tech has so
many good sides but it has to be heavily regulated to keep the balance