Genetic Engineering
Types of Genetic Engineering
• Negative
• Positive
Negative Genetic Engineering
• Correct a genetic defect
Positive Genetic Engineering
• Make a life-form
better.
Eugenics
• Eugenics- make
improvements upon
organism.
Types of Genetic Therapy
• Somatic Therapy
• Germ line Therapy
Somatic Therapy
• Somatic therapy is a type of genetic
therapy that only affects the individual.
• Changes are not passed on to any
subsequent generations or off spring.
Germ line Therapy
• Germ line therapy is a type of genetic
therapy that not only affects the individual
but also the off spring.
• Changes are passed on to subsequent
generations.
Splicing
• Splicing is a method where genes from one
organism are “spliced” into the DNA of another
organism. This is the most common method of
genetic engineering.
Philosophical Views
• Conservative
– Michael Ruse
“Can we do better than God?”
• Liberal
– Jonathan Glover
“Decisions: the Genetic Supermarket”
Michael Ruse
• Argues that we cannot get it better than
God. His main point is that if we make
everyone with superhuman powers and
abilities the world will become a
dramatically different and radically worse
place.
• The awe of human creation and
achievement will be lost, with everyone
excelling at everything.
Jonathan Glover
• Argues that both positive and negative genetic
engineering is morally permissible.
• He employs the philosophical argument of
Robert Nowzick, a libertarian.
• Most libertarians are against any government
interference in the private affairs of citizens, but
Nowzick recognizes the inherent dangers in
genetic engineering and suggest a system of
government regulation at the "genetic
supermarket".
Government Regulation.
• Most libertarians are against any
government interference in the private
affairs of citizens, but Nowzick recognizes
the inherent dangers in genetic
engineering and suggest a system of
government regulation at the "genetic
supermarket".
Genetic Supermarket
• In the genetic supermarket parents would
have a limited voice in opting for genetic
engineering of both positive and negative
features.
• The government would simply ensure that
no dangerous modifications were made.
The Council for Responsible
Genetics (CRG)
• Opposes the use of germ-line therapy in
humans. Further any changes made to an
organism at an embryonic stage have the
potential to be passed on to future generations,
like Germline therapy.
• The goal of cleansing the gene pool of recessive
genes and to improve the human organism
would take thousands of years. Further such
benefits would only be realized by families, and
not by the population as a whole.
Cloning
Evolution and Science
• Many feel that evolution is wrong or false.
• Science, such a genetics, helps to confirm
evolution of life on our planet on a daily
basis.
Evolution
• Darwin’s Theory of
Natural Selection,
Evolution of Species.
• Charles Darwin
Published the Origin of
Species in 1859
Chimpanzee and human
ancestors may have interbred.
• Genetic analysis suggests a messy
split between the two lineages.
• The evolutionary split between humans
and our nearest evolutionary cousins,
chimpanzees, may have occurred more
recently than we thought, according to a
new comparison of the respective genetic
sequences.
A Bizarre Love Triangle
• Our two sets of ancestors may have
interbred many thousands of years after
first parting company.
Our earliest ancestor?
• Previous estimates put the split at as
much as 7 million years ago — meaning
that Toumaï, a fossil dating from at least
6.5 million years ago in Chad and
assigned to the species Sahelanthropus
tchadensis, was hailed as the earliestknown member of the line that gave rise to
modern humans.
Harvard Med says…
• Researchers led by David Reich of
Harvard Medical School in Boston,
Massachusetts, now calculate that the split
may have occurred no more than 6.3
million years ago, and possibly as recently
as 5.4 million. That would make Toumaï
older than the time of the split.
How do they know?
• The researchers make their claim after
comparing the genetic codes of humans,
chimpanzees, gorillas and other primates
in unprecedented detail — more than 20
million DNA 'letters' in all. By checking the
differences between different species'
DNA sequences, they were able to
estimate the time since they first diverged.
We share an X.
• Reich and his team explain in their study, published
online in Nature. Different sections of the genome differ
by different amounts, suggesting that they parted ways
at different times. The divorce period between the two
species, the data suggest, could have lasted a million
years.
The region bearing the most similarity is the X
chromosome. This is exactly what one might expect if
the two lineages had continued to interbreed after first
starting to separate.
Hybrids
• If a hybrid population did exist, the
question remains as to whether it died out,
or whether modern humans or
chimpanzees (or both) are its
descendants.
Who’s related to whom?
• It's very difficult to say, admits Reich.
• "The fossil data suggest, very tenuously,
that it may have been humans who are
descended from the hybrid population."
• “Human-like fossils far outnumber
chimpanzee-like ones in the fossil record,
making it difficult to see exactly who was
sleeping with whom at the time.” (Nature)
Evolution
• Evolutionary theory is as true as any other
scientific theory.
• Natural selection or survival of the fittest
has been confirmed by evidence from the
world.
• It is a way of organizing our experiences of
the world, not unlike any other scientific
law.
Poster boy atheism
• Who needs
God?
• Evolution
• Explains the
world without
positing a
higher power
or deity.
Darwin is a Theist!
• “But with regard to the material world, we
ca at least go so far as this- we can
perceive that events are brought about not
by insulated interposition of Divine power,
exerted in each particular case, but by the
establishment of general laws”• Whewell: Bridgewater Treatise Prologue,
Darwin’s Origin of Species
Evolution
•
•
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•
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H1- Random
H2- Designer
H3- Evolution
H4- Evolution + Designer
Evolution does not rule out the possibility
of intelligent design for the universe.
Dolly the Sheep
• In 1997 Scientist in
Scotland cloned the
first mammal- Dolly
the sheep. Not
everyone was
pleased.
• In 2003 Dolly passed
away from
complications related
to her cloning.
$50,000 to clone your cat!
• In 2002
scientist
cloned the
worlds first
cat.
• In 2004 a
woman paid
$ 50,000
to have her
dead cat
cloned.
Choose the sex of your Baby!
PGD
• In vitro Fertilization has been used for
years to help couples have babies.
• PGD- Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis
can be used to sort embryos before they
are implanted.
Choose your Trait
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Eyes
Skin Color
Hair
Weight
Height
Sex
Splicing
• Splicing is a method where genes from one
organism are “spliced” into the DNA of another
organism. This is the most common method of
genetic engineering.
Splicing in Plants
• Glowing plants
Spliced Pigs
• Gene splicing improves
pork farm waste
• In the last few years, scientists
at Ontario's University of
Guelph have created
Enviropigs™, a line of
transgenic pigs containing
both mouse and bacterial
chromosomes; the pigs cost
less to feed and produce less
noxious manure.
USDA Organic
• The USDA
now certifies
all food that
has an
organic label
to be tested.
What it means:
• Organic food is produced without using
most conventional pesticides
• Fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients
or sewage sludge;
• Bioengineering; (genetic Engineering.)
• Ionizing radiation.
•
To get the seal…
• Before a product can be labeled "organic,"
a Government-approved certifier inspects
the farm where the food is grown to make
sure the farmer is following all the rules
necessary to meet USDA organic
standards.
Organic food contaminated
• A variety of foods marked ‘organic’ or ‘GMfree’ sold in the United Kingdom have
been found to contain genetically modified
(GM) ingredients. Researchers found that
out of 25 organic or health food products
that should have been GM-free, 10
contained GM soy.
Mix and Match Crops
• The United States and Argentina, two of
the largest soy producers in the world,
produce mostly GM soy, and GM-free
crops are often mixed with GM crops after
harvesting. Further, seeds that are
supposed to be GM-free can contain from
1 percent to 2 percent GM varieties. Over
60 percent of processed foods sole in
supermarkets contain soy ingredients.
Contamination with GM
• Researchers suggest that it will become
increasingly difficult to keep organic
products GM-free, and even say that the
problem will be 10 times worse in just one
year.
Medical Research
• GE Animals
No Government Regulation
• The United
States
Government
does not
require labels
for any
Genetically
engineered
food.
Did you know???
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Tomato and shrimp DNA
GE Papaya in Hawaii
Cheese 70% of all Cheese
“Golden” rice
“Starlink” corn and Taco Bell in 1994
Bio Toxin (BT) rice
BT Corn
BT Cotton grown in Arizona since 1996
• The US government said it was investigating a
type of genetically-modified (GM) corn,
approved for use in livestock, that may have
turned up in some taco shell's at the popular
fast-food chain Taco Bell.
• Nearly 150,000 boxes of Taco Bell shells, each
containing a dozen, were produced in the same
batches as those supposedly contaminated.
Cheese
More than 70% of all
cheese sold in the
US is made with
Genetically Modified
enzymes
GE papaya
• Farmers in the orient
ganble that GE
papaya will have a
longer shelf life and
surive the trip to the
US and Europe.
Soybean
• 60% of the US
soybean crop
is genetically
modified.
Canola Oil
• 62 % of the plants
from which canola
oil is extracted are
genetically
modified.
• Milk cows are
treated with a
GE version of a
hormone in order
to increase milk
production.
Vitamins and Minerals
• Genetically Modified
bacteria and yeast have
been used since 1981 to
produce vitamins and
nutritional supplements.
• Many pharmaceutical
drugs are the result of
genetic engineering.
70% of all processed food
• 70% of all processed
food is the United
states contains
Genetically Modified
Components.
Future
• Genetic Supermarket
Benefits
• Benefits:
• Genetic engineering can cure diseases
and improve upon existing plants and
animals. Such improvements can be
natural pesticides (BT bio toxin) as well as
improved yield in crops and animals
Problems
• What does it mean to improve or make
something better?
• What happens when genetically
engineered plants or animals escape into
nature?
• Are all of the side effects known? Should
they be further studied before research
continues?
Moral Questions
• Should scientist try to make plants or
animals “better”?
• What does it mean to make something
“better”?
• Is it “better” that corn now produced it’s
own poison on its leafs?
• Should plant and animal DNA be spliced
together?
Moral Questions Continued
• Should genetically engineered food be fed
to animals that humans are going to eat?
• Should the government require labels on
all genetically engineered food?
• Do we have the right to splice animal DNA
into our own bodies? Can we become a
real chimera, animal/man?