Genetic Engineering is a valuable and beneficial technology because it brings helpful pharmaceuticals to the world and keeps prices of crop grown foods low.
Fruits and Vegetables can become even more nutritious than they already are with the help of genetic Engineering. No one wants cancer. Everyone hates and gets embarrassed about getting gas. People with allergies to certain foods are being deprived of what they can or can not eat. These are things that genetic engineering can forever change. The biotechnology industry has been working on oranges that contain the nutrients equal to a multivitamin, tomatoes and broccoli that include more cancer risk reducing antioxidants, nuts with less saturated oil and less allergy substances and beans with less gas giving carbohydrates (1 Jaret). Genetic Engineering can help people become healthy even if they don't want to exercise or take vitamins. Clare Hasler, director of the functional foods program at Illinois University agrees that "Genetic engineering holds out the promise of making many foods that are already good for you even better" (1 Jaret).
Genetic Manipulation
Genetic Engineering (song)
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and B...Genetically altered foods attract people, because they're extremely healthy, and as a result of many buyers, the prices of these foods stay low. As a result of genetic engineering, people around the world will have better, happier and healthier lives with improved and cheaper foods.
Biotech companies have helped reduce toxic chemicals which are dangerous to people, animals and plants through genetic engineering. It used to be that if a virus got to one of the plants in a crop, then the whole crop was doomed to dying. Now plants are genetically altered so that they are immune to virulent viruses (1 Jaret). This saves the lives of many plants in the United States and around the world. Plants are good for food and for a healthy environment for both animals and humans. Moreover, weeds and bugs are also a problem in crops all over the world. In the past, farmers have used chemicals to control their problems within the crop. These chemicals are harmful to the crop's growth and development. Through genetic engineering, crops have genes that make them resistant to commonly used pesticides and herbicides, so weeds and bugs are controlled without hurting the crop with poisonous chemicals (1 Jaret). Some examples of such crops are corn, cotton, rapeseed and tomato. All of those crops were common foods that people eat in their everyday lives. The reduction of toxic chemicals has dropped drastically due to genetic engineering. Amy Ridenour, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. states that "Biotechnology has already let to an 80 percent reduction in insecticide use in U.S. cotton crops" (1 Jaret). Herbicides and pesticides that are used on normal crops, hurt the crops and the farmers have to throw away the plants that die. The crops that are genetically altered, stay strong and don't get injured from the chemicals. That is why it is important that genetic engineers continue to work hard and keep toxic chemicals from affecting life and keeping crop prices low.
Genetic Engineering can help save lives of people who have diseases that are due to genetic problems. Many people all over the world are in need of genetic engineers and their valuable research. They have diseases that are rare causes of gene mutations, irregularities or deformities. These discrepancies can be corrected through genetic engineering. Parkinson's disease ultimately results in the deterioration in control of voluntarily movements. Scientists cloned bovine cells and replaced the deteriorating brain cells in the brains of rats with them, and the result was astounding (1 Rowland). The rats were able to gain back their voluntarily movements. If this technique works properly, it can be used on humans and help them gain back their health and confidence. In addition, Huntington's disease has been figured out through genetic engineering. Symptoms for this disease don't show until the victim is a middle aged adult. It is called the dance of death (27 Barker). Genetic engineers narrowed down the problem to chromosome 4 and then found out that there was a trinucleotide redundancy that should have not been there. After this valuable research was done, pharmaceutical companies quickly created drugs to correct this genetic problem. Similarly, Cystic Fibrosis, a breathing problem due to 3 missing base pairs of DNA was figured out through research and then pharmaceutical companies followed through with the research in order to make drugs that corrected the problem (29 Barker). Genetic Engineering is the key to solving rare and painful diseases with beneficial pharmaceuticals.
There are many negative vibes about genetic engineering. Rebecca Goldberg believes that genetically altered foods will cause unpredictable allergic reactions to people who previously consumed that type of food safely (1 Jaret). Although there has never been a case where Rebecca's assumption has happened, she strongly supports it. Moreover, when a crop is genetically enhanced, it can take over other crops and wipe out other varieties necessary to animals living in it (1 Jaret). This could devastate life around earth. For example, if a certain animal ate only a certain type of plant in a crop, but suddenly another crop took over and the plant that the animal only eats was gone. That animal and its whole species die. As a result the carnivores that eat that animal die too, because their food source would be gone. In addition, Margaret Mellon thinks that "Most consumers want truly fresh and truly varied foods. We don't need biotechnology to give us that" (1 Jaret). Margaret's theory is only an assumption, but she stands by it very strongly. Genetic Engineering can possibly have a negative impact on the Earth.
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