FREE ESSAY ON GENETIC ENGINEERING

GENETIC ENGINEERING

Science is a source that continues to radically improve the state of mankind. It has
allowed for advances in production, transportation, and even entertainment, but never in
history will science be able to so deeply affect our lives, as genetic engineering will
certainly do. Genetic engineering is a safe and powerful tool that will bring forth
amazing results, specifically in the field of medicine. It will bring in a world where
gene defects, bacterial disease, and even aging are a thing of the past.
The new science of genetic engineering aims to take a dramatic short cut in the slow
process of evolution (Stableford 25). In essence, scientists aim to remove one gene from
an organism's DNA, and place it into the DNA of another organism. This would create a new
DNA strand, full of new encoded instructions; a strand that would have taken Mother
Nature millions of years of natural selection to develop. The possibilities of genetic
engineering are endless. 
Once the power to control the instructions, given to a single cell, are mastered anything
can be accomplished. For example, insulin can be created and grown in large quantities by
using an inexpensive gene manipulation method of growing a certain bacteria. This supply
of insulin is also not dependant on the supply of pancreatic tissue from animals.
Recombinant factor VIII, the blood clotting agent missing in people suffering from
hemophilia, can also be created by genetic engineering. Virtually all people who were
treated with factor VIII before 1985 acquired HIV, and later AIDS. Being completely pure,
the bioengineered version of factor VIII eliminates any possibility of viral infection. 
Other uses of genetic engineering include creating disease resistant crops, formulating
milk from cows already containing pharmaceutical compounds, generating vaccines, and
altering livestock traits (Clarke 1). In the not so distant future, genetic engineering
will become a principal player in fighting genetic, bacterial, and viral disease, along
with controlling aging, and providing replaceable parts for humans. 
Medicine has seen many new innovations in its history. The discovery of anesthetics
permitted the birth of modern surgery, while the production of antibiotics in the 1920s
minimized the threat from diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and cholera. The
creation of serums which build up the bodies immune system to specific infections, before
being laid low with them, has also enhanced modern medicine greatly (Stableford 59). All
of these discoveries however, will fall under the broad shadow of genetic engineering
when it reaches its peak in the medical community. 
Many people suffer from genetic diseases ranging from thousands of types of cancers, to
blood, liver, and lung disorders. Amazingly, all of these will be able to be treated by
Genetic engineering, specifically, gene therapy. The basis of gene therapy is to supply a
functional gene to cells lacking that particular function, thus correcting the genetic
disorder or disease. There are two main categories of gene therapy: germ line therapy, or
altering of sperm and egg cells, and somatic cell therapy, which is much like an organ
transplant. Germ line therapy results in a permanent change for the entire organism, and
its future offspring. Germ line therapy is not readily in use on humans for ethical
reasons. However, this genetic method could, in the future, solve many genetic birth
defects such as downs syndrome. Somatic cell therapy deals with the direct treatment of
living tissues. Scientists, in a lab, inject the tissues with the correct, functioning
gene and then re-administer them to the patient, correcting the problem (Clarke 1). 
Along with altering the cells of living tissues, genetic engineering has also proven
extremely helpful in the alteration of bacterial genes. Transforming bacterial cells is
easier than transforming the cells of complex organisms (Stableford 34). Two reasons are
evident for this manipulation: DNA enters, and functions easily in bacteria, and the
transformed bacteria cells can be easily selected out from the untransformed ones.
Bacterial bioengineering has many uses in our society, it can produce synthetic insulins,
a growth hormone for the treatment of dwarfism and interferons for treatment of cancers
and viral diseases (Stableford 34). Throughout the centuries disease has plagued the
world, forcing everyone to take part in a virtual lottery with the agents of death
(Stableford 59). Whether viral or bacterial in nature, such diseases are currently
combated with the application of vaccines and antibiotics. These treatments, however,
contain many unsolved problems. The difficulty with applying antibiotics to destroy
bacteria is that natural selection allows for the mutation of bacteria cells, sometimes
resulting in mutant bacterium, which is resistant to a particular antibiotic. This now
indestructible bacterial epidemic wages havoc on the human body. Genetic engineering is
conquering this medical dilemma by utilizing diseases that target bacterial organisms.
These diseases are viruses, named bacteriophages, which can be produced to attack
specific disease-causing bacteria (Stableford 61).
Much success has already been obtained by treating animals with a phage designed to
attack the E coli bacteria (Stableford 60). Diseases caused by viruses are much more
difficult to control than those caused by bacteria. Viruses are not whole organisms, as
bacteria are, and reproduce by hijacking the mechanisms of other cells. Thus, any
treatment designed to stop the virus itself, will also stop the functioning of its host
cell. A virus invades a host cell by piercing it at a site called a receptor. Upon
attachment, the virus injects its DNA into the cell, coding it to reproduce more of the
virus. After the virus is replicated millions of times over, the cell bursts and the new
viruses are released to continue the cycle. The body's natural defense against such cell
invasion is to release certain proteins, called antigens, which plug up the receptor
sites on healthy cells. This causes the foreign virus to not have a docking point on the
cell. This process, however, is slow and not effective against a new viral attack. 
Genetic engineering is improving the body's defenses by creating pure antigens, or
antibodies, in the lab for injection upon infection with a viral disease. This pure,
concentrated antibody halts the symptoms of such a disease until the bodies natural
defenses catch up. Future procedures may alter the very DNA of human cells, causing them
to produce interferons. These interferons would allow the cell to be able determine if a
foreign body bonding with it is healthy or a virus. In effect, every cell would be able
to recognize every type of virus and be immune to them all (Stableford 61). 
Current medical capabilities allow for the transplant of human organs, and even
mechanical portions of some, such as the battery powered pacemaker. Current science can
even re-apply fingers after they have been cut off in accidents, or attach synthetic arms
and legs to allow patients to function normally in society. But would not it be
incredibly convenient if the human body could simply re-grow what it needed, such as a
new kidney or arm? Genetic engineering can make this a reality. Certain types of
salamanders can re-grow lost limbs, and some lizards can shed their tails when attacked
and later grow them again. Evidence of regeneration is all around and the science of
genetic engineering is slowly mastering its techniques. Regeneration in mammals is
essentially a kind of controlled cancer, called ablastema. The cancer is deliberately
formed at the regeneration site and then converted into a structure of functional
tissues. But before controlling the blastema is possible, a detailed knowledge of the
switching process by means of which the genes in the cell nucleus are selectively
activated and deactivated is needed (Stableford 90). To obtain proof that such a
procedure is possible one only needs to examine an early embryo and realize that it knows
whether to turn itself into an ostrich or a human. 
After learning the procedure to control and activate such regeneration, genetic
engineering will be able to conquer such diseases as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and other
crippling diseases without grafting in new tissues. The broader scope of this technique
would allow the re-growth of lost limbs, repairing any damaged organs internally, and the
production of spare organs by growing them externally (Stableford90). Ever since biblical
times the life span of a human being has been roughly at 70 years. But is this number
truly measurable? In order to uncover the answer, knowledge of the process of aging is
needed. A common conception is that the human body contains an internal biological clock
which continues to tick for about 70 years, then stops. An alternate watch analogy could
be that the human body contains a certain type of alarm clock, and after so many years,
the alarm sounds and deterioration beings. With that frame of thinking, the human body
does not begin to age until a particular switch is tripped. In essence, stopping this
process would simply involve a means of never allowing the switch to be tripped. W.
Donner Denckla, of the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, proposes the alarm clock
theory is true. He provides evidence for this statement by examining the similarities
between normal aging and the symptoms of a hormonal deficiency disease associated with
the thyroid gland. Denckla proposes that as we get older the pituitary gland begins to
produce a hormone which blocks the actions of the thyroid hormone, thus causing the body
to age and eventually die. If Denckla's theory is correct, conquering aging would simply
be a process of altering the pituitary's DNA so it would never be allowed to release the
aging hormone. In the years to come, genetic engineering may finally defeat the most
unbeatable enemy in the world, time (Stableford 94). 
The morale and safety questions surrounding genetic engineering currently cause this new
science to be cast in a false light. Anti-technologists and political extremists spread
false interpretation of facts coupled with statements that genetic engineering is not
natural and defies the natural order of things. The morale question of biotechnology can
be answered by studying where the evolution of man is, and where it is leading our
society. The safety question can be answered by examining current safety precautions in
industry, and past safety records of many bioengineering projects already in place. The
evolution of man can be broken up into three basic stages. The first, lasting millions of
years, slowly shaped human nature from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens. Natural selection
provided the means for countless random mutations resulting in the appearance of such
human characteristics as hands and feet. The second stage, after the full development of
the human body and mind, saw humans moving from wild foragers to an agriculture based
society. Natural selection received a helping hand as man took advantage of random
mutations in nature and bred more productive species of plants and animals. The most
plentiful wheat's were collected and re-planted, and the fastest horses were bred with
equally faster horses. Even in our recent history the strongest black male slaves were
mated with the hardest working female slaves. The third stage, still developing today,
will not require the chance of super-mutations in nature. Man will be able to create such
super-species without the strict limitations imposed by natural selection. By examining
the natural slope of this evolution, the third stage is a natural and inevitable plateau
that man will achieve (Stableford 8). This control of our world may seem completely
foreign, but the thought of the Egyptians erecting vast pyramids would have seem strange
to Homo erectus as well. Many claim genetic engineering will cause unseen disasters
spiraling our world into chaotic darkness. However, few realize that many safety nets
regarding bioengineering are already in effect. The Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee
(RAC) was formed under the National Institute of Health to provide guidelines for
research on engineered bacteria for industrial use. The RAC has also set very restrictive
guidelines requiring Federal approval if research involves pathogenicity (the rare
ability of a microbe to cause disease) (Davis, Roche69). It is well established that most
natural bacteria do not cause disease. After many years of experimentation,
microbiologists have demonstrated that they can engineer bacteria that are just as safe
as their natural counter parts (Davis, Rouche 70). In fact the RAC reports that there has
not been a single case of illness or harm caused by engineered bacteria, and they now are
used safely in high school experiments (Davis, Rouche 69). Scientists have also devised
other methods of preventing bacteria from escaping their labs, such as modifying the
bacteria so that it will die if it is removed from the laboratory environment. This
creates a shield of complete safety for the outside world. It is also thought that if
such bacteria were to escape it would act like smallpox or anthrax and damage the land.
However, laboratory-created organisms are not as competitive as pathogens. 
Fear of the unknown has slowed the progress of many scientific discoveries in the past.
The thought of man flying or stepping on the moon did not come easy to the average
citizens of the world. But the facts remains, they were accepted and are now an everyday
occurrence in our lives. Genetic engineering too is in its period of fear and
misunderstanding, but like every great discovery in history, it will enjoy its time of
realization and come into full use in society. The world is on the brink of the most
exciting step into human evolution ever, and through knowledge and exploration, we should
welcome it and all its possibilities. 
Bibliography
Works Cited Clarke, Bryan C. Genetic Engineering. Microsoft 
Encarta. Microsoft Corporation, Funk & Wagnalls Corporation, 1994.Davis, Bernard, and
Lissa Roche. Sorcerer's Apprentice or Handmaidento Humanity. USA TODAY: The Magazine of
the American Scene [GUSA] 118Nov 1989: 68-70.Lewin, Seymour Z. Nucleic Acids. Microsoft
Encarta. Microsoft Corporation, Funk & Wagnalls Corporation, 1994.Stableford, Brian.
Future Man. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1984.Thompson, Dick.
The Most Hated Man in Science. Time 23 Dec 4 1989:102-104