Genetic engineering Beauty or Beast Essays - Biology,

"Genetic engineering: Beauty or Beast?" Genetic engineering is t he deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material. Some people think that Genetically modified crops shouldn't be allowed, this is because g enetically modified foods are not likely to present health risks to humans but there are many concerns as to the outcome of transgenic effects. A genetically modified food can cause an allergic reaction when it did not before it was modified, since transferring a transgene to a food product may alter the product creating an allergen. Therefore, allergies have increased in the past decade because of the different use of chemicals and the modification of genes. Personally I think that genetically modified crops should be allowed but they should have labels on them so allergens know what they can and cannot eat, without labels people may get allergic reactions or even, in worst cases, death. Should genetic engineering on humans only be allowed to prevent diseases? Many people think that if we use genetic engineering on humans, we can erase/prevent diseases. This in some ways is true, for example, we could get rid of huntington's disease. In other ways, this is false because some genetic diseases actually make you immune to another disease, for example, sufferers of sickle-cell disease are immune to malaria because of some traits in the DNA. In my opinion I think genetic engineering shouldn't be used to prevent diseases because then what if we find a safer and more morally correct cure, then we could have killed thousands of people just to find out that there was a safer way. We don't know that such genetic technology will be used for. We have only been adapted to eat one type of wheat, therefore if they change or genetically develop/change wheat, what will we eat? Humans could probably adapt again but it would take a while and we don't know how much of the human race will be left. But on the other hand it might be useful because some types of wheat have been modified to withstand the cold so that could produce more crops for winter. In the USA, wheat has been modified to make more food in one hectare. This change happened fairly quickly, this could mean that our bodies will have to adapt again. Is this healthy? Personally, I think it could be useful but if our bodies have only been adapted to eat one type of wheat it could raise some risk factors. Do we have the right to make decisions about our children's genotypes? We do but it is morally wrong. If you are pregnant and put in danger by this then you can choose to abort the baby and you can also choose to abort if you are raped but morally this is wrong. If you have the money or the means to take care of a child and it's not putting you or the child in danger then you should just keep the child. Personally I do not think that it is morally right to change your child's characteristics. Parents are supposed to love their children unconditionally, by changing the characteristics you are suggesting otherwise. You should accept anyone for who they are especially if they are your child. Therefore, I do not think that it is right ( in any way ) to make decision or choice about our children's genotypes. -8239122133600 Abbygale Lawson