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The Pros And Cons Of Medical Biotechnology

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Introduction
Biotechnology is the use of biological systems or organisms to create products or perform processes that are beneficial to mankind. Broadly, this entails any form of manipulation to biological organisms and systems. Even though lab related biotechnology expanded in the late twentieth century, following the discovery of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) in 1953, much older biotechnological techniques and processes had already existed. These include beer production, biological pest control and domestication of plants and animals; including selective crop farming and breeding of livestock. Following the exponential growth in the field of biotechnology many societal, ethical and legal issues have emerged. Yet, this essay focuses on the advantageous …show more content…

They transformed medicine and prevented millions from dying, reducing the amount of known fatal diseases, including anthrax, penicillin and tuberculosis (TB). Antibiotic treatment is not only available for humans but plants and animals as well. This means livestock with bacterial diseases can receive antibiotic treatment, which further protects humans from diseases and aids in agriculture. Since antibiotics cannot destroy viruses; antiviral medication and vaccines were introduced to battle and control viral diseases. Vaccine production and research in biotechnology rests under the field of immunology and virology, where by previously, virtually untreatable viral diseases such as measles, polio, influenza, chicken pox, rabies, common cold, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), Ebola and hepatitis can be treated through vaccination. Research in these fields also led to the production of antiretroviral drugs, developed specifically for RNA (ribonucleic acid) based …show more content…

droughts, floods and extreme temperatures), pests(e.g. insects and herbicides), diseases and chemical fluctuations. Genetic engineering also provides foods that have a highly reduced spoilage, have an improved nutritional content, ripen faster, larger in size, and more ‘juicy’ or appetizing than their naturally occurring varieties. For example since cotton seed oil, soybean, canola and corn are in high demand, they have been genetically modified for better nutritional content, pathogen and herbicide resistance. Further, unlike selective breeding genetic engineering allows more control over genetically modified organisms and more understanding of genetics or

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That covers everything from cold and flu viruses to more serious clinical pathogens like HIV and hepatitis viruses and ultimately even more deadly viruses like Ebola and smallpox." ‘ said Rider, because Rider and his team have managed to create a drug that may be capable of killing a range of 15 unique viruses, there may be hope for treating viral infections. The new drug, DRACO, searches for cells with double stranded RNA—a definite sign of a viral infection. If the drug finds a virus, it sends a message to the cell to

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Mankind has always been motivated by the desire for progress, accomplishment, and empowerment. The exceptionally steep rate of technological development during the twentieth century starting with the invention of the zeppelin in 1900 and advancing to the creation of more sophisticated technologies such as the world wide web is evidence of this truth. In the midst of all of these impressive innovations, biological scientists developed recombinant DNA techniques that gave them the power to alter genetic material. As biotechnology has become more refined and the application of genetic engineering in both agricultural and medical fields has become more common, the practice has fallen victim to harsh scientific and ethical scrutiny. The debate is

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From 2000 to 2013, a 71% increase was seen in the adoption of GM corn seeds known as stacked seeds because they contain multiple GE traits. (Cornrjo et al. para 8). These seeds are resistant to pesticides and have the ability to grow in harsh conditions, which is why they have their use has increased. More and more plants are becoming genetically modified and soon all plants may have some trace of genetic modification.

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Farmers even started to cross breed crops in order to gain more desirable traits. One good example of this is corn, in the early 1900’s corn looked like a small stem with a few kernels, and today the entire corn husk is covered in kernels. Genetic engineering also made food healthier and more

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“In the genetic engineering process, scientists splice a specific gene that exhibits certain traits into a plant to create new artificial characteristics in organisms” (Burgaard; Streker).   The resulting organism is considered GM, or genetically modified. The desired traits currently being practiced through genetic engineering are insect resistance, weed control, and improved nutritional content (Turner). The

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What do a tomato, soybean and a french fry have in common? They are all some of the most commonly genetically modified foods sold on the market today. By using the genetic information from one organism, and inserting or modifying it into another organism, scientists can make food crops stay fresher, grow bigger, and have the crops create their own pesticides. Nevertheless, the technology to modify genes has surpassed its practicality. Genetically modified foods need to be removed from everyday agriculture because of the threat they pose to human health, the environment, and the impact on global economy.

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What are the most important issues your field is facing today? In medicine, when is the line between helping save lives cross over into play God? As medicine branches into other disciplines such as engineering, the question of ethics still remains. A main component of biomedical engineering is building and designing new tools to better the lives of patients, such as prosthetic limbs, tissue engineering, and the emerging frontier of genetic engineering; along with traditional medicine, one of the most prominent issue facing biomedical engineering is whether it should be used to just treat diseases but also enhance the lives of patients.

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Farmers and ranchers have been manipulating genes for plants and animals well before gene sequencing and molecular techniques were practiced. The size of a grapefruit and coloring on cattle may be attributed to the former. With new knowledge about animal and plant genomes, scientists can now delicately screen, edit, and splice genes for varying reasons. This paper intends to explore some of the more common techniques in genetic engineering (prenatal screening, gene manipulation, and cloning) for humans and the ethical issues surrounding them. Genetic technique and screening has entered the medical scene in numerous countries.

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Genetically modified foods, also known as genetically modified organisms are biologically altered foods. Scientists put a desired gene from one plant, animal, or organism into another plant, in the hope that more crops are grown and have resistance to disease, drought, and pesticides. You likely have several items in your kitchen that are genetically modified that you don’t even know about. According to Livestrong.com, more than 88% of all soy, corn, squash, and cotton plants grown in the U.S. are genetically modified. Animal products like eggs, meat, and milk contain genetically modified foods, because the food fed to livestock is usually genetically modified.

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For years, the health and safety of genetically modified foods have been debated and researched by scientists, but the question still stands: should genetically modified foods be allowed for consumption? The process of genetic modification involves inserting a gene from bacteria or a virus into an organism where it would normally not be found. The purpose is to alter the genetic code in plants and animals to make them more productive or resistant to pests or farming techniques. Genetically modified organisms, more commonly known as GMOs, have been a controversial topic of debate for a number of reasons. The ethics behind genetically modified foods come into question due to an abundance of short and long-term effects from the process, many of which are still unknown today.

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Modern biotechnology provides breakthrough products and technologies to combat debilitating and rare diseases, reduce our environmental footprint, feed the hungry, and use less and cleaner energy, and have safer, cleaner and more efficient industrial manufacturing processes.

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Written assignment unit 7 (13th October – 19th October) Yes, steps should be taken to minimize the negative impacts of movement of people, food and manufactured goods on human health. Globalization is not something which will vanish or will get slower after some time, it will stay here for long. Currently, we can see the increase in incorporation of different countries and its people, culture, food, trade, within the whole world getting bigger. We should not stop the incorporations but what we can stop is the negative impacts which many items or things carry with them during the movements.

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Food production has been a matter that has been disputed for years now because of the things that have been added to crops. While pesticide helps keep other organisms from taking crop harvest, it has also added chemicals into the food that we consume; chemicals that should not be inside of us. Genetic engineering would allow for the natural modification of food to provide DNA genes that can be used to act as a shield against pests and diseases. With the DNA modification of crops, there would be no need to

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This is because the better trait is produced by engineering genes which results in favoring one organism. Genetically modified organism can interrupt the natural process of the gene flow. A possible issue with the modified crop genes ending up in the soil which can produce new strands that can eventually attack the plant species and producing a new strand. Genes from the GM crops can spread to organic farm crops threating the diversity in agriculture. Due to cross pollination to non-gm plants, new hybrid strains are created.

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