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The Pros And Cons Of Synthetic Genetics

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The emerging field of synthetic biology and genomic editing has sparked a biological revolution. The possible applications of these techniques for the advancement of health, technology, industry, and agriculture seem endless. However, these new advancements have also raised national security concerns. There has been an expressed concern, by the United States government, for the ease of use and accessibility of these technologies and for their use as a biological weapon (Coats, 2017). It is imperative that these concerns over synthetic biology as a bioterrorism tool does not overshadow the benefits of these technologies. The United States government does need to create a regulatory policy but without infringing upon technological development, promote the use of these technologies for the advancement of healthcare, industry, technology, and agriculture. Most of these concerns are the same concerns that have arisen with other new technologies, tend to be overexaggerated, and lack an understanding of how scientists carry out these experiments. None the less, the concerns must be taken seriously and addressed. However, it is important that policy makers and United States citizens in general are able to see these concerns from a realistic perspective. What is Synthetic Biology? …show more content…

Synthetic biology is the engineering of biology (Serano, 2007). Synthetic biology allows for the synthesis of complex biologically based or inspired systems that display a function not currently found in nature (Serano, 2007). This engineering perspective may be applied at all levels of the hierarchy of biological structures – from individual molecules to whole cells, tissues and organisms (European Commission, 2005). In essence, synthetic biology will enable the design of ‘biological systems’ in a rational and systematic way (European Commission,

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In “The Threats from Genetically Modified Foods”, Robin Mather effectively brings awareness to the harmful side effects of genetically modified foods. She shares genetically modified foods are foods with an altered genetic make-up and therefore, is banned in several countries. Also, the pesticides used in genetically modified foods yield harmful side effects to animals and humans. On top of health hazards, the process of labeling these foods are not as costly as the Federal Drug Administration declares. Furthermore, she discredits the FDA’s credibility by revealing the bovine growth hormone (produced in cow’s pituitary glands and is a genetic modification) raises the risk of cancer; although, the FDA approves it.

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Jeffrey Smith’s blog post on the Institute For Responsible Technology (IRT) lists ten reasons why genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are “plants and animals whose genes have been changed by scientists,” should be avoided. At the time of this blog post, research in eastern Quebec had recently discovered Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a spore forming bacterium that is toxic to many species of insects, in the blood of pregnant women and showed evidence that the toxin was passed to fetuses. As a consumer advocate, Smith promotes healthy non-GMO choices, and believes genetically engineered foods must urgently become our nation’s top food safety priority. He is the founding executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology

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" Online posting. Synthetic Biology.www.churchofscotland.org.uk. Church of Scotland, May 2010. Web.

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Scientists can create new organisms with the desired characteristics by modifying the DNA of the organism using genetic engineering. New forms of life that cannot be derived from artificial intelligence are being developed and there are concerns about the risk of their introduction into the environment. Nanotechnology is another area of scientific discovery that has attracted a lot of attention recently. Thanks to the discovery of new materials and manufacturing methods, researchers were able to produce materials and devices on a scale previously thought to be impossible, which they considered impossible. This has led to new developments in various industries, such as health, energy and electronics, but has also raised concerns about the dangers of nanotechnology.

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Bioengineering is deliberately modifying certain characteristics of an organism by changing its genetic makeup. It is commonly used all around the world, especially in the agricultural and medical fields. Recently however, there has been a new idea introduced. Scientists want to start modifying animals. This proposal is both morally and ethically wrong.

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for example, in bizarrely cold environments people are unable to grow crops, genetics engineers used an anti-freeze gene “afa3” from winter flounders to sustain the crops in such chilled conditions(Logsdon& Doolittle, 1997). Another strange use of GMO’s is being researched, a fruit or vegetable used as vehicles for delivering edible vaccines. To many that modification might be terrifying since some people might fear getting allergic reactions from chemicals found in

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Change and evolution are the basic tenets of life, inevitable and relentless. Right from the time Aristotle declared the earth to be spherical to Charles Darwin being declared a heretic for espousing the theory of evolution; man has resisted change even while embracing it. The fantasies of yesterday are facts of today –consider –Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne and the existence of almost exact working submarines a century, later. Similarly mankind feels threatened by the looming spectre of Eugenics and the possibility of ‘Gattaca’ – a science fiction movie, focusing on the future of gene selection and modification – becoming a reality in the coming years. DNA modification has been developing rapidly and is here to stay.

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However, this initiation of synthetic life has some ethical considerations that must first be

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Biotechnology may lead to poisonous crops, sickened patients, and major overpopulation, therefore should only be considered a risk and harmful to the

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I. Introduction A. What if, you could use genetic engineering to stop humanity’s most dangerous predator. The deadliest animal on the planet responsible for the death of billions, the mighty mosquito. B. A new technology could help us eliminate malaria forever and possibly many others viruses to, but to do so we need to engineer a whole animal population C. Along with many other diseases that mosquitoes play host to.

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Regulations of human biotechnologies, including the practices and products their policies cover, the jurisdiction of authority and the nature of enforcement differ from country to country. Countries such as the United Kingdom have established agencies that are responsible for licensing and monitoring research and commercial facilities that work with human embryos (“Other Countries”, n.d). Additionally, over forty countries have made some applications of human biotechnologies such inheritable human genetic modification and human reproductive cloning illegal (“Other Countries”, n.d). A survey in 2014 of thirty-nine countries, conducted by Motoko Araki and Tetsuya Ishii, discovered that there were a variety of regulatory approaches regarding human germline modification. Many European countries legally prohibited any intervention in the germline modification (Charo, 2016).

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“Other applications, such as EnviropigTM, were created to reduce the environmental impact of farming Finally, genetic engineering can be used for bio-medical and human health applications, like GM livestock (cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens or rabbits) developed for producing pharmaceutical proteins from milk, egg white or other fluids (e.g., blood), human antibodies, animal tissue or organs for use in human transplants, or xenotransplantation (Houdebine, 2009; Laible, 2009; Murray et al., 2010; Vàzquez-Salatet al.,

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A topic that can and has raised numerous arguments, whether it be agreeing or disagreeing with the argument, is the controversial one of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The history of GMOs is notably long and the conflict that is created regarding their safety should not be about whether they are safe for human consumption, but rather the way in which they will influence long-term, justifiable agricultural efforts. A GMO is any organism (plant or animal) that has a genetic material which has been manipulated through genetic engineering. Genetic engineering involves the modification of an organism's phenotype by altering its genetic make-up.

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