Designer Babies
Critical Review of Designer Babies: The Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering
Author: Siew Yang Yi
Yin Ren. Designer Babies: The Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering. MURJ Volume 12, Spring 2005. Genetic engineering is the modification of an organism’s genome through direct human manipulation of the DNA using modern technology. Although classical genetic methods using selective breeding has been done by humans since thousands of years ago, the manipulation of genome of organism through advance technology has only emerged since 1970s (Wikipedia, 2011). By injecting a foreign gene into an organism, we can alter the properties of the organism to generate higher crop yields, more nutritious food and even production of therapeutic agents such as insulin. However, by date, no technological advancement has been without flaws. Genetic engineering also provides negative impact upon environment and human society. Gene for herbicide resistance may transfer to other plants and causing mutation and the spreading of super weed. Gene therapy, a treatment done to cure genetic diseases by introducing new genes to replace mutated ones, is still under development. The effect of the treatment is short-lived as for now. Moreover, the virus used as a vector the deliver the foreign gene may not be silenced completely, causing to multiply and damage the host. Furthermore, there are still a lot of moral issues under debate regarding genetic engineering being done on human. The positive and negative effects of genetic engineering are the subject of Yin Ren’s Designer Babies: The Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering. While the author mainly emphasizes on the pros and cons of designer babies, he also presents genetic doping or improvement of physical ability via genetic modification, and their ultimate effects on the human society in various aspects.
In the introduction, Yin Ren briefly mentions about the topics the he is going to deliver. He said that genetic engineering shows
Author: Siew Yang Yi
Yin Ren. Designer Babies: The Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering. MURJ Volume 12, Spring 2005. Genetic engineering is the modification of an organism’s genome through direct human manipulation of the DNA using modern technology. Although classical genetic methods using selective breeding has been done by humans since thousands of years ago, the manipulation of genome of organism through advance technology has only emerged since 1970s (Wikipedia, 2011). By injecting a foreign gene into an organism, we can alter the properties of the organism to generate higher crop yields, more nutritious food and even production of therapeutic agents such as insulin. However, by date, no technological advancement has been without flaws. Genetic engineering also provides negative impact upon environment and human society. Gene for herbicide resistance may transfer to other plants and causing mutation and the spreading of super weed. Gene therapy, a treatment done to cure genetic diseases by introducing new genes to replace mutated ones, is still under development. The effect of the treatment is short-lived as for now. Moreover, the virus used as a vector the deliver the foreign gene may not be silenced completely, causing to multiply and damage the host. Furthermore, there are still a lot of moral issues under debate regarding genetic engineering being done on human. The positive and negative effects of genetic engineering are the subject of Yin Ren’s Designer Babies: The Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering. While the author mainly emphasizes on the pros and cons of designer babies, he also presents genetic doping or improvement of physical ability via genetic modification, and their ultimate effects on the human society in various aspects.
In the introduction, Yin Ren briefly mentions about the topics the he is going to deliver. He said that genetic engineering shows
Bibliography: Wikipedia. (2001). Genetic Engineering. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering.