Genetic engineering is the directed alteration of genetic material by intervention in the genetic process.
People around the world are coming to the realization that genetic engineering is taking over every aspect of their daily lives, their supermarkets and even local hospitals. Soybean, maize, rapseed oil, sugar beet, squash, cucumber vitamins, antibiotics, and even births. By now most everyone in the U.S. has probably eaten GM foods in some form.
Because the FDA makes no distinction between GM crops and traditionally bred varieties, food producers are not required to separate or label their GM crops. So without knowing it you probably have eaten GM soybeans in the breakfast cereals you ate this morning. This means simple crops such as the ones listed above may become smart enough to vanquish its own pest enemies. This starts with sections of potatoes stem into which scientists essentially smuggle the B.T.
Gene. Once the stem bits have put down roots they are ready to plant and it will be only a matter of months before America s favorite vegetable is ready to be consumed. The new agriculture is supposed to be engineered more sustainable, feed the world, and improve health and nutrition, but oddly enough it seems to be the same as our original home grown vegetables. Genetic engineering is also available in the medical field.
They call this genetic modification . It is the realm of human genetics that the real revolution will be wrought. Plans to uncover the entire genetic blueprint of the human-being would, (were told) eventually enable geneticists to diagnostic in advance, all the diseases that an individual will suffer in his/her lifetime even before the individual is born. There are problems of course, as there would be in any technology. The public has to decide the ethical issues.
This newly found scientific resolution play on society and its people. Genetic engineering is now promising to feed the hungry with genetically modified crops able to resist pests and diseases and to increase yields. For those who despair of the present global environment deterioration, it promises to modify strains of bacteria and plants. It promises to allow you to choose your son s eye color, height and personality. I believe the public is totally unprepared.
They are being plunged headlong, against their will, into the brave new genetically engineered world, in which giant, faceless multinational corporations will confront every aspect of their lives, from the food they eat, to the baby they can conceive and give birth too. The point is science is not bad but I do believe it can be misused. Science is nothing more and nothing less than a system of concepts for understanding nature and for obtaining reliable knowledge that enables us to live sustainable with nature.
