kathleen morrison-inquiry project revised

7/30/2019 Kathleen Morrison-Inquiry Project Revised

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Kathleen Morrison

Instructor: Malcolm Campbell

English 1103

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Genetic Engineering Advancements Leading to Super Humans or Split Society?

Have you ever looked into the mirror and noticed the similarities between yourself and

your parents? This is because you are a mixture of the genetic makeup given to you by your

Mother and Father. What if, in the future, when someone looked at themselves they noticed no

similarities between how they look and how their parents look because they were given the

desired traits. What if you never got sick or hurt? Genetic engineering is evolving , it has

become more popular in certain crops to make them grow faster and be resistant to pesticides.

Not only has it become popular in plants, but animals as well. This can be seen through the

cloning of Dolly the sheep in Scotland during 1996. The medical procedure hasnt just begun

within the past decade, its been in motion since 1869 when DNA was first discovered. What

could advancements in genetic engineering hold for the human race in the future? A possible

answer is a new race or a split in society of haves and have-nots.

Before genetic engineering became known there was a question of what held our

hereditary material. In the year 1869, Friedrich Miescher discovered DNA. He used cloths

stained in soldiers blood to study the proteins within white blood cells. White blood cells are

cells that are a part of the immune system that digests bacterium. While examining the protein he

came across something unfamiliar, nucleic acid (DNA). After the research of Miescher, Phoebus


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Levene continued the investigation by studying the structure of DNA (History of Genetic

Engineering ).

Levene is credited with many firsts. For instance, he was the first to

discover the order of the three major components of a single

nucleotide(phosphate-sugar-base); the first to discover the carbohydrate

component of RNA(ribose); the first to discover the carbohydrate

component of DNA(deoxyribose); and the first to correctly identify the

way RNA and DNA molecules are put together (History of Genetic

Engineering ).

Erwin Chargoff furthered the research and determined that the same nitrogenous bases

always paired up with each other. Adenine + Thymine and Cytosine + Guanine. Then, in the year

1953 all of this data was compiled by James Watson and Francis Crick to create a model of DNA

structure. The structure is a double helix that can be explained as being a ladder. The rails of the

ladders are sugar and phosphates, which alternate, and the steps are nitrogen-containing bases

held together by hydrogen bonds (Figure 1). This discovery helped to guide scientists to DNA

splicing. This is the procedure of cutting out a section of DNA and placing it into another

organism.

Figure 1


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all depends on if your parents are carriers (carry recessive traits) where the recessive may be

expressed instead of the dominant. Genetic engineering takes away chance within which genes

will be expressed.

Genetic engineering is the development and application of scientific

methods, procedures, and technologies that permit direct manipulation

of genetic material in order to alter hereditary traits of a cell, organism

or population ( Dictionary.com ).

Neal Connan and Rob Stein, journalists in biology and members of NPR discuss genetic

engineering in an interview. During this interview both positives and negatives of the scientific

process are touched upon. Today, scientists are able to decode a genome (the full set of DNA

present in an individual) within hours compared to the days it used to take (Stein). The positives

included using genetic engineering for medical purposes such as fixing problems with mutations

within DNA. This could help numerous people that are suffering with diseases due to

chromosomes not being how they should be. An example of this is on chromosome 21 there may

be three chromosomes instead of two which would lead the child to be born with Down

Syndrome. Not only could this cure but it could prevent as well. By looking at an unborn baby to

detect whether it will be a carrier of a disease or not offers the opportunity for it to be corrected

with genetic engineering.

The negatives of this interview included job loss, discrimination in employment, health

care and health insurance. If super humans were created or even a new race produced there

would become a split in social classes. If an employer was looking at hiring two people and one

of them is resistant to injury while the other is average, who would they chose? By having an


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employee that can not be hurt or fall ill the company would save a great amount of money. This

would cause job loss among people that are not genetically engineered. A reference to the movie

Gattaca ,an example of the negative effects of genetic engineering, is also made within the

interview. This reference is brought up by another journalist Ray Bohlin.

Ray Bohlin, an author of multiple books and journals and has a PhD in molecular

biology, goes into more detail on the subject of genetic engineering. The first idea Bohlin

introduces is Gattaca . The 1997 movie explores the idea of genetically modified humans being

superior in every way to those who are not. This leads to the question: will there be a race of

super humans in the future? There have already been superbugs produced that are indestructible,

an example of this is New Dehli -Metallo- 1 from India (Hanlon). Could it be possible to create

an indestructible human as well? Genetic manipulation goes hand and hand with genetic

engineering, the idea is to change (manipulate) the genes of an organism to be the desired

trait(s).

Bohlin brings up the topic of genetic illnesses that occur through mutations in the DNA.

There are over 1200 known human disorders; it is still questionable how many are unknown.

Genetic engineering would allow these diseases to be prevent able by replacing the mutant DNA

with the desired, non-infected, DNA. If these mutations within the genes are eliminated from

human genomes it could affect the variety in human characteristics. By eliminating certain genes

you are also eliminating variation which is important. Without variation the chances of humans

surviving a disease are slim. If the genes given to the genetically engineered are not able to

defect the disease then they will all die. The idea of variation is survival of the fittest, the best

adapt traits survive.


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What if a family can not afford the procedure? If genetic engineering gives parents the

chance to prevent their unborn children from flaws would they do it? With the elimination of

diseases there would become a job loss in doctors, pharmaceuticals and people that work at

creating vaccines. Those people that could not afford the procedure would fall down the social

ladder by becoming have-nots. Religious views are also included in his exploration of genetic

engineering. Should humans have the right to play the role of God or are we using our

knowledge/intelligence to advance proficiently ? I find it unlikely that the opinions people have

on the subject will change as the procedure progresses.

After searching to learn more about what genetic engineering can mean for the future I

came across an article written by Carolyn Harris. Harris has written numerous articles and

incorporated a professor who studies the impact of robotics on society. The idea of incorporating

robotics and artificial intelligence within the human body was an idea I had never seen/heard of

being associated with genetic engineering. An example of incorporating robotics into the human

body is through the insertion of a chip into the brain tha t would increase intelligence. Not only

would robotics be used for everyday life but for warfare as well. By the year 2020 an estimated

40% of armies will include robotic soldiers. (Harris). With the addition of robotic soldiers into

warfare how brutal will the battles become? Introducing nuclear weapons into war, in my

opinion, was a great mistake of technology. These soldiers may not be able to destroy an entire

country with one blow. But they will, without a doubt, change the rules on the battlefield.

Proceeding the idea of high tech soldiers, Harris questions the idea of a two tier social

system being created with the advancement of genetic engineering. Transhumanists are

individuals that support technology and believe that it will improve the human body. This group

of people is associated with the increase of the rate that genetic engineering advancements are


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becoming available to the public and the rate they are being discovered. The more people want

the technology, the faster it will be produced. I found that this aspect of demand related to the

development of a two-tier society. There will be people that want and can not afford the

technology, the people that want and can afford the technology, and those that disagree with

technology all together.

A few years ago I was presented with a debate on genetic engineering. To find out the

different opinions people may have I began to ask around. When I asked my father I knew it

would be more personal, I asked if he had the opportunity to change my genetic makeup so I

never got sick or injured if he would do it. As the subject, the answer was not straight forward.

He began to explain that as a parent you never want to see your child to hurt. That got to me

because I have been in the hospital more than I can remember. As a baby I had feet and

breathing problems, later in life chicken pox, asthma, a broken arm, torn ACL and meniscus, and

my wisdom teeth removed. He said that he would not go through with the procedure. All the

bumps and bruises were learning experiences that shape the person I am becoming.

So what would happen if before a child was born their parents decided to change their

genetics so they never hurt? If every child grew up with the same traits there would be nothing to

differentiate them. And what of those parents that can not afford or choose not to have the

procedure? In school, children are looked down upon when for not having nice things. But

what happens when that nice thing becomes your genetic com position? It changes from cliques

in school to adult social classes in society. What children learn stays with them as they grow up.

So, if they grow up believ ing they are better than someone because of how they are made

genetically it will potentially follow them to adult hood. Here, it will no longer be about whom

you play with at recess but who gets the job and who does not .


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Genetic engineering is a continuous project. The idea of this technology separating

humans further into social classes is something that should be thought about with great

consideration. Not only to think about a two-tier social system but introducing super humans into

the average population. Both of these ideas should be laid o ut and examined through pros and

cons before the technology is presented to the public. I would never want to see my child hurt

but I also want them to be different and who they are meant to be. Sometimes bad things happen

to good people but those people have the potential to be strong and inspiring. If bad things

stopped happening to the human population , such as disease, what would happen to our genetic

make-up? Would there be immense job loss or a severe split in society or possibly a new type of weapon? The possibilities to genetic engineering are not limited to the positive impact they could

have on human life.


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Works Cited

Bohlin, Ray. What Is Genetic Engineering? Genetic Engineering Probe.org . 2012. Web. 12

Oct. 2012.

Connan, Neal. Do You Want to Know Your DNAs Secrets? Npr.org. 1 Oct. 2012 . Web. 13

Oct. 2012.

Hanlon, Michael. Weve only got ourselves to blame for the indestructible Indian superbug.

Dailymail.co.uk. 12 Aug. 2010. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Harris, Carolyn. The Technocracy and the Genetic Engineering of Humanity. Infowars.com. 1

Jan. 2009. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.

History of Genetic Engineering. Americanradioworks.org. 2008. Web. 04 Nov 2012.

Gregor Mendels Theories of Genetic Inheritance. Studymode.com. 1999. Web. 04 Nov 2012.

Discovery of DNA Structure and Function: Watson and Crick. Nature.com. 2008. Web. 04

Nov 2012.

The First Recombinant DNA Organisms. Thinkquest.com. 1998. Web. 04 Nov 2012.

Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. 2012. Web. 04 Nov 2012.

DNA Structure. Academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu. 2008. Web. 06 Nov 2012.

Genetically Modified Foods. Futureworldofgmos.blogspot.com. 2012. Web. 07 Nov 2012.

kathleen morrison-inquiry project revised

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