I'll have a crack. What are the real dangers of genetic engineering, and what are the most common misconceptions? |
|
It seems that there are a lot of misconceptions about genetic engineering and genetically modified organisms. After doing great research and multiple school projects on the subject, including several persuasive essays, I'd like to try and clear up any illusions or questions people may have about this science. I will do my best to answer questions briefly, yet concisely, and with respect. |
|
I'll have a crack. What are the real dangers of genetic engineering, and what are the most common misconceptions? |
|
April Ryan is my friend,
Every sorrow she can mend.
When i visit her dark realm,
Does it simply overwhelm.
Is Monsanto out to get us all, or are they just money-hogging capitalists? |
|
The Emperor Wears No Clothes: The book that everyone needs to read."If the words "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on."- Terence McKenna
Perhaps the largest danger is "genetic pollution," wherein a gene not normally found in nature rapidly hybridizes with other species of plant, sometimes for the better, but usually for the worst. For example, a type of herbicide-resistant plant may cross with a weed, and lead to a new breed of weeds immune to that certain herbicide. The other major problem would be unintended consequences. Say a new form of potatoes is grown to be resistant to a particular type of microbe, and so the microbial population diminishes. Well, say these microbes are vital for cloud formation. Now that fewer of these exist, there are less clouds, and havoc ensues. Not the best examples, but you get the idea. I guess if you really wanted to go all-out extreme, it would be possible to reverse-engineer a new strain of smallpox from a bit of common ebola, which is rather scary, but quite unlikely to happen. |
|
April Ryan is my friend,
Every sorrow she can mend.
When i visit her dark realm,
Does it simply overwhelm.
Yes, this is very true. Superweeds would make farming difficult, for one thing. As for direct adverse health effects, you would have to be working with anthrax or something, I think. Genetic pollution on its own should not have any adverse side effects, and GE crops are completely safe (at least, the modern ones are). Mostly. The ones intended for consumption are. |
|
Are catgirls possible to be made with genetic engineering? |
|
Actually, I was kinda baiting you with that one. I believe I've read about a product which actually did cause direct adverse health effects when on prolonged consumption. I can try to dig up the article tomorrow. |
|
April Ryan is my friend,
Every sorrow she can mend.
When i visit her dark realm,
Does it simply overwhelm.
Technically speaking...maybe. At present, the technology is too imprecise to make a living catgirl, though further research would improve it to the point that living, breathing catgirls could indeed be created. Getting the required clearance, however, would be an entirely different matter. Somehow, I don't think our society is quite ready to accept catgirls... |
|
I think that's too big a change to make after someone is old enough to make that decision. And hopefully no-one will ever feel compelled to do something like that to a baby. |
|
April Ryan is my friend,
Every sorrow she can mend.
When i visit her dark realm,
Does it simply overwhelm.
That's the reason why they would need people who can make decisions like that though... |
|
Mario, if genetic engineers did find a way to stop or reverse aging, wouldn't the population eventually grow out of control? Even at the current exponential growth rate of human populations, we will at some point run into problems associated with the carrying capacity of our environment. A reversal of aging would bring us to that point much more quickly, at least in first-world countries where the technology would be readily available, would it not? |
|
I said interesting, not "good idea." Yes, that would probably be a not-good thing, but on the flip side, what if you made it so humans could only become pregnant on very rare occasions? 20 years is a long time, but eternity is longer still. Again, not advocating it, but still an interesting thought... |
|
If anything, a rising population should be a motivator to expand beyond the meager boundaries of our little blue planet. The government officials will finally get off their asses and look into subjects like terraforming, building orbital space colonies, or simply improving upon long-existing ideas (tower-based communities [see "Millenium Tower"], underwater domes, etc.). Nothing motivates like a kick in the rear, right? |
|
Final Fantasy VI Rules!
Total LDs: 10 | WILDs: 4 | DILDs: 5 | DEILDs: 2
"Take atheism, for example. Not a religion? Their pseudo-dogmatic will to convert others to their system of beliefs is eerily reminiscent of the very behavior they criticize in the religious."
If the government is working on such a project, they're keeping it a damn good secret. Well, in theory, the human body has its limitations, but if the right genes were altered or changed, it would be possible to increase these limitations significantly. Eugenics as we know it is a relatively new technology, though, and I cannot quite see it being applied to the creation of super soldiers, at least not in the state we know it as. Someday soon, though, this could be very possible. |
|
In theory, is it possible to replace every cell in an organism with cells containing a desired trait, such as a cure for Down's? |
|
That is called Gene Therapy, and research is being done on it. Because of current limitations, it is proving to be rather difficult to pull off, though some small-scale applications have proven successful. Defective retinal cells in some dogs have been replaced with functioning ones via gene therapy, and this is a science with great potential. Unfortunately, it is proving troublesome to get it to take throughout the entire body, as the most common means of introducing the good genes are imprecise and may cause more harm than good. |
|
Years ago, i read in a book that by 2020 people will be able to have "designer babies". Do you think that within the next 10 years that people will be able to commercially "buy" designer babies i.e. modified embryos or whatever? I know it's a dumb question, but do you think that prediction i read about was accurate? |
|
Necro-post forgiven. |
|
Haven't we been genetically engineering for years? I mean, carrots were white untill farmers tapped their stalk to that of another plant. |
|
I'm back!
Bookmarks