Genetic Engineering: Examining the Potential and Ethical Implications

This essay explores genetic engineering, a technology used to manipulate an organism's genes, focusing on its advantages, disadvantages, and ethical implications, particularly regarding its application to humans. It discusses how genetic engineering can help combat diseases, eliminate illnesses in unborn children, and potentially extend human lifespan. However, it also addresses ethical concerns about tampering with nature's selection process, the potential for genetic defects, and the risk of pathogens developing resistance. The essay concludes that while genetic engineering holds promise for modifying disease-carrying genes, its broader application to create "super humans" could lead to chaos and destabilize natural processes, emphasizing the need for further research and ethical consideration. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments.

Running head: GENETIC ENGINEERING
Genetic Engineering
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Genetic engineering is a technology which is employed to directly manipulate the genes
of an organism, add new traits to the cells which were previously not present in an organism,
change the genetic composition and makeup of the organism (Khattak et al. 2012). Above all the
discussion is the prominence of DNA. DNA is the reason for diversity that we notice in a
human’s phenotypic and genetic orientation. However, the composition of DNA never remains
fixed and it experiences a constant over a period of time (ENCODE Project Consortium 2012).
This study is based on genetic engineering and its various advantages and disadvantages. The
study will focus on the question that should genetic engineering be perused on humans?
Genetic engineering in short is a technique in DNA molecules of an is extracted and a
copy of this genetic molecule is inserted in to the DNA of another organism in order to modify
the characteristics. This organism can be an animal, plant or a human. In order to understand the
way by which the DNA works, a clear understanding of how DNA works is a must. All the
living organisms have cells and the cells have the DNA, this DNA instructs and control the
whole body. Genetic engineering has a wide range of applications, like agriculture, medicine,
animal husbandry, surgery (Muntaha et al. 2016). With the help of genetic engineering, many
species have developed immunity from the wide range of the deadly diseases. Genetic
engineering has helped and assisted the farmer to increase the yield at the farm. Today, several
different types of the genetically modified food crops are introduced in to the market in order to
cope up with the increased hunger from the increased population. Genetic engineering has
brought agricultural revolution that will effectively reduce the malnutrition and starvation
(Christou 2013).
Advantages of genetic engineering- defeating and tackling the diseases is the first
advantage. There are several diseases that have stayed throughout the evolution and gained such

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resistance that medicine have lost the capability to treat these diseases. There are several
different types of mutations that can occur in humans and will potentially increase the
susceptibility of humans to different types of diseases. Thus, genetic engineering in humans can
be effectively used to treat these diseases. Getting rid of illness in the unborn and young child is
one of the options available to rectify the diseases carried by such unborn babies. There are many
diseases that can be detected before a child is born and the detection can range from down’s
syndrome, sickle cell anemia. Here, the utility of genetic engineering comes into play. Through
genetic engineering it can be ensured that the babies do not carry any disease (Sparrow 2018).
Increases the potentiality of a person to live longer through editing of the diseased genes and
inserting the edited genes in the target person. New foods can be produced which will be
resistant to the pest, temperature, harsh environment, and as well as will give high productivity.
With the help of genetic engineering, specific traits of plants and animals can be engineered that
will exhibit characteristics that are beneficial for consumption or use (Joos et al. 2012).
Disadvantages of genetic engineering- When genetic engineering concept was first
introduced, the first question that came to the minds of the people is that is it ethical? Many
consider that genetic engineering is like tweaking the nature’s own selection process. There are
other ethical issues that arise along with benefits of genetic engineering. The major issue is that
removal of disease through the genetic modification can raise the question that, is it ethical to
perform such an act which existed within the humans throughout the evolutionary process (Berry
2011). Genetic defect is another disadvantage. The question of modifying the DNA raises the
question of cellular level modifications. Although it is known how a body behaves under the
normal conditions, however the ramifications due to the changes made through the genetic
engineering is still unknown. Modification done to the unborn child can raise the complications

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of miscarriage or even premature birth can occur. Pathogens getting adapted to the new gene
profiles through developing the natural resistance. Viruses and bacteria multiply fast and thus
there is a big chance that they can get mutated and develop resistance. These pathogens become
more resistance and strong more than they normally were and creating heath concerns that are
never seen before. Due to tampering, modifying and tweaking the original genetic composition,
there is a high probability that there will be negative impacts. Like if an animal is genetically
engineered to produce more milk, then it might suffer from shorter life span. The genetically
modified crops when will interact with the other plants in the wild might result in same genetic
material getting propagated into the other plants (Nicolia et al. 2014). Thus, reducing the genetic
diversity.
Genetic engineering in humans can be perused, although is a restricted way. Genetic
engineering can be utilized to modify the disease carrying genes in unborn children, so that the
child can lead a healthy life. Genetic engineering can also be utilized to create tailor made babies
that will possess characteristics of super humans. However, promoting such an act will only
result in spreading more chaos than peace. Nature’s own selection process and the famous
survival of the fittest always selects the best naturally. Tempering with natural process can lead
to serious ramification that will destabilize normal functioning (Sparrow 2018).
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that, genetic engineering is a
novel technique. The benefits of genetic engineering are plenty and wide ranging which includes
genetically modified food, genetically modified animals and genetically modified babies.
Although the potentialities of genetic engineering are immense, it is still unknown how
genetically modified organism will interact with the nature and the surrounding. However, this
novel technique can be used to modify the disease carrying genes of an unborn baby. Although,

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it is still an ethical dilemma that whether to temper with the natural process or not. Further
research will be required to understand the unknown ramifications.

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Reference
Berry, R.M., 2011, March. A small bioethical world?. In HEC forum (Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 1-14).
Springer Netherlands.
Christou, P., 2013. Plant genetic engineering and agricultural biotechnology 1983–2013. Trends
in biotechnology, 31(3), pp.125-127.
ENCODE Project Consortium, 2012. An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human
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Joos, H., WILLMITZER, L., ECKE, P., Rosahl, S. and MONTAGU, M., 2012, December.
Genetic engineering of plants. In The Impact of Gene Transfer Techniques in Eucaryotic Cell
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Khattak, J.Z.K., Rauf, S., Anwar, Z., Wahedi, H.M. and Jamil, T., 2012. Recent advances in
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Muntaha, S.T., Ahmed, A., Ahmed, K., Mukhtar, N., Naureen, U., Murtaza, M. And Hussain, T.,
2016. Applications and Future Prospects Of Genetic Engineering: A New Global Perspective.
FUUAST Journal of Biology, 6(2).
Nicolia, A., Manzo, A., Veronesi, F. and Rosellini, D., 2014. An overview of the last 10 years of
genetically engineered crop safety research. Critical reviews in biotechnology, 34(1), pp.77-88.
Sparrow, R., 2018. Genetically engineering humans: a step too far?. Stroke, 13, p.57.