Biotechnology and genetic engineering Essays

Biotechnology and genetic engineering Essays Biotechnology and genetic engineering Paper Biotechnology and genetic engineering Paper 1 Biotechnology and genetic engineering of both plants and animals raise a lot of issues from concerned groups such as the Green Peace and Friends of the Earth environmental activists. Biotechnology is â€Å"defined as the application of scientific and engineering principles to manipulate life forms to provide desirable products for human use (Lewis 70) This definition is applicable to the proponents but to those who oppose, they consider this process as the cause of the destruction of nature. 2. aBiotechnology involves processes of manipulating and modifying the genes of an organism to suit the desired structure of the genes such as greater yield quality, tastier character, immune resistance to pests and weeds and a lot of other qualities that may be useful for humans. This is not entirely different from selective breeding that improves the breeds of an organism but the latter is more of a natural process and does not involve very advance modification processs. Another difference is the time needed in completing the process. Selctiive breeding involves programs to choose the traits to be improved while the genetically modified or genetically engineered organisms are, as the names suggest, forcedly modified and engineered in their genes. â€Å"Scientists at Beltsville, Maryland, created a boar by injecting cattle genes into fertilized embryos of a pig and implanting the embryos in the womb of a surrogate cow(Krimsky, 1991, p. 55) is an example of modifying the genes. This is not possible in selective breeding because a cow cannot actually give birth to a pig naturally. 2. b The good side and potential advantages of biotechnology is that it causes the genetically engineered food crops to yield more which is beneficial to farmers and to the world that needs food. It also makes the food to taste better and fortified with induced vitamins and nutrients in it, while causing the crops to have resistance to pests and weeds reducing the use of expensive and environmentally harsh chemicals. 2c On the side of those environment activists and ethically concerned groups, they argue that biotechnology causes a lot of troubles in the long-run and even in the present. The case of seed patenting letting farmers suffer is one among these many issues. Another is on the possibility of causing immunities to weeds and pests in the long run and they would not be able to be eliminated due to these immunities caused by chemicals that are paired with genetically engineered crops. Another issue is on the loss of diversity in the environment, genetic erosion, environment problems that may be caused by genetic engineered cropping in the future such as soil erosion and many more. Reference Krimsky, S. (1991). Biotechnics Society: The Rise of Industrial Genetics. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Lewis, N. (2006) Pursuing Biotechnology: Opportunities Abound for Innovative Entrepreneurs in This Multibillion-Dollar Industry. Black Enterprise. Questia. 31 May 2008 questia. com/PM. qst? a=od=5016671750.