Ethical Essay #1

Genetic engineering is a process of inserting new genetic information into existing cells in order to modify a specific organism for the purpose of changing one of its characteristics. Genetic engineering isn't something that is brand new to the science world. Matter of fact it has been around for many years with the first animal being cloned in 1997. Work is being done constantly to improve results and how its done. Will it all be worth it or accepted entirely in the end?

Adding genetic material to food and plants seems to be done prematurely. For example, salmon that has had genetic engineering with a growth hormone made it grow to big and too fast and it also turned green. Another example, petunia's that had red color added to it did change color in the petals but decreased fertility and altered growth of roots and leaves. With the unpredictable side effects why take the chance. The Women's Environmental Trust and Greenpeace, stand firmly against this issue and encourages others to take a stand against the issue.

Another part or issue with genetic engineering is cloning humans. Although many animals have been cloned, all had some issues and didn't live very long. The Physicians from the American Medical Association and scientists with the American Association for the Advancement of Science are both against cloning humans. They also believe it is unethical to attempt to clone humans. Animal cloning has been inefficient only about 1 or 2 viable offspring per every 100 experiments has survived at all. These don't seem to be very promising numbers and not good enough to change the minds of these groups.

In conclusion, all of the articles that I chose to read were all against genetic engineering. This is a issue that will always bring debate in the future. A lot of kinks need to be worked out and different developments discovered. I think there will be a lot more to come from genetic engineering. I am personally against it also. If all the "bugs" were worked out and results proving to be better, it could be more beneficial especially for plants or food. I am sure our future will have a lot of talk about genetic engineering and when the time comes I hope scientists take better responsibility with the information they learn.