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Genetic Engineering

Essay by   •  February 14, 2011  •  Essay  •  797 Words (4 Pages)  •  2,856 Views

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Is it truly worth it to invade someone else's body, scientifically alter the fetus, just to have a blond-haired, blue-eyed 'designer' baby? What are the risks and consequences for this? For the baby, and for the generation? What is the true cost of us 'Playing God'?

I'm talking about genetic engineering, here. That is when a scientist alters the cells of a living being. Whether that be a person, animal, or even a pathogen. In humans, that is the process of going into a woman's womb, altering the baby's cells, or trading some of them entirely for different, artificial, ones.

My four topics of this terrible process are cloning, deadly biowarfare, religion, and what will happen to our future. These are only a few of the many costs of genetic engineering.

The first crime against nature is that of cloning. While this may be science fiction for some, it is a very real thing happening today. Cloning is classified as making a genetic identical of something, or, a doppelganger. This is already happening to animals right now, and are humans next? 'Dolly the Sheep' was cloned in 1997, and it was successful. If by successful, you mean, her body rejected the new cells a grand total of 17 times before they got it, and the fact that her baby lamb lived only to about half the lifespan of a normal sheep.

The second needle in the baby for genetic engineering is religion. In many religions, a supreme deity created the world. God had made the earth, not for us to change and modify just to 'improve' it, but to enjoy and protect it. It is true, that the Bible asks us to guard our earth, but how far is too far for this? If God created the earth perfectly, why go back and modify the sixth day of creation, why change what God has made?

Another very dangerous side of messing with genetic engineering is biowarfare. Scientists have already made very deadly pathogens and sicknesses called 'superbugs'. Hence the name, these illnesses are incurable, as they were injected with a gene for resistance to medicine, and as a result, 100% fatal. Food could soon be injected with such illnesses, poisoning all who consume it. On another side of biowarfare, there are the soldiers. We could soon be making 'superhumans' soon. Soldiers who are faster, stronger, and all the more deadly.

All of that was just the tip of the genetic iceberg, here. In a popular 1997 movie, 'Gattaca', a story in which a young couple in the future want to have a baby, sans the genetic engineering. Most other babies of this time are 'enhanced' for very high-tech jobs. This baby, Vincent, grown up to a young man who desires to be an astronaut. In this time, however, your genes determine your job. So Vincent uses a loophole in the system. While he has a chronic heart problem, another

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