Essay - Ethics of Genetic Engineering in February 1997, Genetic Engineering Was...

Ethics of Genetic Engineering

In February 1997, genetic engineering was thrust into the spotlight when Dolly, the first mammal clone, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The world has had heated discussions over the issues surrounding ***** engineering ever since. ***** selective engineering of genetics is invaluable to the health and happiness of humans. The importance of this issue has played second fiddle to the arguments, for ***** against genetic *****. ***** impact ***** genetic engineering on our ********** lives can be enormous. While many feel ***** engineering is unethical, this paper will show the benefits are substantial.

***** the past, the majority of people have been ***** the use of these experimental procedures because of the possibility of deadly outcomes. Because not much is known about genetic engineering, th***** discovery could improve our lives and should be allowed to progress despite the risks it poses and ***** public outcry against *****. If people could underst***** genetic *****, perhaps they would be more accepting of it.

The ***** step to understanding ***** engineering and embracing its possibilities ***** society is to obtain a rough knowledge b*****se ***** its history and method. The basis for altering the evoluti*****ary process is dependent on the understanding of how individuals pass ***** characteristics to their offspring. Genetics achieved its first foothold on the secrets of nature's evolutionary process when an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel developed ***** first "laws of heredity." Using these *****, scientists studied the characteristics of organisms for most ***** ***** next one hundred years following Mendel's discovery. These early studies concluded that each organism has two sets of character determinants, or genes (Stablef*****d 1996). For instance, in regards to eye color, a child could receive one set of genes from his or her father that were encoded one blue, and the other brown. The same child could also ***** two ***** ***** from his or her mother. The conclusion for this inheritance ***** be the child ***** a three in four chance of having brown eyes, and a one in three chance of having ***** eyes (Stableford 1996).

***** ***** transmitted through chromosomes, which reside in ***** nucleus ***** every living organism's cells. Each chromosome is made up of fine str*****s ***** deoxyribonucleic acids, or DNA. The information carried on the DNA determines the cells function within the organism.

Sex cells are the only cells that contain a complete DNA map of the organism, *****refore, "the structure of a DNA molecule or combination of DNA *****s determines the shape, form, and function of the [organism's] offspring " (Lewin). DNA ***** is attributed ***** the research of three scientists, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, ***** James Dewey Watson in 1951. ********** were all later accredited with the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine in 1962 (Hawley 1998).

The new science of genetic engineering aims to take a dr*****matic short cut in the slow process ***** evolution" (***** 1996). In essence, scientists aim to remove one gene from an organism's *****, and place it