HUMAN GENETIC ENGINEERING

Human Genetic Engineering

Human Genetic Engineering

Introduction

Human genetic engineering is about engineering human beings genetically by altering the genotypes. The Genotype is the genetic formation of an organism particularly for a specific character under observation. This helps in controlling the medical characteristics of the creature after their birth. There is an encoded information in the cells of the body regarding the growth of the body, functioning and structure in the form of genes. The decoding of the information and applying it to the interests of humankind is done through Human genetic engineering. It can help in curing genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, and increases the resistance of people to diseases. It is considered that genetic engineering can be used to alter physical appearance and even improve mental abilities such as intelligence and memory (Resnik & Vorhaus, 2006).

The two types of genetic engineering are:

Somatic modification: The diseases caused by defective genes are cured through the addition of other genes to the cells. Somatic modifications cannot be inherited. Germline modification: Genes in the early embryos are changed in the germline modification of human genetic engineering. The genes modified in this way are inheritable. This result in permanent modifications and is considered as an effective form of human genetic engineering.

The Effects of Human Genetic Engineering

Human genetic engineering is a broadly growing concept in the world of medical science. It not only can do miracles to human beings but also can bring great disasters to them. Therefore, its outcome should be evaluated before its use as it has both the positive and negative effects.

The Positive Effect: The most important advantage of human genetic engineering is the gene therapy. Gene therapy has been successful in discovering treatments for heart diseases and the genetic engineers expect to find treatments for all other genetic diseases, which will result in a healthier human society. Human genetic engineering will be able to treat genetic disorder prior to the baby's birth (Rebecca, 2004). Parents will be able to look forward to a healthy baby. Cloned genes can be used in the higher quality production of pharmaceutical products. Certain healing or curing drugs can be genetically produced through bio-engineer plants or fruits. The Negative Effect: Besides curing many diseases through modification by human genetic engineering, many side effects can be result of this. Treating one defect through gene therapy may cause another. Manipulating the genes is not that easy ...