Birth defects

By Zak Wentworth

Science 8B

Ms.Emma & Ms.Liz

Do you or someone you know have some sort of genetic or birth defect. More than likely you know of a

few people. What if i told you that could be a thing of the past and that you

wouldn't have to worry about birth defects any more. You're probably

wondering how? Then let's take a look of the new technology we possess called

CRISPR. It is a tool that can be used to pluck out strands of dna as well as

replace it with healthy genes.

Many people don't realize the scale of this problem that could drastically affect your children or

your children's children. Just think about it a world where you wouldn't have to worry about genetic

defects or cancer. I have some good friends

that are affected very heavily by genetic

defects. It is costly for the parents to treat and

stressful for the children as well. I know that

many other people around the world are

affected by these same things.

 With everything happening in the medical world almost 3% of babies are born with a genetic

disorder. And more than 33% of people contract cancer. This chart shows that cancer is responsible for

30% of canada's deaths.(canadian cancer society). Many people in the world struggle with cancer and are

trying to find a selection many people don't know that

there are this many people affected by this type of thing each day. What's more it is hard to heaven imgin

things on this scale. Scientists have recently made a breakthrough in this category with the invention of

CRISPR.

https://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-101/cancer-statistics-at-a-glance/?region=on

CRISPR, it uses an injection to neutralize certain jeans then

replaces them with new ones. There are many things

https://www.vox.com/2018/7/23/17594864/crispr-cas9-gene-editing​ that is good about the technique

however it has only been tested once and the babies have not

been alive long enough for

it to be determined safe.

Scientists are scared of

there being other

consequences in removing

and replacing jeans because we are finding out that certain genes do
different things. Sof if the gene that was removed had another purpose that we didn't know about we there

could be unintended consequences. Another problem scientist are facing is the question of is it ethical.

Wich it is probably not unless only used for the right purposes. Like you could trcniclee make the kid

more athletic as well as change hair color and other things making them designer babies. It can also be

used to extract strands of genetic coding allowing us to learn more about and treat lots of genetic defects

(livescience). Using this same strategy we can detect, help cure, and learn more about cancer. it is a very

different and much less costly approach to curing diseases. It is a huge problem with a relatively simple

solution.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-30742774

https://www.earth.com/news/genetic-engineering-health-perks/

All in all many people in the world need this and it will help many more in the future. Just think

of it we can help people who previously were scared to have children can now have them without the fear

of passing some sort of defect to the next generation. And think of what scientists can do when they can

study cancer individually. This will save lives as long as there are some limitations. I truly believe that

this is a huge step not only in helping cure cancer but also in preventing genetic defect that affect a

uprising amount of the population.

Work cited
Center for genetics and society. “Human genetic modification.” tides center, 2019.

https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/topics/human-genetic-modification

“How genetic engineering can change the world.” Eastern Washington university. 2019

https​://sites.ewu.edu/engl 201-27/crispr-cas/

akpan, nsikan, “U.S scientists are fixing genetic disorders in human embryos, should

you be nervous.” ​PBS,​ aug, 2 2017.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/u-s-scientists-fixing-genetic-defects-huma

N-embryos-nervous

saplakoglu, yasemin “gene edited babies reportedly born in china” livescience. Nov, 26,

2018.

https://www.livescience.com/64166-first-genetically-modified-babies-risks.html

kaufman, raun kahlil. “Autism breakthrough” may, 13 2014. ​Saint martin's press.

Pictures

https://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-101/cancer-statistics-at-a-glance/?region=on

https://www.earth.com/news/genetic-engineering-health-perks/
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-30742774

https://www.vox.com/2018/7/23/17594864/crispr-cas9-gene-editing