Stewart 1

Duran Stewart

ENC 1130

Adam Anderson

5 July 2010

Genetic Jeopardy

Advancing into the future humans have yet to cease in inventing technological

innovations, whether it was simple as a pizza box or as complex as Global Positioning System.

Although these two innovations are clearly beneficial to our society, not all of our inventions are

helpful in the long run. Genetic manipulation, which is a controversial topic in society, is by far

one of the most intriguing discoveries yet; but the long term effects are surely endangering

humanity itself. Aside from moral and ethic values gene manipulation is getting out of hand,

scientist’s are now using this knowledge for more frivolous things such as altering baby’s genetic

make-up to suit the parent’s ideal child. (Dalai Lama) Whether or not one agrees with this

method there are consequences which science and also society are able to deal with at this

moment.

Genetic engineering will come with great responsibility because of the uncertain effects it

may have on the DNA it will be altering. Now even more responsibility is needed now that

scientist’s are now cloning DNA which may seem harmless now but is complicating the gene

pool. So if the effects that come with this are positive as well as negative scientist have to

prepare for either consequence that it might produce. However, consequences do not only lie in

the factor of genes becoming mutated or damaged, it also will affect society and its equilibrium
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(McPhersson). If Genetic manipulation is widely accepted the gap between the social classes will

widen and increased tensions. The reason for this would be that the upper class would

theoretically hold more wealth, meaning they would be able to afford these services such as

cloning themselves and blueprinting babies. Which also can create an unfair advantage for those

who are fortunate enough to uptake this opportunity. For example, in the 18th century France was

at the peak of social segregation between the peasants and monarchs. This is a prime example of

how the people who were fortunate held the upper hand in society and would rule with absolute

power over the invalids. Charles Dickens also made a strong point with an analogy to the poor

relating them to flies. He stated that when flies live or congregate in an area when one dies no

other flies care; meaning when the poor dies or becomes a problem the fortunate do not care

either (Bloom). This would lead to the lower and middle classes not being able to adapt to the

new technological advances in the medical field which can also mean the poor would die off

leaving the strong (I.e. the wealthy).

Another consequence would be more economic in nature due to the amount of money

needed to actually establish labs and equipment to sustain gene manipulation. The more

accustomed DNA manipulation becomes the more it would expand which would result in more

funding for it. This would be just the beginning, it would have the potential to become a money

making business off of farmers and people who deal with vegetation. For example, now a day’s

people love to eat seedless watermelon however, they are genetically engineered to seedless.

Now farmers are basically forced to produce seedless watermelon meaning, farmers are now

purchasing seedless watermelon seeds from scientists if they want to be able to sell sufficiently

(The Dalai Lama). This is just a prime example of side-effects that are possible if reliance on

gene manipulation is widespread.

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These precautions are well explained by the great “Dalia Lama”, who describes this

situation in a sense of having the power of knowledge and responsibility. Knowledge is

pertaining to the ability we have to create these innovations and perform these godly like

procedures in labs, and when responsibility is mentioned it means being able to analyze both the

positive and negative possibilities of performing these acts. He relates these two by stating that

knowledge and responsibility should go with one another because the actions may be more than

what is expected. However, what is really being stressed is that the knowledge we have obtained

is hurting in the process because scientist are not considering the long term effects which might

complicate diseases or even create its own strain. With that being in mind scientists had yet to

refrain or slow the use of DNA manipulation so when this problem arises who will take

responsibility.

A final factor that comes into play with all this technology is who gets to use it. Should

technology be available to everyone, or should it be confined to a certain group of people. This

should be a moot topic as it would be logical to have this available to everyone due to the fact

that it can save lives and improve health quality. Recent studies at Stanford University

announced that genetic engineering has been used to help heal sickly diseases such as Cystic

fibrosis and bubble boy disease (Gene Therapy). So it would unethical to try and hide tools such

as these. On the other hand, these manipulation techniques can be deadly if in the wrong hands.

For instance:

Terrorist groups or armies could develop more powerful biological weaponry. These

weapons could be resistant to medicines, or even targeted at people who carry certain

genes. Genetically engineered organisms used for biological weapons might also
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reproduce faster, which would create larger quantities in shorter periods of time,

increasing the level of devastation (McPhersson).

This may be one of the biggest scare to society because of how difficult it would be to

defend against an attack like this. Biological warfare is the use of chemicals genetically

engineered to cause sickness or immobilize people, mainly large numbers of people. However,

this is just a forewarning, attack as such have occurred already. In 2001, shortly after the horrific

attacks on the World Trade Center and Twin Towers envelopes were delivered to U.S

government mailboxes that contained anthrax. Anthrax is white powder which can

instantaneously cause sickness by inhaling the substance (Biological). If it is that easy to disperse

deadly chemical like this imagine if we went foolish with chemical engineering, it would be

more convenient to get a hold of lethal chemicals. So does this mean that we should stop all type

of genetic engineering? Not exactly, this fall’s back to Dalia Lama’s explanation of power of

knowledge and responsibility. We have to take the right precautions to prevent this from

happening and if we can’t we must take the responsibility of whatever the outcome will be. The

more and more we continue the use genetic engineering the more likely this might occur in the

future.

So many consequences may arise from these genetic techniques, not necessarily negative

ones. We may be able to find a way to eliminate infected strips of DNA to prevent the causes of

diseases later on in life or saving babies life by scanning proactively for signs of diseases.

However, they can also bring about negative consequences such as social classes tensions being

thicker than ever or the fact that we may be speeding up earth’s doom’s day. Even putting more

stress on farmers and the whole agriculture industry can result from genetic engineering.
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Theoretically, it may be too late to try and undo the damage done to society. Not inferring

that we have set our fate in stone but basically, we cannot actually undo the things we discovered

and created. The information is there now and so is the equipment, so whether or not if society

decides to ban all type of genetic engineering, we cannot put back the tools anymore, they will

remain with us.

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Works Cited

"Biological Warfare." 14 July 2010. Web. 14 July 2010.

<http://www.emedicinehealth.com/biological_warfare/article_em.htm>.

Bloom, Harold. Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Chelsea House, 2007. Print.

"Gene Therapy." PCF - Pro-Choice Forum Homepage. Web. 15 July 2010.

<http://www.prochoiceforum.org.uk/ri6.php>.

Lama, Dalai. The Dalai Lama: a Biography of the Tibetan Spiritual and Political Leader.

New York: Henry Holt, 1998. Print.