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Trinity G.

Ms. Emma, Ms. Liz

Science 8A

3 May 2019 ​ The Impact of Genetic Engineering

Have you ever wanted to

create and design your
own child? Well genetic
engineering is how you
can do that. In this paper
we will talk about the
pros and cons of genetic
engineering and how it
can impact the
environment. Genetic
engineering is becoming
more and more of a well
known topic. Many
people have said that this
could change their life,
because when they have a baby or about to have an baby. The doctors could tell if it will have a
disease or infection but then they could fix it with the science behind genetic engineering. This
is a global issue because all over the world people are discovering how and what this is.

This graph shows how much part of the world is working on genetic engineering, so far China is
ahead of the game but the United states is not to far behind. But canada is pretty far behind both
of those. Genetic engineering has many things that go into it. You have to have many things
incorporated, such as you need the correct knowledge to actually make it work and you need the
right technology, but if you don’t have those you probably won’t succeed. Genetic engineering
has its pros and cons. So let's start with cons, some people think that genetic engineering is bad
because if something goes wrong while doing this you don’t know what could happen. Another
thing that is pretty big is that once a gene is altered or changed you can not change it back to how
it was before. Along with that would come negative side effects. As stated in “Social, and
Environmental Impacts of Human Genetic Engineering”“New organisms created by genetic
engineering could present an ecological problem. One cannot predict the changes that a
genetically engineered species would make on the environment.” ( Patra) this is also one
problem that could happen is that once you change something you don’t know what that person
that is changed could do on the environment. There are many other cons but as it was mentioned
before you may change someone to something that you will like but then when they are born you
don’t like it and you can never change it back. ​Now let's move on the the pros. This can be so
helpful to people because it can cure them if they have any diseases. As stated in ​“Social impact
of genetic engineering”​ ​“Billions of dollars have been invested in the genetic engineering branch
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and it is believed that it has the potential to cure hereditary diseases, eliminate food and hunger
problems and give an individual the physical appearance he or she wishes for” ( Kundan.) this is
a big thing that is good about genetic engineering, because hunger is such a problem and people
think that they can solve it with this. Another thing that makes people happy is that they could
have a baby that they designed and that they
would be happy with how it looks.

We have talked a lot about the pros and cons

but now let's talk about the impacts it has on
society. Scientists have been looking at this
topic since 1972 and only now actually started
experimenting. We now take animals and clone
them which is not the same as genetic
engineering but it is an experiment to get there.
This graph shows how many
animals so far have been cloned
and what percent are produced.
This is the closest that we have
got to genetic engineering so far.
Based on research found in the
article “Social impact of genetic
engineering” it states that
“Several health risks associated
to gene modifications raise
serious questions regarding the
success of gene therapy, a
medical process used to cure
genetic disorders and medical
complications.” this is a pretty
big impact that could a probably
will affect society because it can scare people about
what could happen. ​Scientists need to study genetic
engineering before starting to produce babies or fix
disease. They need to study it more so that they will know how it will affect the environment.
People in the community or globaly need to know about is so if
they try it they will know the side effects. That just addresses it
globally but as a individual make sure you know what this does
and how it works before actually experimenting it.
Overall genetic engineering is really fascinating. Yes there are
pros and cons to it but it is still really cool. With many very cool
traits. There is still more studying to do and more producing but
it will have its effect on the world.
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Works Cited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2015/08/22/editing-humanity

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

Disabled World. “Effects of Genetic Engineering.” ​Disabled World​, Disabled World, 30 July

2018, www.disabled-world.com/news/research/genetic-engineering.php.

Engineering.", "Genetic. “Genetic Engineering.” ​Science of Everyday Things,​ Encyclopedia.com,

2019,

www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/biology-and-genetics/genetics-and-geneti

c-engineering/genetic-engineering.

Pandey, Kundan. “Social Impact of Genetic Engineering.” ​BiologyWise,​ BiologyWise,

biologywise.com/social-impact-of-genetic-engineering.

Patra, Satyajit, and Araromi Adewale Andrew. “Human, Social, and Environmental Impacts of

Human Genetic Engineering.” ​Journal of Biomedical Sciences,​ IMedPub, 30 Nov. -1,

www.jbiomeds.com/biomedical-sciences/human-social-and-environmental-impacts-of-hu

man-genetic-engineering.php?aid=7264.