Genetic Engineering

Types of Genetic Engineering

• Negative• Positive

Negative Genetic Engineering

• Correct a genetic defect

Positive Genetic Engineering

• Make a life-form better.

Eugenics

• Eugenics- make improvements upon organism.

Types of Genetic Therapy

• Somatic Therapy

• Germ line Therapy

Somatic Therapy

• Somatic therapy is a type of genetic therapy that only affects the individual.

• Changes are not passed on to any subsequent generations or off spring.

Germ line Therapy

• Germ line therapy is a type of genetic therapy that not only affects the individual but also the off spring.

• Changes are passed on to subsequent generations.

Splicing

• Splicing is a method where genes from one organism are “spliced” into the DNA of another organism. This is the most common method of genetic engineering.

Philosophical Views

• Conservative– Michael Ruse

“Can we do better than God?”

• Liberal– Jonathan Glover

“Decisions: the Genetic Supermarket”

Michael Ruse

• Argues that we cannot get it better than God. His main point is that if we make everyone with superhuman powers and abilities the world will become a dramatically different and radically worse place.

• The awe of human creation and achievement will be lost, with everyone excelling at everything.

Jonathan Glover

• Argues that both positive and negative genetic engineering is morally permissible.

• He employs the philosophical argument of Robert Nowzick, a libertarian.

• Most libertarians are against any government interference in the private affairs of citizens, but Nowzick recognizes the inherent dangers in genetic engineering and suggest a system of government regulation at the "genetic supermarket".

Government Regulation.

• Most libertarians are against any government interference in the private affairs of citizens, but Nowzick recognizes the inherent dangers in genetic engineering and suggest a system of government regulation at the "genetic supermarket".

Genetic Supermarket

• In the genetic supermarket parents would have a limited voice in opting for genetic engineering of both positive and negative features.

• The government would simply ensure that no dangerous modifications were made.

The Council for Responsible Genetics (CRG)

• Opposes the use of germ-line therapy in humans. Further any changes made to an organism at an embryonic stage have the potential to be passed on to future generations, like Germline therapy.

• The goal of cleansing the gene pool of recessive genes and to improve the human organism would take thousands of years. Further such benefits would only be realized by families, and not by the population as a whole.

Cloning

Evolution and Science

• Many feel that evolution is wrong or false.

• Science, such a genetics, helps to confirm evolution of life on our planet on a daily basis.

Evolution

• Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection, Evolution of Species.

• Charles Darwin Published the Origin of Species in 1859

Chimpanzee and human ancestors may have interbred.

• Genetic analysis suggests a messy split between the two lineages.

• The evolutionary split between humans and our nearest evolutionary cousins, chimpanzees, may have occurred more recently than we thought, according to a new comparison of the respective genetic sequences.

A Bizarre Love Triangle

• Our two sets of ancestors may have interbred many thousands of years after first parting company.

Our earliest ancestor?

• Previous estimates put the split at as much as 7 million years ago — meaning that Toumaï, a fossil dating from at least 6.5 million years ago in Chad and assigned to the species Sahelanthropus tchadensis, was hailed as the earliest-known member of the line that gave rise to modern humans.

Harvard Med says…

• Researchers led by David Reich of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, now calculate that the split may have occurred no more than 6.3 million years ago, and possibly as recently as 5.4 million. That would make Toumaï older than the time of the split.

How do they know?

• The researchers make their claim after comparing the genetic codes of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and other primates in unprecedented detail — more than 20 million DNA 'letters' in all. By checking the differences between different species' DNA sequences, they were able to estimate the time since they first diverged.

We share an X.

• Reich and his team explain in their study, published online in Nature. Different sections of the genome differ by different amounts, suggesting that they parted ways at different times. The divorce period between the two species, the data suggest, could have lasted a million years.

The region bearing the most similarity is the X chromosome. This is exactly what one might expect if the two lineages had continued to interbreed after first starting to separate.

Hybrids

• If a hybrid population did exist, the question remains as to whether it died out, or whether modern humans or chimpanzees (or both) are its descendants.

Who’s related to whom?

• It's very difficult to say, admits Reich.

• "The fossil data suggest, very tenuously, that it may have been humans who are descended from the hybrid population."

• “Human-like fossils far outnumber chimpanzee-like ones in the fossil record, making it difficult to see exactly who was sleeping with whom at the time.” (Nature)

Evolution

• Evolutionary theory is as true as any other scientific theory.

• Natural selection or survival of the fittest has been confirmed by evidence from the world.

• It is a way of organizing our experiences of the world, not unlike any other scientific law.

Poster boy atheism

• Who needs God?

• Evolution

• Explains the world without positing a higher power or deity.

Darwin is a Theist!

• “But with regard to the material world, we ca at least go so far as this- we can perceive that events are brought about not by insulated interposition of Divine power, exerted in each particular case, but by the establishment of general laws”-

• Whewell: Bridgewater Treatise Prologue, Darwin’s Origin of Species

Evolution

• H1- Random

• H2- Designer

• H3- Evolution

• H4- Evolution + Designer

• Evolution does not rule out the possibility of intelligent design for the universe.

Dolly the Sheep

• In 1997 Scientist in Scotland cloned the first mammal- Dolly the sheep. Not everyone was pleased.

• In 2003 Dolly passed away from complications related to her cloning.

$50,000 to clone your cat!

• In 2002 scientist cloned the worlds first cat.

• In 2004 a woman paid

$ 50,000

to have her dead cat cloned.

Choose the sex of your Baby!

PGD

• In vitro Fertilization has been used for years to help couples have babies.

• PGD- Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis can be used to sort embryos before they are implanted.

Choose your Trait

• Eyes

• Skin Color

• Hair

• Weight

• Height

• Sex

Splicing

• Splicing is a method where genes from one organism are “spliced” into the DNA of another organism. This is the most common method of genetic engineering.

Splicing in Plants

• Glowing plants

Spliced Pigs

• Gene splicing improves pork farm waste

• In the last few years, scientists at Ontario's University of Guelph have created Enviropigs™, a line of transgenic pigs containing both mouse and bacterial chromosomes; the pigs cost less to feed and produce less noxious manure.

USDA Organic

• The USDA now certifies all food that has an organic label to be tested.

What it means:

• Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides

• Fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge;

• Bioengineering; (genetic Engineering.)

• Ionizing radiation.  

•

To get the seal…

• Before a product can be labeled "organic," a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. 

Organic food contaminated

• A variety of foods marked ‘organic’ or ‘GM-free’ sold in the United Kingdom have been found to contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Researchers found that out of 25 organic or health food products that should have been GM-free, 10 contained GM soy.

Mix and Match Crops

• The United States and Argentina, two of the largest soy producers in the world, produce mostly GM soy, and GM-free crops are often mixed with GM crops after harvesting. Further, seeds that are supposed to be GM-free can contain from 1 percent to 2 percent GM varieties. Over 60 percent of processed foods sole in supermarkets contain soy ingredients.

Contamination with GM

• Researchers suggest that it will become increasingly difficult to keep organic products GM-free, and even say that the problem will be 10 times worse in just one year.

Medical Research

• GE Animals

No Government Regulation

• The United States Government does not require labels for any Genetically engineered food.

Did you know???

• Tomato and shrimp DNA• GE Papaya in Hawaii• Cheese 70% of all Cheese• “Golden” rice• “Starlink” corn and Taco Bell in 1994• Bio Toxin (BT) rice• BT Corn• BT Cotton grown in Arizona since 1996

• The US government said it was investigating a type of genetically-modified (GM) corn, approved for use in livestock, that may have turned up in some taco shell's at the popular fast-food chain Taco Bell.

• Nearly 150,000 boxes of Taco Bell shells, each containing a dozen, were produced in the same batches as those supposedly contaminated.

Cheese

More than 70% of all cheese sold in the US is made with Genetically Modified enzymes

GE papaya

• Farmers in the orient ganble that GE papaya will have a longer shelf life and surive the trip to the US and Europe.

Soybean

• 60% of the US soybean crop is genetically modified.

Canola Oil

• 62 % of the plants from which canola oil is extracted are genetically modified.

• Milk cows are treated with a GE version of a hormone in order to increase milk production.

Vitamins and Minerals

• Genetically Modified bacteria and yeast have been used since 1981 to produce vitamins and nutritional supplements.

• Many pharmaceutical drugs are the result of genetic engineering.

70% of all processed food

• 70% of all processed food is the United states contains Genetically Modified Components.

Future

• Genetic Supermarket

Benefits

• Benefits:

• Genetic engineering can cure diseases and improve upon existing plants and animals. Such improvements can be natural pesticides (BT bio toxin) as well as improved yield in crops and animals

Problems

• What does it mean to improve or make something better?

• What happens when genetically engineered plants or animals escape into nature?

• Are all of the side effects known? Should they be further studied before research continues?

Moral Questions

• Should scientist try to make plants or animals “better”?

• What does it mean to make something “better”?

• Is it “better” that corn now produced it’s own poison on its leafs?

• Should plant and animal DNA be spliced together?

Moral Questions Continued

• Should genetically engineered food be fed to animals that humans are going to eat?

• Should the government require labels on all genetically engineered food?

• Do we have the right to splice animal DNA into our own bodies? Can we become a real chimera, animal/man?