Genetic Engineering

intelligence and athleticism. But with this new power, comes responsibilities and raises issues which need to be addressed by the people and more importantly the government.

With the prospect of genetic engineering in the future, there are a whole load of problems that can erupt from it. Should we be allowed to genetically screen ourselves and our kids for genetic defects and engineer them out? Who are we to interfere with nature or God? Should people be allowed to tamper with their baby's genes? Should people or private/insurance companies have access to a person's genetic profile? How would an engineered person be able to compete with a normal person? A whole new genetic prejudice could come about from engineering, much like the 20th century film Gattica. You might have to pay higher insurance rates if you're genetically susceptible to some diseases and other health risks.

Just imagine the future, where the color of your skin no longer mattered, but you're genetic code. You couldn't get a job because you weren't engineered right or at all. Even the government of 2098 allows families to engineer their kids, how are the kids of the poorer families going to compete? With genetic engineering and cloning technology becoming more and more available we might be facing these questions sooner than you think. Genetic engineering is already happening in medicine, to make new vaccines and cures for diseases. Everyone knows about the successful cloning of sheep that was performed. DNA profiling is already catching killers and thugs on the streets and was even used in the OJ Simpson case. It is even possible in years to come that police will be able to make a sketch of a criminal using a genetic profile.

Parents today are able to determine a baby's sex and screen for a genetic illness before a baby is born. Why not determine the baby's brains and beauty as well in the future? Out constitution was made to change and our government to work slowly so no one person could seize power or become too popular. How will genetic engineering and cloning affect our government? Should the government be allowed to regulate cloning, gene therapy to take out deadly disease or enhance the traits or unborn children?

I feel that in 2098 this will be a major issue, that the government will have to take control so that engineered babies don't gain an unfair advantage over normal children. How low is a child going to feel when other kids can do multivariate calculus and they are having trouble multiplying? How can normal kids possibly compete in school, in the job market, in sports. People want the best and normal people will be at a great disadvantage if they don't have the abilities other kids have.

How do we know that when these unborn kids are grown that they wanted their sex, height, weight, and everything else to be determined about them? People are so concerned about what they want, what about the baby? With this new technology, we can engineer super cows and huge fruits and vegetables. Starvation could be wiped out. Gene therapy can be used to wipe out genetic diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, and being prone to other diseases like cancer and heart problems. Medicine of the 20th century only helped if you were ill, disease which used to be fatal can be treated or were wiped out years ago. With gene therapy, you can prolong the life of someone, ordering your DNA to renew your cells, make new ones, perhaps halt or even reverse the aging process. With gene therapy, theoretically one could re-grow cells indefinitely. What happens when the country can no longer support its population? Will people have to die, or forced to leave this earth so a new baby can enter this world? How do you determine who stays and who goes? Again the government will have to step in and deal with these problems as they arise, since most people would not willingly give up immortality.

These new area in biotechnology such as gene therapy, cloning and genetic engineering must be kept in check by the government. Before the FDA was formed at the beginning of the century, no one stopped pharmaceutical companies from putting substances such as cocaine, opium and morphine in their medicines. If the government doesn't put restrictions on these areas of science, who's to stop anyone from cloning someone and using and abusing clones? How would a human clone treated? What about feeding a race of clones? This is much too complicated to handle, and I feel that the government will ban human cloning except for emergencies such as organ donors and suck. If cloning isn't controlled, to make an international law on that one, just as it did on weapons of mass destruction.