What do you think about genetic engineering? ~ Help !!

你讀ltpss架?! form3? 英文第4組?

2007-11-04 14:54:21 補充：
你好明顯係Miss Yu果班啦! 成條題目抄晒落去!

2007-11-04 14:54:22 補充：
你好明顯係Miss Yu果班啦! 成條題目抄晒落去!

2007-11-04 14:57:40 補充：
最少50字喎... 你唔好話我知你成篇抄晒落去丫-.-

Genetic engineering, recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/manipulation (GM) and gene splicing are terms that are applied to the direct manipulation of an organisms genes. Genetic modification of an organism can be achieved through a number of methods, most notably traditional breeding and recombinant technologies. The goal of both is the same, introduction of DNA (in the form of a gene) which in turn finds expression as favorable physical characteristics. Transgenic endeavors have found success in improving crop technology, the manufacture of human insulin through the use of modified bacteria, the manufacture of erythropoietin in Chinese hamster ovary cells, and the production of new types of experimental mice such as the OncoMouse (cancer mouse) for research.

Genetic engineering is simply the altering of a plant (or organism) by sewing part of another plant onto it -- thus changing the first plant’s DNA, or gene blueprint. In other words, if I cross a redwood tree with a sunflower, I might get a reddish, wooden, five-hundred-foot-tall sunflower.

The alleged purpose of genetic engineering is to increase the food value of plants, or to make them more resistant to insects or chemicals. About 70 percent of the foods on your grocery store shelf have been genetically tampered with without your knowledge.

PROS & CONS (positive & negative effects of genetic engineering)
A con is that the side effects of gene changing (there are always side effects to everything) have never been studied. What are you gonna do when you’ve been eating the same brand of carrots for five weeks and your right ear overnight swells twice the size of your other ear? Don’t blame the Mexican laborer who picked the carrot.

On the other hand, what if we could design a carrot that would dramatically increase the size of a sexual organ.

Of course, another pro would be that we could have more carrots than we’ve ever had before. We could ship excess cheap carrots to poor starving countries and cause the swelling of their right ears.

Another pro (or con if you’re on the receiving end), is that food could become a weapon, like biological or chemical weapons, the ultimate food fight. We could deliberately ship genetically altered food with harmful side effects to countries we don’t like, France for example. A tomatoe in your salad could become a weapon of mass destruction.

Genetic engineering also might result in herbicide-resistant weeds, a pro or con depending on whether you like weeds (I depend on them to cover my lawn).

Think of the potential if we crossed DNA from Michael Jackson to that of a trout. You’d get a small, weird, lighter-skinned opportunistic fish that jumps around a lot. Or an extinct mastodon bone with a banana. A gigantic, furry fruit with an ivory tusk.

The possibilities are endless. Of course, a total breakdown of the natural food chain is possible (a con), but scientists assure us not to worry. They have a long history of accurately predicting the after-results of their experiments, from Dr. Frankenstein, to Chernobyl, to DDT.

Reference: http://www.sammonsays.com/artman/publish/pro-and-cons-of-genetic-engineering-column.shtml