Genetic engineering has applications in many fields; medicine, agriculture, the environment, and food production. It can be described rather generally as any genetic manipulation that allows an organism to perform new functions or produce new substances.
The unravelling of DNA and the mapping of a diverse range of organisms such as humans, dogs and viruses, is giving us unprecedented knowledge into how nature works. Knowing the fundamentals of how a cancer spreads, the tricks a virus uses to replicate inside our cells, or what prompts a brain to degenerate in Alzheimer's patients, equips science with the tools to counter these harsh realities of life.
But the technology is not without its critics, and just as genetic engineering has many plus points, there are also some cons that must be considered.
In looking at the pros and cons of genetic engineering, we'll consider the technology in the fields of agriculture, food production, and medicine.
Many crops such as rice, maize, and potatoes are being genetically engineered in several ways. Proponents argue that the benefits are many; 1) higher crop yields 2) more nutritious food 3) crops can be grown in harsh environments 4) they are more resistant to pests thus eliminating the use of potentially hazardous pesticides 5) undesirable characteristics can be removed 6) food can have a better flavour and a longer shelf life and 7) they can also be used as a cheap source of medicine.
To treat many life-threatening illnesses genetic engineering aims to replace faulty genes with perfect working copies. The potential is incredible. However, whilst there have been some small successes in gene therapy trials to cure vision impairment and also X-SCID (where people lack an effective immune system) - it's fair to say that so far the technology hasn't lived up to expectations. It's an extraordinarily difficult job to get a gene to exactly where you want it in the body, and for it to function in the way that you want it to. Plus our expectations were probably too high from the start.