Genetic Engineering The Field Of Human Biotechnology

Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is a set of techniques for isolating, transforming, multiplying and recombining genes from different organisms. Simply put, it is the process of manually adding new DNA to an organism. Genetic engineering originated in the 1970s as a result of the discovery of several key techniques in molecular genetics. It is also referred to as recombinant (rDNA) technology. Genetic Engineering enables geneticists to transfer genes between species that belong to different kingdoms which have no probability of inter-breeding in nature. For instance, a fish gene can be transferred to a plant; human genes can be transferred to animals. A gene is a section of DNA on the chromosome, usually about a†¦show more content†¦It can be said that only one of 100 fertilized eggs produce a viable offspring. An example is the Dolly the Sheep , a female domestic sheep and the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell (nuclear transfer) on July 5 1996. Moreover, Scientists are planning to make the first human clone. However, most Scientists prefer the therapeutic cloning to the reproductive cloning due to the complexity of humans and the ethical issues involved. In therapeutic cloning, cells are taken from healthy organs and completely new organs are given to people who need organ transplants (Campbell and Reece, 2005). There are always two sides to a coin. Genetic engineering has both benefits and disadvantages. Through Genetic engineering, parents can modify their unborn children in order to spare them from disease. It can be used to treat human genetic disorders. According to Medical scientists, there are about 3,000 disorders that arise because of errors in an individual s DNA with conditions such as sickle-cell anaemia, Tay-Sachs disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Huntington s chorea, cystic fibrosis, to mention a few. These could result from the loss, mistaken insertion, or change of a single nitrogen base in a DNA molecule. Scientists use the process of Genetic Engineering to provide individuals lacking a particular gene with correct copies of that gene. If the correct gene functions effectively,