Aug 26 2009, 01:33 PM
QUOTE(Thinkingfox @ Aug 5 2009, 04:18 PM)
My stand on genetic engineering: Don't do it unless it is a matter of life and death. I try as much as possible not to eat Genetically Engineered/Modified food.
The reason why I take a conservative stand in this matter is the frequent use of bacteria and viruses in genetic engineering, e.g. when making insulin etc. The modified bacteria/virus might swap DNA/RNA with other bacteria/virus because swapping of genetic material does occur in nature.
In the event that the swapping occurs, it would be hard to control the spread of this gene in the new host virus. And once it is released, it would be very hard to track down and stop.
The reason why I take a conservative stand in this matter is the frequent use of bacteria and viruses in genetic engineering, e.g. when making insulin etc. The modified bacteria/virus might swap DNA/RNA with other bacteria/virus because swapping of genetic material does occur in nature.
In the event that the swapping occurs, it would be hard to control the spread of this gene in the new host virus. And once it is released, it would be very hard to track down and stop.
It "might"? Don't you think you need a better reason that a possibility? When you drive a car, you MIGHT get hit by another car. You go out, you MIGHT get robbed. You eat food, you MIGHT get food poisoning. You sit an airplane, it MIGHT crash. Build a nuclear reactor, it MIGHT explode. Now tell me, what are the probability rates for each of this versus the probability DNA/RNA swapping?
QUOTE(Dickson Poon @ Aug 18 2009, 05:17 PM)
We hardly know anything about genes and now we want to toy with them?
Do human minds really have more foresight than a billion years of evolution and survival of the fittest? I think that this is a fallacy and a conceit.
Do human minds really have more foresight than a billion years of evolution and survival of the fittest? I think that this is a fallacy and a conceit.
Have you forgot how you learnt how most things worked when you were a kid? That's right, you toyed and tinkered with it. You can't possibly learn anything without first experimenting (toying) with it.
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The thing about genetic engineering is that there are absolutely no standards or oversights to oversee the safety and long term consequences of gene engineering.
All advances in this field are made with the SOLE objective of making large amounts of money, by corporations and their conglomerates.
Long term consequences for any scientific endeavour is difficult. We're a relatively young species on this planet, and our "advance" history doesn't even span more than 2000 years. We don't have the kind of data which we can use to predict effects, we haven't been around long enough.All advances in this field are made with the SOLE objective of making large amounts of money, by corporations and their conglomerates.
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