by John Gugie

Created on: March 31, 2008

I believe that genetic altering is right, if done for the right reasons and under the right conditions.

I can understand genetic altering being done to prevent specific illnesses or disabilities.

While I think that it should be done for these reasons, I do not believe that all illnesses or disabilities should be deleted from society because we need a wide gene pool of 100% healthy people and people that are less than perfect in order to preserve a certain amount of differentiation in the world.

If we completely remove all of the defects in the world, we are making a population of people who are physically stronger at the moment but who are also unable to fight or overcome natural obstacles in the world. This creates a population who do not have to work to live as hard as if some of them had to battle to live and thus making the world's population weaker. Struggle and hardship is necessary to create a population that can build immunity to problems. If no one has to fight, it makes us weaker.

A diverse gene pool will overcome any obstacles because, if, in the future, a specific epidemic arises, some of us might be alert to overcome it and survive. If we are all the same and the epidemic negatively affects everyone the same, no one will survive.

One issue with altering the genetics of people or food is that we do not know what effects will occur in the future, be it a few years or generations down the road. While the genetic effects might seem positive in the present time and a few years down the road, we do not know what will happen in the near or long time future. Genetics are funny that way. The effects of the alteration of genes might lead to other alterations that we do not know exist. If the alterations we make lead to other unplanned, negative alterations, we might not see those changes until it is too late.

What happens if we make a change that fixes one problem and in a few generations in leads to cancer? An alteration made to a few hundred people now, might lead to a negative alteration of tens of thousands or maybe even millions of people in the future.

At this point in science and technology, we really do not know how genetics works or what effect a small change in our genes might lead to later. While many people think that our science and genetics are advanced, it really is not. Our study of genetics is less than 200 years old and, really, our current understanding of genetics is less than a hundred years old. We have just touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding genetics. One little change could change life on our planet as we know it.

Altering the genetics of food is just as dangerous as humans or animals. While it might seem that altering food for the better is a good thing and can really affect us, again, we really do not know how genetics works. An alteration in food might lead to an alteration of human genes. We just do not know enough about it to know what changes might occur later.

Altering genetics is dangerous but I think that, with proper management now, we can work with genes safely under certain conditions. I do not think that widespread changes should be made until we know more about genetics. I am all for little changes under controlled circumstances in order to benefit life but it is a very slippery trail to follow. I think that the world scientists should discuss it and create a list of rules for what can and cannot be done with genetics. Any genetic altering must be done with care and, if it is, I think it is safe to do with a limited scope.

Learn more about this author, John Gugie.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.