For the preparation of the round table discussion and writing assignment 2, I have came across many articles. The two articles that I would summarize concerns genetic engineering.
The first article titled "Scientists Fear Miracle of Biotech Could Also Breed a Monster" elaborates the potential risk of genetic engineering technology. Firstly, the writer states that genetic engineering could be exploited and abuse by bioterrorist. DNA sequencing could encourage development of new drug to prevent, block or reserve disease, which could potentially be the greatest leap in medical history. However, the dark side to genetic engineering technology lies in the potential of being abuse. A bioterrorist could use readily-available data of bacterial to create an agent more devastating than that of the post-September 11 anthrax is possible. Secondly, the writer highlights that this revolution of biology could be misused in offensive biological weapons program. The genome of deadly pathogen is already cracked. Example, the genome of cholera, leprosy, and tuberculosis are made available in the public domain. Citing examples of countries that have past history of weaponizing killer agents could exploit this knowledge and technology in creating biological weapon. Thirdly, the writers discuss about the dark side of genetic engineering in the field of biomedical science. In two known cases, biologist accidentally created two doomsday viruses, which they destroyed before going public with their findings. This further, reinforces the point of the potential abuse of biotechnology. In the later part of the article , the writer acknowledges that the threat to abuse of biotechnology is inevitable, and encourages preventive measures through tougher policies and greater effort in promoting the awareness of potential hazards of biotechnology.
The second article titled "Researcher: Discovery could end energy crisis" discusses about using genetic modified bacterial organism to convert biomass into hydrocarbons on a grand scale to end the world's energy crisis. Hydrocarbon fuel is commonly known as fossil fuel. One such usage of hydrocarbon fuels is to power automobile without any modifications. The person behind this technology was J.C. Bell who spend years identifying bacterial that could convert biomass into hydrocarbons and finding ways to genetically modify this bacterial to produce more hydrocarbons. J.C. Bell eventually had support from the state and federal government and establish Bell Bio-Energy Inc. The research he does focuses on using bio-mass which is any living or recently dead biological material as they contain an abundance of carbon and hydrogen. The source of the bio-mass would be taken from forestry industry, pulp plants, agriculture and waste derived from the construction and demolition industry. This idea first came to him from observing cows expel methane gas created by bacterial in the cow's stomach. Once his research is complete, the bio-mass will be tested at pilot plant using different strains of genetically modified bacterial to determine the best conversion method.
Both articles give insights to the two sides of genetic engineering which would bring interesting points and perspectives into the round table discussion. The articles also showed us that the disadvantages and advantages of a technology must always be considered.
Five words/ pharses
Pathogen - any disease causing agent
Genome - all the inheritable traits of an organism
Forestry - the management of a forestland
Vetting -to subject to thorough examination or evaluation
Remediation - the correction of something bad or defective
Presse, A. F. (2001, October 23). Scientists Fear Miracle of Biotech Could Also Breed a Monster. Retrieved from sfsu: http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/ScientistsFearBiotech.html
