Until
this week, I didn’t really understand the magnitude and beauty of
biotechnological advances. When I think of biotechnology, electrophorus gel and
fruit fly recombination come to mind. However, as Professor Vesna delve into
blood wars and laughing rats, I was appalled — yet incredibly awestruck by the
beauty of each creation. Biotechnology encompasses a much wider range than I originally
believed.
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| Engineering Pets: Glow-in-the-Dark Cats |
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| http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/29/tech/innovation/biotech-animals-emily-anthes/ |
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| Genetically Modified Flower http://www.scoop.it/t/dnaresearch |
One apparent beautiful biotechnological advance is genetically modified and colored flowers. This has been commercially available for nearly ten years now, involving manipulation of the biosynthesis pathways to create color-altered variations, ideal gifts for today ― Mother’s Day. (1) When breeding the plants, we hybridize wild varieties, discard unfavorable results, and reproduce favorable products. (2)
Overall,
I never considered life itself as a valid expressive medium. Unsurprisingly,
this crosses many ethnical boundaries: “Biotechnology can produce unanticipated consequences that cause harm or
dehumanize people. (3)” Questions arise when people, not plants, are
brought into question. The book, Never
Let Me Go, (4) excellently covers ethical problems through an uneasy story
about cloning humans. Society has trouble processing biotechnology because it
defies what we know: mother nature created the planet. Humans are not supposed
to manipulate life and recreate it. (5) Until further research is done in
biotechnology, I believe ethical dilemmas will continue to be one of
biotechnology’s largest roadblock.
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| Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro A book on ethical problems clones potentially face |
Citations
1. Tanaka, Yoshikazu, Filippa Brugliera, and
Steve Chandler. “Recent Progress of Flower Colour Modification by
Biotechnology.” International Journal of Molecular Sciences 10.12 (2009): 5350–5369. PMC. Web. 10 May 2015. , <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801998/>
2. Breyer, Melissa. “Can genetic engineering
make flowers better?” Mother Nature
Network. Wed, Oct 31, 2012 <http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/can-genetic-engineering-make-better-flowers>
3. O’Mathúna, Dónal P. “Bioethics and
Biotechnology.” Cytotechnology 53.1-3 (2007): 113–119. PMC. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2267612/>
4.
Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. New
York: Knopf, 2005. Print.
5.
“Conference on CoE bioethics outline challenges facing emerging tech” May 5,
2015 <http://www.spyghana.com/conference-on-coe-bioethics-outline-challenges-facing-emerging-tech/>
Hi Melinda,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I agree with you that biotechnology used as art will always carry controversy because it is against what we've known thus far. I also did not really think of life as a valid expressive medium and probably still lie more towards the disagreeing side. I believe that the harmless biotech art, like the colored flowers are beautiful and so different. But, I also believe that biotech and art should only be combined with the purpose of teaching and researching crucial ideas.
Hi. I agree with your perspective towards biotechnology. I did not fully understand what is biotechnology until the lecture this week. I think life is a valid expressive medium and it might cross boundaries in innovation. It may also lead to ethical problem. Experts in biotechnology definitely have to do more research to solve these problems, in order to make use of biotechnology in a better way. Technology is getting more and more advanced these days because human beings are more intelligent than before. Yet, we have to consider the ethical problem while we are trying to modify our living standard.
ReplyDeleteI like your point at the end about biotechnology defying what we know because a "greater power" (in your opinion, mother nature. in mine, God) created us. Thus, I agree that humans are not supposed to recreate life. Our role is to live our life and find our purpose. I think biotechnology regarding humans is ruining the original intention of life. I agree with you that the genetic engineering of flowers are pretty, but using these technologies on animals and humans are a different story.
ReplyDelete