Biotechnology and Food: Are the Advantages Worth the Risks?
Every day we awaken is another day closer to the future we envision for our advanced civilization, a future that varies for each individual but includes many of those ideas shared by countless books, movies, and television programs. As science continues to make rapid advances in all areas from astronomy to medicine to technology, that future becomes a greater part of our present. While some pioneers work on flying cars and others concentrate on faster computers, biotechnologists busy themselves with the manipulation of DNA, the makeup of all organisms and the biological basis for both a species' and an individual's characteristics. Recent advances in this technology, known as biotechnology, include cloning and gene therapy, a possible form of treatment for a variety diseases.
As scientists continue to advance these developments, we hide from making hard decisions about the moral and ethical issues raised by this genetic manipulation, what some people consider to be "playing God." We put it off hoping no one will figure out how to take it to the next level. For instance, we hope that no one will utilize the information regarding the cloning of Dolly, the sheep, to develop technology that will lead to the cloning of a human. In the United States and elsewhere, laws have been enacted prohibiting the development of such technology, or at least the use of federal funds to do so. But discussions have not been held about whether or not cloning should be restricted. Especially in the United States, we are fearful of putting too many limits on science or free enterprise. And so we procrastinate even more since we now have to determine what is right and what is constitutional.
In the meantime, research that utilizes the same technology to develop life-saving drugs or money-saving crops continues, often supported by money from the government. Biotechnology in agri...