module 6 - 21.5 gene technology and ethics Flashcards
What ethical considerations of the technology?
Protection of human rights
Human heath and safety
Animal welfare
Protection of the environment
What can ethical issues in scientific research cause?
- Damage to public’s trust in scientists and research
- Can have implications on the advancement of knowledge and understanding
Why are GM microorganisms a widely used tool in research but not GM pathogens?
- Health and safety of researchers and wider public
Risk of use in biological werefare (e.g. Making genomes of pathogens more virulent or to be resistant to all known treatments) - raises serious ethical issues
What is me issue with GM plants to do with ethics?
Some people think genetic modification of plants will help feed the ever-growing human population and overcome environmental issues incl. Excess carbon dioxide and pollution, ones have major concerns about the process
Explain insect resistance in soya beans?
- Scientists have inserted a gun into soya bears so my produce the Bt protein which is five to many insects attacking the plant and is widely used in pesticides
- one increasingly widely use strain of soya beans has been engineered to be resistant to a common weedkiller to farmers can spray no get id of weeds, making all the resources available to the beans
- ensures higher yield and less labour & expense
What are the benefits of GM crops in pest resistance?
- Reduce amount of pesticide spraying
- protect environment
- help poor farmers
- Increases yield
What are the risks of GM crops in pest resistance?
- Non-pest insects and insect-eating predators may be damaged by toxins in GM plants
-Insect pests may become resistant to pesticides in GM crops
What are the benefits of GM crops in disease resistance?
Crop varieties resistant to common plant diseases can be produced, reducing crop loss/ increasing yield
What are the risks of GM crops in disease resistance?
Transferred genes might spread to wild populations and cause problems eg. Superweeds
What are the benefits of GM crops in herbicide resistance?
Herbicides con be used to reduce competing needs and increase yield
What are the risks of GM crops in herbicide resistance?
- Biodiversity could be reduced if herbicides are overused to destroy weeds
- fear of superweeds
What are the benefits/risks of extended shelf life of GM crops?
✓ reduces food waste
X reduces commercial value and demand for the crop
What are the benefits/risks of growing conditions of GM crops?
✓ crops able to grow in wide range of conditions e.g. Flood resistant
(No risks)
What are the benefits/risks of the nutritional valve of GM crops?
✓ nutritional valve of crops can be increased e.g. Higher vitamin levers
X people merry be allergic to different proteins made in GM crops
What are the benefits/risks of medical uses of GM crops?
✓ plants could be used to produce human medicines and vaccines
(No risks)
what does patent mean?
no one else can use it without payment
how are GM animals made?
- harder to produce than GM plants
- uses microinjections (tiny particles of gold covered DNA) and modified viruses to carry new genes into animal DNA
what are 2 examples of GM animals?
- swine fever-resistant pigs: scientists successfully inserted gene from a wild African pigs into early embryos of European pig strain, giving then immunity
- faster-growing salmon: received genes that cause them to produce growth hormones all year round
what is pharming?
using genetic engineering in animals to produce human medicines
what are the 2 aspects of pharming in gene technology?
- creating animal models
- creating human proteins
what is ‘creating animal models’ within gene technology?
addition or removal of genes so animals develop certain diseases, acting as models for development of new therapies
what is ‘creating human proteins’ within gene technology?
- introduction of a human gene coding for medically required protein
- animals are sometimes used because bacteria cannot produce all complex proteins in eukaryotic cells
- human gene can be introduced into the genetic material of fertilised cow, sheep or goat egg along with promoter sequence so gene is expressed only in mammalian glands
what is somatic cell gene therapy?
- involved replacing mutant allele with healthy allele in affected body cells
- potentially helps people with wide range of diseases
- is a temporary solution for treated individual
- healthy allele will be passed on every time a cell divides by mitosis but somatic cells have limited life and are replaced by stem cells, which will have the faulty allele
what is germ line cell gene therapy?
- inserting healthy allele into germ cells (usually eggs) or into embryo immediately after fertilisation
- individual will be born healthy with normal allele in place and passed onto offspring
- raises ethical and medical conditions (eg used in cosmetics)
