The moral and ethical Issues of Recombinant DNA Essay Example

The moral and ethical Issues of Recombinant DNA Paper Recombinant DNA is a modern technology involving the combination of DNA from one organism with the DNA of another. This often involves inserting human DNA into the DNA of another organism. When these genetically engineered organisms are cultured, they produce a human protein. Recombinant DNA gives scientists far greater control over genetic manipulation For example, recombinant DNA techniques have now been used to create bacterial strains that produce human insulin in large amounts, and this insulin has been used clinically with no reported adverse effects. Other successes of this technique are human interferon (a protein important to the bodys defence system) and human growth hormones. Recombinant DNA has been a leap which is contributing towards genetically engineered micro organisms, modified plants and animals, cloning, human gene therapy (correcting a genetic disorder) and mapping human chromosomes. Scientists can essentially extract, edit and replace the very building blocks of life on earth with our modern technology. The benefits of recombinant DNA are very prominent however there is a huge moral and ethical debate which has been occurring for decades concerning the morality of this advancement. In this essay I will present and discuss the positive and negative arguments regarding the technology and try to give a clear understanding of the issues at hand. Firstly, I will tell you of all the extraordinary applications recombinant DNA technology has to offer. Humans who have disorders are often in need of proteins, for example Diabetics require insulin injections to help control their glucose level. We will write a custom essay sample on The moral and ethical Issues of Recombinant DNA specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The moral and ethical Issues of Recombinant DNA specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The moral and ethical Issues of Recombinant DNA specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Insulin is not easy to create, and here recombinant DNA can be very beneficial. Human genes can be inserted into bacteria, which are then grown in fermenters; these treated bacteria then produce a human protein. Large amounts of insulin and human growth hormones can be produces cheaply on this way. This can help improve the lifestyles of many sufferers, cheaply and effectively. Plants also can be treated in a similar way. Desirable genes can be transferred from an organism to a crop plant. These can bring about useful changes in the crops, for example potato plants that are resistant to attack by a virus and maize (corn) plants that are resistant to drought have been produced in this way. This has a huge effect on agriculture and has allowed us to grow crops in conditions not usually suitable. Many other proteins useful for humans can also be produced by genetically modifying animals. Human proteins, such as haemoglobin and blood-clotting factors, are already being produced in the milk of transgenic cows, goats and sheep. Recombinant DNA has been used applied to human gene therapy. This involves inserting a normal gene into an organisms body to correct a genetic disorder. Take SCID, Severe combined immune deficiency leaves some people with almost no functioning immune system. Human gene therapy can be used to cure symptoms of SCID by inserting copies of a gene coding for the enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA) into the blood cells of sufferers. The whole advent of changing our genes has proved a to be marvel in modern medicine. Gene therapy is getting bigger and bigger. As more and more research goes into recombinant DNA, the more successful treatments we can make. The Human Genome Project includes scientists in over 1000 laboratories around the world contributing towards mapping every human chromosome, identifying the precise location of every gene. With this tool, developing new gene therapy treatments will become a far easier task. Recombinant DNA, despite all its wonders has many negative arguments. Over the past few years there have been a number of demonstrations about the growth of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). There have also been many newspaper articles debating the use of GMOs. Many emotional concerns come into thought with the idea that we are essentially being cannibals when we eat an animal which has human DNA inserted into it. Although these are merely the general publics thoughts, they can put people off the whole idea of GMOs. A great degree of rational concerns about recombinant DNA also exist. Firstly when scientists insert human genes into bacteria or viruses there is a high risk of these transgenic organisms mutating and actually forming new pathogens. The scare is that we would not be able to treat or handle these new pathogens, resulting in new illness. What we are essentially treating to make substances (e. g. insulin) or our less fortunate could end up being the cause of many more illnesses. There is a huge debate as to whether we are being safe in experimenting with these organisms. Another ethical concern is regarding our crops. The benefits are out genetically modified crops are notorious, however if the pollen or seeds from these crops were carried away from the testing plots, there is a high chance of genetically modified populations growing elsewhere. It is a known fact that genetic modification could invoke a resistance to herbicides, meaning these crops could grow out of control, (often described a superweeds) and spread indefinably. The thought of this is a growing concern as more and more foods are becoming genetically engineered. Some crop plants that we engineer have been given a gene enabling them to produce pesticides. With the natural selection of nature, this may increase the rate of evolution of pesticide-resistant insects. These insects, once evolved could then harm our environment to a degree where food supplies start to run low, causing havoc. Although this isnt proven, in modern science it is possible, meaning this may a problem soon to be taken into consideration. The food chain is almost essential for our ecosystem to operate correctly, and important to the human race for our food. Populations of transgenic organisms could upset the balance of nature. For example, populations of transgenic salmon have been produced in which the individual fish grow rapidly. These fish would have to compete with other species for food. The size difference could cause the transgenic salmon to dominate over the others and have all the food. This may cause the other species to become extinct and the natural food webs to change. This change could upset a once natural ecosystem. There is a huge religious debate regarding recombinant DNA, with each religion having its own objections to transgenic organisms. Christian beliefs say that God created us, us, the question arises: what right have we to change what he has made, just to suit our needs and test our new found abilities? Many religious followers think we are destroying Gods will, by interfering with nature. In the Bible it is said: God created man. With the recent advent of cloning, it seems we have ignored this and taken our technology forward to point where we forget about religion. Also, many religious groups could not use products from specific organisms, e. g. to Hindus, cows are sacred animals and to Jews and Muslims, pigs are unclean. With this in mind, the use of products from these organisms might be unacceptable to people from these religions. Eugenics is quite a big part of recombinant DNA. This is essentially where genes are inserted into humans (or their eggs or their sperm). This technique can be very useful in that it can prevent an early death (e. g. or people with SCID Severe Combined Immunodeficiency). However, it could be used to give people characteristics that are considered to be desirable by others. This whole idea is unacceptable by many people as it reminds people of the programmes that have been used throughout modern history to eradicate less power ethnic groups (ethnic cleansing- e. g. WWII Hitler). People are scared by the prospect that we must all have the same characteristics and loose our individuality. Another concern is how screening for genetic diseases could lead to discrimination against individuals. When a foetus is scanned for genetic disorders (e. . Downs syndrome), parents often face a dilemma about aborting an affected foetus. This is can to lots of emotional stress and demoralising decisions. Also, it will soon become possible to screen adults for genes that predispose them to genetic disorders. This might lead to insurance companies discriminating against people with these disorders, when thought they have perfect health. The advent of recombinant DNA has brought medicine, agriculture and our understanding of our genes to a new level. As you can see there are many debates as to whether we should continue with our experiments. In my opinion the benefits of this new technology outweigh the moral and ethical concerns. This technology is too promising and too effective to cease working on, because in the end it will do far more good than bad. As the technology progresses, it will become far safer to utilise recombinant DNA and all its advantages. If God has given us the ability to experiment with genes, why not use this ability? As long as we can keep it safe; minimising the risks of upsetting nature and proving to the people that it is a good thing by trying to calm any emotional concerns, this technology should prevail.

Essay Sample For Grade - Write Essays That Read Like Poems

Essay Sample For Grade - Write Essays That Read Like PoemsThere are two things that you must remember when writing a descriptive essay. The first one is to think of things that are normally being used for an essay but that are not usually used for a description.You have to think of things that are normally being used to describe an object or event but not normally used in an essay, like 'good', 'bad', 'excellent', 'great', and so on. These types of descriptions could be used in your description, but they are generally not.The second thing that you need to remember when writing a descriptive essay sample for grade is to think of things that are not usually used for an essay but that you would use in a description. These could be things like clothing colors, food items, physical features, sounds, and so on. You need to think of things that you might not normally use in a description but that is actually very common in things that you do use for an essay.These would be typical stuff tha t you would find in a description of something like a color, such as red, yellow, blue, green, and so on. They are also the kind of things that you use when writing a standard composition that is for a test, like an essay for a grade.These two things would mean that the description that you are going to write needs to be less formal than the essay that you would write for a standardized test. It needs to be more professional and shorter, more casual, and less formal. Your descriptions need to make you sound more like you're an essay writer than a school teacher.This kind of essay is an analytical essay sample for grade because it is used to capture the essence of a person or situation. It is one of the few things that can do this. An analytical essay sample forgrade is written using as much of the vocabulary of an essay as possible but using more descriptors.So when you're writing an essay sample for grade, be sure to write in this kind of format. You'll find that you'll write much better. If you want a writing style that's less formal, don't worry about it; just write in this style.

Nopleon essays

Nopleon essays This essay will illustrate why Napoleon Bonaparte is regarded as one of the greatest military masterminds in the history of mankind. It will show the life of Napoleon from when he was a young boy, till he died in 1821. It will show how he deceived the French into giving him power, and how he used this power for his own interests. It will also reveal how he almost killed of an entire generation of French people, and once again prove that all good things must come to Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. This was only a few months after France had annexed the island. He had 7 brothers and sisters, and his father was a lawyer whose family stemmed from the Florentine nobility. His original nationality was Cursican-Italian. In 1779 Napoleon went to school at Brienne in France. There he took a great interest in in history, especially in the lives of great ancient generals. Napoleon was often badly treated at Brienne because he was not as wealthy as his fellow classmates, and very short. He also did not speak French well, because Italian was spoken on Corsica where he grew up. He studied very hard so that he could do better then those who snubbed him. Napoleon attended the Ecole Military School in Paris in 1784 after receiving a scholarship. This is were he received his military training. He studied to be an artillery man and an officer. Napoleon finished his training and joined the French army when he was 16 years old. He was appointed to an artillery regiment , and commissioned as a lieutenant. Once again he was not well liked by his fellow officers because he was short, spoke with an Italian accent, and had little money. Napoleon spent little time with his regiment. He was more concerned with trying to free his home land of Corsica, witch had been taken with force by France. Soon after being commissioned his father died, and h...

How the Statue of Liberty Became a Symbol of Immigration

How the Statue of Liberty Became a Symbol of Immigration When the Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886, the ceremonial speeches had nothing to do with immigrants arriving in America. The sculptor who created the enormous statue, Fredric-Auguste Bartholdi, never intended the statue to evoke the idea of immigration. In a sense, he viewed his creation as something nearly opposite: as a symbol of liberty spreading outward from America. So how and why did the statue become an iconic symbol of immigration? The Statue is now always linked in the public mind with arriving immigrants thanks to the words of Emma Lazarus. Lady Liberty took on deeper meaning  because of the sonnet written in its honor, The New Colossus. Poet Emma Lazarus Was Asked to Write a Poem Before the Statue of Liberty was completed and shipped to the United States for assembly, a campaign was organized by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer to raise funds to build the pedestal on Bedloe’s Island. Donations were very slow in coming, and in the early 1880s it appeared that the statue might never be assembled in New York. There were even rumors that another city, perhaps Boston, could wind up with the statue. Fundraising events were organized, one of which was an art show. The poet Emma Lazarus, who was known and respected in the artistic community in New York City, was asked to participate. Lazarus was a 34-year-old native New Yorker, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish family with roots going back to the colonial era in New York City. She had become very concerned about the plight of Jews being persecuted in a pogrom in Russia. Newly arrived Jewish refugees from Russia were being housed on Wards Island, in New York Citys East River. Lazarus had been visiting them, and had gotten involved with charitable organizations helping the destitute new arrivals get a start in their new country. The writer Constance Cary Harrison asked Lazarus to write a poem to help raise money for the Statue of Liberty pedestal fund. Lazarus, at first, was not interested in writing something on assignment. Emma Lazarus Applied Her Social Conscience Harrison later recalled that she encouraged Lazarus to change her mind by saying, â€Å"Think of that goddess standing on her pedestal down yonder in the bay, and holding her torch out to those Russian refugees of yours that you are so fond of visiting at Ward’s Island.† Lazarus reconsidered and wrote the sonnet, â€Å"The New Colossus.† The opening of the poem refers to the Colossus of Rhodes, an ancient statue of a Greek titan. But Lazarus then refers to the statue which â€Å"shall† stand as a â€Å"mighty woman with a torch† and the â€Å"Mother of Exiles.† Later in the sonnet are the lines which eventually became iconic: Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door! Thus in the mind of Lazarus the statue was not symbolic of liberty flowing outward from America, as Bartholdi envisioned, but rather a symbol of America being a refuge where those oppressed could come to live in liberty. Lazarus was no doubt thinking of the Jewish refugees from Russia she had been volunteering to assist at Wards Island. And she surely understood that had she been born somewhere else, she may have faced oppression and suffering herself. The Poem â€Å"The New Colossus† Was Essentially Forgotten On December 3, 1883, a reception was held at the Academy of Design in New York City to auction off a portfolio of writings and artwork to raise funds for the statue’s pedestal. The next morning the New York Times reported that a crowd which included J. P. Morgan, the famous banker, heard a reading of the poem â€Å"The New Colossus† by Emma Lazarus. The art auction did not raise as much money as the organizers had hoped. And the poem written by Emma Lazarus seems to have been forgotten. She tragically died of cancer on November 19, 1887, at the age of 38, less than four years after writing the poem. An obituary in the New York Times  the following day praised her writing, with the headline calling her An American Poet of Uncommon Talent. The obituary quoted some of her poems yet  did not mention â€Å"The New Colossus.† Thus, the sonnet was generally forgotten not long after it was written. Yet over time the sentiments expressed in words by Lazarus and the massive figure crafted of copper by  Bartholdi would become inseparable in the public mind. The Poem Was Revived by a Friend of Emma Lazarus In May 1903, a friend of Lazarus, Georgina Schuyler, succeeded in having a bronze plaque containing the text of â€Å"The New Colossus† installed on an interior wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. By that time the statue had been standing in the harbor for nearly 17 years, and millions of immigrants had passed by it. And for those fleeing oppression in Europe, the Statue of Liberty did seem to be holding a torch of welcome. Lady Libertys Legacy Over the following decades, especially in the 1920s, when the United States began to restrict immigration, the words of Lazarus took on deeper meaning. And whenever there is talk of closing Americas borders, relevant lines from The New Colossus are always quoted in opposition. Still, the poem and its connection to the statue unexpectedly became a contentious issue in the summer of 2017. Stephen Miller, an anti-immigrant adviser to President Donald Trump, sought to denigrate the poem and its connection to the statue. Two years later, in the summer of 2019, Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Trump administration, sparked a controversy by suggesting that the classic poem be edited. In a series of interviews on August 13, 2019, Cuccinelli said the poem should be changed to refer to immigrants who can stand on their own two feet. He also noted that the Lazarus poem referred to people coming from Europe, which critics interpreted as a sign of current bias toward non-white immigrants.

International Political Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International Political Economy - Essay Example (Ttreault and Abel, 1998: p. 3). With reference to the material reality individual actors are expected to be pursuing their self-interest through bargaining and the interplay of the market. (Ttreault and Abel, 1998: p. 3). Similarly considering the ideological reality one would expect to see a multi-faceted order and its potential for improving overall production and wealth skewed in various ways to provide different sorts of short-term advantages for those who can manipulate the system to conform to specific goals. (Ttreault and Abel, 1998: p. 3). For instance the flow of resources, the availability of money as well as the cost of doing business can be manipulated, even by weak countries if they seize the right moment. While the material reality may be evolving toward a complex interactive system, such an outcome serves to justify and describe one way or another to rig the system to a particular advantage rather than to structure a mutually beneficial international economic order likely to raise overall global wea lth but unlikely to generate individual distinction or preeminence for particular countries. (Ttreault and Abel, 1998: p. 3). Dependency theory refer to a set of theories, which maintained that third world countries fail to attain adequate and sustainable levels of development as a result of their dependence on the advanced capitalist economies. (Scott and Marshall, 2005). Built upon Lenin's theories of imperialism, the theory focused upon the economic penetration of the third world particularly Latin America by the large capitalist economies. (Lievesley, 2003). Dependency theory was developed in 1960 and called into question the structural developmentalism associated with Raul Presbish as well as the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA), which emerged in 1948 in Santiago, Chile. (Lievesley, 2003). According to the ECLA, the world was regarded as divided into center (the developed, industrialized North) and the periphery (the underdeveloped agricultural South) and the relationship between them was determined by the structure of the world economy. (Lievesley, 2003). The economy of Latin America concentrated on the production of primary inputs for export to the developed industrialized North. Presbish later discovered that instead of a mutually advantageous relationship between North and South, there was an unequal exchange with Latin American economies facing a long-term secular decline in their terms of trade thereby resulting in a chronic balance of payment deficits with the periphery having to export more and more in order to maintain the same levels of manufactured imports. (Lievesley, 2003). The figure in the following page represents the relationship between the developed industrialized North and the underdeveloped agricultural south. Figure 1. Dependency Theory Core/Metropolitan Centre Power Development Unequal Exchange Periphery Under development Marginal = Dependency Theory Source: Lecture Notes. Frank, a German Economist of development was the major contributor to dependency theory who in his book Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America (1967), concentrated upon the external mechanisms of control exerted by the centre (or metropole) upon the periphery (or satellite). (Lievesley, 2003; Scott and Marshal, 2005). The centre maintained the periphery in a state of underdevelopment for

Human Resource Management has evolved significantly over recent Assignment

Human Resource Management has evolved significantly over recent decades with an increasing emphasis on contributing to business - Assignment Example The introduction of globalization and the subsequent growth of cross cultural business made a further name change in the employee management department. Now, instead of HRM, Strategic HRM is prominent in the organizational world. Employees are the backbone of any organization. Even though an organization has many other resources, human resources are the most important ones. All the other organizational resources such as machines, money and materials, need the supervision from human resources for proper utilization or mobilization. This paper evaluates different approaches in strategic human resource management (SHRM) and describes the positioning of SHRM in contemporary context. Introduction According to Bratton & Gold (2012), â€Å"Labour is not a commodity. It is people in work organizations who sets overall strategies and goals, design work systems, produce goods and services, monitor quality, allocate financial resources and market the product and services† (p.8). Even tho ugh an organization has many internal and external resources, none of them has the ability to act independently except the human resources. In other words, all the organizational resources can be mobilized properly only under the control of human resources. There is nothing wrong in saying that HR can make or break an organization. Boddy (2008) defines Human Resource Management (HRM) as â€Å"the effective use of human resources in order to enhance organizational performance† (p.354). Because of globalization, majority of the prominent companies are currently operating cross culturally. Outsourcing and offshoring like modern business principles were evolved out as a result of globalization. Exploitation of cheap labor is vital for an organization for staying competitive in the market. Moreover, diverse workforce is common in most of the modern organizations. Management of diverse workforce necessitates restructuring or modifications of many of the existing HRM principles. Ins tead of HRM, SHRM is common in most of the modern organizations. According to Bratton (N.d.), â€Å"Strategic human resource management is the process of linking the human resource function with the strategic objectives of the organization in order to improve performance†(p.37). The ability to stay competitive determines the success and failures of modern organizations. The way of doing business in the past and present are entirely different. SHRM helps organizations to formulate strategies suitable for the changing principles in the organizational world. Different approaches and models are prevailing in the organizational world with respect to the implementation of SHRM. Different approaches in strategic human resource management (SHRM) According to Bratton (N.d.), â€Å"Strategic HRM’ is an outcome: ‘as organizational systems designed to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through people’† (p.46). For example, plenty of American companies ar e currently struggling in international market, not because of the poor quality of the products they produced, but because of the huge price of these products compared to the prices of products from competitors. It should not be forgotten that America is a country in which manpower cost is extremely high. On the other hand, China and India are countries in which manpower cost is extremely low. Nobody has any doubt about the technological dominance of American companies. However, expensive labor preventing American companies from competing effectively in the global market. Currently,

Charles Darwin Essay -- Biography Biographies

Charles Darwin was a man who shaped the way in which we think about evolution in modern times. He brought forth and described the theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest. To fully understand modern evolutionary thoughts it is necessary for one to completely understand the early theories of Charles Darwin. In this paper I will provide the reader with a complete background on Charles Darwin, describe his voyage on the HMS Beagle, and discuss his theory of natural selection. Charles Robert Darwin, the founder of evolution, was born on February 12, 1809 in rural England. Charles was the son of Robert Darwin and Susannah Wedgewood. His mother died when he was seven and his father died when Charles was thirty-nine. Until the age of eight, Charles was educated at home by his sister Caroline. Charles soon thereafter developed a fascination for biology and natural history. The young student began to hoard, collecting anything that captured his interest, from shells and rocks, to insects and birds. Darwin’s beetle collecting while at Cambridge seems to have been a little more than collecting. His collecting began to control all of his time, and eventually his thoughts. But they proved very useful once on board the Beagle. (Freeman 91) His hobbies laid the framework for a wonderful life of discovery. In 1825, Robert sent Charles to Edinburgh Medical School to follow in the footsteps of Eras (Charles’ brother) and himself. It was at Edinburgh that Charles discovered that medicine was not in his future. Charles was extremely squeamish and hated working on cadavers. This sent Charles back to his old ways of collecting and dissecting animals and bugs. Meanwhile, while attending Edinburgh, Darwin was also receiving instruction on taxidermy. This also proved useful on board the Beagle. Also, while attending Edinburgh Darwin became familiar with the evolutionary theories of Lamarck. Darwin gave up his education at Edinburgh after his second year studying medicine, without a degree. Next, Dr. Darwin sent his son to the University of Cambridge to study religion. It was at Cambridge that Darwin developed his new obsessive fascination, entomology (especially with beetles). He struggled through his first three years, but in his fourth he pulled himself together. Charles gra duated in 1831 from Cambridge and began to look for a job with... ...n a subject which the public had relatively no knowledge of. He described the way in which an individual of a species reproduced and genetically passed on variations. The species that adapted through variation was the one who survived. This is where the phrase â€Å"survival of the fittest† came from. As pointed out, Charles Darwin was a man ahead of his time, and his work laid the structural basis for how we now look at evolution. On the last page of Origin of the Species, Darwin summarizes his findings, â€Å"as Natural Selection works solely by and for the good of each being, all corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress towards perfection†. Works Cited: Barnett, Samuel A. A Century of Darwin. New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1969. Campbell, Bernard. Human Evolution. Chicago/New York: Aldine and Atherton, 1970. Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of the Species by Natural Selection. 1859. Gribben, John and Michael White. Darwin: A Life in Science. New York: Dutton, 1995. Jurmain, Robert; et al. Essentials of Physical Anthropology. International: West/Wadsworth, 1997. Sears, Paul B. Charles Darwin. New York: Scribner’s Sons LTD, 1950.