Proposal to Help Spread Awareness About Genetic Engineering

Technology, it's a word that defines the means and ways of everyday life today. In the 21st century, technology is a crucial thing. From plasma televisions, to ipods and iphones, technology conquers all. Apart from everyday uses of technology, science and research technology is making a huge impact in medical and research science. Teens and young adults today are unaware of these growing trend of using technology in medical science. Currently, the use of technology in gene manipulation and engineering is creating a hype.

Genetic engineering is the process of taking any specific gene from a living thing and genetically manipulating it to be added into the genetic code of another living thing. This means, since plants and humans, and animals all contain almost similar genes, one can insert cucumber genes into a human, and human genes into a pig. The issue concerning genetic engineering is that not many people know about it, or have heard about the process. You might here about test tube babies on a news station, but most people just say the word, "wow, can they really do that?" and turn of their televisions, not ever thinking how it might impact their and the future of their kids. Genetic engineering is growing in terms of research and how much can be done with it. Genetic engineering has been used to cute many medical diseases like sickle cell anemia, and created many genetic manipulated plants, as well as babies that have the genetic make up chosen by their parents.

There are many ways to spread awareness about the growing medical trends. One of several of these ways, is to create public service announcements that catch people's attention. For example, catchy phrases such as, "designer babies," and "genes for sale." Creating documentaries on the people that have actually gone through the process of genetic engineering is another effective way. This would not only help research, but it would help scientists see the long term and short term effects of it. Another way teens could learn about this and inform their peers, is through experimenting. Many teens and students participate in the National Science Fair contest, one could research topics with gene manipulation and create minor experiments to support their research. There are many aspects of genetic manipulation, from crops, to animals, to humans, everything has been genetically manipulated. Parents today, instead of thinking if they are going to have a boy or a girl, they think about how they want only a boy. Future parents, think about what genes of theirs would they like their baby to have, such as eye color, intelligence and hair color. These are some of the specific traits that have been genetically engineered in babies.

Genetic Engineering is something the general public needs to be aware about. The growing trend in their field and the vast varieties of genetic engineering research, is making a huge impact on the future of teens and young adults. Even the elderly are to be aware of such research, since it helps cure many medical diseases. However, not a lot of research has been done on what kind of medical diseases are to be cured by genetic engineering, but there are a few that can be cured with specific requirements. Today, you can buy a genetically manipulated tomato, and tomorrow everything in your refrigerator would be genetically manipulated. If you have can have a genetically manipulated baby in the year 2008, then what makes your baby in 2020 won't be genetically modified?