Lesson 2 Handout 1 Genetic Engineering and its possibilities
By definition, the term “genetics” is “ the biology of heredity; especially the study of mechanisms of hereditary transmission and variations of organismal characteristics.” The term “Engineering” is “The application of scientific principles to practical ends, as the design, construction and operation of efficient and economical structures, equipment and systems.” Genetic engineering allows scientists to identify, store and manipulate the very chemical blueprints (DNA) of living organisms. By reprogramming the genetic codes of living organisms, scientists potentially will be able to customize and mass produce a completely new culture of human beings.(13)
One of the most significant changes within the twentieth century and early decades of the twenty-first century is the development of our ability to manipulate life through genetic engineering. Science promises to achieve in overnight laboratories the process of natural selection which would otherwise take millions of years in nature. Research predicts that one day geneticists may be able to remove traits from human beings that are considered undesirable and replace them with more acceptable ones. However, that is in our future. Currently, the battle is to be able to freely and legally complete the research that will eventually lead to this kind of genetic engineering of humans.
At this point, members of this society, like those in Canada and Europe raise questions in protest of the ethics and the morality of such practices. Should the US follow other countries and allow this protest to lead to an outright ban or stiff regulations against genetic engineering ? An outright ban not only limits potential medical breakthroughs, but limits personal freedoms as well.
Humans have some 100,000 genes which serve as instructions to the body. What will it mean to know the complete human genome, asks Eric Lander of MIT s Whithead Institute. According to Lander, some of the genes identified are linked to diseases like cancers of the breast and colon, Alzheimer’s, Glaucoma and Parkinson’s. Figuring out how the genes work promises to lead to prevention and or advanced treatment.(14)
Genes are located in the nucleus of every living cell. Each gene is a molecule of a chemical called DNA which acts like a master code to determine characteristics of the individual. When the living cells reproduce themselves, by dividing in two the DNA is reproduced exactly. Genetic engineering brings about a specific mutation (changes in the structure of a DNA molecule) in a specific gene. “Once scientists determine the gene or groups of genes that contain the characteristics that they want to change, a computer “maps” the exact structure of the DNA molecule, locating the part that must be removed and replaced by new coding material that will change the information that the gene sends to the body.” (15)
Some biotech companies are concentrating their efforts in the field of tissue engineering and fabrication of human organs. While others are turning their attention to unde rstanding how genes switch on and off and interact with their environment to cause genetic diseases. Still others have dedicated their energies to creating artificial human chromosomes, a development that could lead to the customized design of genetic traits in the sex cells, or in the embryonic cells just after conception.
Scientists are projecting that by the year 2011, they would have learned how to program the development of cells that could be transplanted into humans. However, it will take many more years before they’re are able to fool cells to develop into an entirely new organ like a liver or a kidney.
“ Researchers hope to move beyond the notion of transplants and into the era of fabrication, and are already well along in research to fabricate human heart valves, breasts, ears, cartilage, noses and other body parts.” (16) Following the wisdom of Robert Langer and Dr. Joseph P. Vicanti, leaders in this field, Rifkin agrees that “The idea is to make organs, rather than simply move them.” Researchers in this field predict that by the year 2020 ninety-five percent of human body parts will be replaceable with laboratory grown organs.
One example of how this extraordinary technology would work may be told in the story of a ten year old boy into whom a laboratory- grown human organ was expected to be transplanted in 1998. At Boston’s Children’s Hospital, director of tissue engineering at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Anthony Atala grew a human bladder in a glass jar. Atala’s research team seeded a plastic scaffolding made to represent the three dimensional shape of a bladder with bladder cells from the patient. The human cells grew over the frame in the laboratory jar and was expected to be transplanted- making it the first tissue-engineered organ ever transplanted into a human. What should happen with this new technology is “-eventually the scaffolding over which the cells had been growing will be destroyed by the patient’s own enzymes, leaving a fully functioning human bladder.” (17)
While all of these things might possibly result from genetic engineering, many believe that there is great danger in man altering the order of nature. Altering genes in humans could have dramatically different results than those discovered in lab mice. “The human body tends to reject anything foreign, like a virus carrying a corrective gene into a diseased cell.” (18) So far, experimental treatment has been confined to treating life -threatening diseases and altering somatic cells which pass on altered genes to future generations. Where should lines of human intervention be drawn?
We likely can’t count on parents-to-be who wish to choose physical characteristics, personalities or talents of their children. It is now possible to screen thousands of genes within individual embryos. Scientists are developing ways in which to remove or replace genes in individuals so as to change their individual attributes. With enough money the perspective parent will be able to include whatever traits he/ she desires in the offspring Genetic screening also makes it possible to determine what diseases or kind of illness that the child is predisposed to.
There is an even greater concern about the misuse of genetic screening. There have been reported cases of discrimination in providing health insurance coverage to people who are known to be predisposed to life-threatening diseases. There are also reported cases of employee discrimination. One such case involved a social worker who was abruptly dismissed from her job when her employee learned that she was predisposed to Huntington’s disease (19)
What does this kind of genetic tracking mean to students in various learning environments? Too often the child who is diagnosed as having a genetic disorder will likely receive less attention and support from teachers who feel that the child will not learn anyway. The handicapped or special need students might well be dismissed totally. For these students the discrimination has social implications far beyond their school years into their adult years, where their genetic profiles will follow them. They will become twice victimized by their genetic
“Segregating individuals by their genetic makeup represents a fundamental shift in the exercise of power.”(20) Institutions who hold such information also hold a weapon of absolute power. There is also concern about further dividing society into genetically superior and genetically inferior groups. Those who can afford to program superior traits into their fetuses at conception stand to gain biological, social and economic advantages.
Lesson 2 Handout 2
TIMELINE
from Omni’s Future Medical Almanac (partial listing)
When using the information given in this timeline, you will need to check various sources for actual dates of events- given that these dates represent projections and many of them have already occurred. The editors of this book advise its users that they are looking at basic research and ongoing clinical trials, along with the fantasies of medicine’s brightest minds and dreams that will change the face of health care. The book presents medical science’s cutting edge, but also takes a look at what the future will likely bring. (21)
1986 first human gene therapy trials for ADA and purine nucleaside phosphorylase deficiency begin
.
1987-1990 Genetically engineered drugs to control hemophilia, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, stress and certain cancers were FDA approved.
1991-1995 Scientists map all fifty cancer genes
1996-2000 Major outline of human gene map is known.
Prenatal genetic screen tests become available for home use.
2001-2010 First human gene therapy traits for Alzheimer’s and other diseases resulting from defects in more than one gene begin.
2011-2100 Gene transfer therapy for all hereditary diseases becomes standard practice. All hereditary or genetically linked diseases are eradicated.
Sample lesson 2 Genetic Engineering
Objective: To outline medical advances that could likely result from human genetic engineering.
Procedure:
Introduce the idea of altering one’s physical appearance by asking the children which of the following procedures they may consider having done now or in the future through cosmetic surgery? Would anyone have your teeth straightened? Would you go for a hair transplant or permanent weave? Would you consider breast enlargement or reduction?
Explain to the students that these are minor flaws that many consider changing as a way of improving their overall appearances. But there are those that interfere with the quality of one’s life and may be necessary in order to save a life or at least provide a greater quality of life.
Engage students in dialog by asking the following questions. If you were born with club feet, would you want to have them surgically corrected? If you were born with a congenital heart disease would you have that corrected?
Now tell them that scientists are working on ways to detect and correct those abnormalities before children are born through genetic engineering.
Have students set up notes for working definitions of the terms found in Vocabulary segment .
Next read the segment entitled “Genetic Engineering and its possibilities” Handout 1. Allow sufficient time for students to record definitions as they find them in the reading.
Discuss the reading by raising questions that relate to students’ understanding of the information.. For example ask, “ From your reading, can you describe the process by which genes are genetically altered ?”
Next have students discuss and make notes outlining some of the ways in which genetic engineering technology is intended to be used. After taking notes and some discussion, ask students to express their ideas of what it might mean to be a human being in a world where babies are genetically designed and customized in the womb.
What are some of the positive and negative results of people being identified, stereotyped and discriminated against on the basis of their genotype?
Take some time to survey the Timeline- Handout 2. Open a discussion into the possibilities of these things occurring and some of their implications.
Ask students to elaborate on the following ideas by looking at the positive and negative implications. “ Will the ability to eliminate certain diseases ensure that there is no sickness or death from poor health?” “ What could it mean to have a life expectancy of 125 or more years?
Find out if students agree with those who support research on human embryos as a step toward eventually having the ability to eliminate certain diseases or are they more inclined to follow the position taken by those who feel that human experimentation is morally unacceptable even if it does provide knowledge for eliminating certain diseases from the body?
Close the lesson segment by posing these questions . “What are the risks we take in attempting to design a more perfect human?” “How much perfection is enough to satisfy whomever seeks improvement through science rather than nature?”