Biotechnology and World Change

Biotechnology and World Change

We had a pretty interesting lesson on Monday; one that revolved around biotechnology and biomedicine.  Prof mentioned that biobusiness compromised a large percentage of the economy. For example, I would like to touch on biotechnology in the agricultural aspect. In a primary sector such as agriculture, quite a substantial amount of research has gone into developing seeds which can be resistant to some viruses. This form of biotechnology is related to genetic engineering. There are many advantages to such genetic engineering however there are also disadvantages such as the trans gene can also be spread to bacteria or plants which were not supposed to have them, thereby creating a problematic situation. Another cool example of genetic engineering is the anti-freeze gene in the Atlantic salmon. By genetic engineering, the Atlantic salmon can be farmed in cold areas which could provide a source of food for that particular region. One thing which I thought was really interesting was when Prof said that bananas were 50% similar in gene make up as humans.

A presentation we had was about the electronic medical records (EMR). This electronic way of recording data of the patient would do without the traditional paper and clipboard that doctors and nurses use in hospitals. I believe that there are pros and cons with regards to the introduction of this new technology in hospitals. Obviously the medical records would be updated faster and more efficiently (from what was said about the doctor’s handwriting). However a problem brought up was the issue of privacy and whether patients would be comfortable with their records on servers. Furthermore, the hospital would have to provide many layers of back-up to the electronic records of the patients to ensure nothing is lost. Also, I foresee that there would be resistance to the change in the way records were handled.

Another presentation talked about the increase in clinical trials in India. I found Vince’s presentation pretty interesting albeit really long o_o. For class discussion we talked about how to prevent the exploitation of people in India to these clinical trials. I believe that the people there go in with their eyes wide open and understand that there are inherent risks in all the clinical trials conducted. Unfortunately the people who go for these trials are those who are desperate either health wise or financially. I believe that the most important point is to make sure that the clinical trials do not wilfully harm the participants. To battle this problem the relevant authorities in India must take charge and employ people of integrity.

Prof also touched upon the idea of designer babies and what is ethically acceptable. I believe that there should not be an instance where a parent chooses the aesthetics of their baby. Once allowed to choose the eye, hair and genetic make-up of a baby, a huge can of worms will be opened. I am in support of genetic engineering where if not used, the baby’s quality of life will be reduced, e.g. Down syndrome or various diseases.

Lastly, there was a very interesting presentation on organ printing. The gist of it was that we are close to being able to print organs that will be available for transplant. This is potentially amazing and we could be virtually immortal other than having dementia and going senile. A downside of this could be like the movie “the island” where humans are cloned to provide “backup organs” for their rich doubles. The world is advancing steadily and where once we were amazed by the “ear mouse”, we are now looking forward to creating new organs from scratch. In conclusion I found this lesson extremely fascinating and give it an 8/10. I look forward to more lessons like this.