Genetic Engineering Essay – PTE Academic Pearson Writing Task Sample 2

Genetic engineering is an important issue in modern society. Some people think that it will improve people’s lives in many ways. Others feel that it may be a threat to life on earth. Discuss both opinions and give your opinion?

Genetic Engineering Essay – PTE Academic Pearson Writing Task Sample 2

Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the deliberate manipulation or modification of an organism’s genome by manipulating its genetic material using biotechnology.

Genetic engineering has wide applications in medicines, research industry, and agriculture and can be used on a wide range of plants, animals, and microorganisms. Diseases like AIDS, cystic fibrosis, cancer and high cholesterol are treated using gene therapy and hence improve the quality of life of the patient. By changing the genetic material of the person, the possibility of the disease to be passed on to the baby is significantly reduced. In the field of medicine, insulin, human growth hormones, human albumin, monoclonal antibodies, vaccines and many other drugs are produced with the help of genetic engineering. Human insulin is cheaper than that extracted from the animal pancreas.

Growth hormones can treat bone fractures, skin burns, bleeding ulcers of the digestive tract and the bovine hormone is expected to yield bigger cattle. The vaccines produced by genetic engineering have no risk of accidental inoculation with live virus. In research, the functions of certain genes are genetically engineered. In agriculture, genetically modified crops or genetically modified organisms are created. And these genetically modified plants have improved nutritional quality, better nitrogen fixation, disease resistance and reduced post harvest losses.

With so many applications and benefits, could there be any drawbacks of genetic engineering? Yes, it does have its drawbacks. Anytime you mess with genes, there is a risk of mutation creating brand new diseases while curing one. The results of gene therapy haven’t proved to be too impressive. The condition goes back to the way it was before after some time. The treatments are expensive and are not covered by any insurance plan which means that only the rich have access to the treatment. Everybody knows the treatment of cancer is too expensive. E.g. chemotherapy sessions can cure the disease but the expenditure can not be afforded by a common man. That’s why there are more suicidal deaths than deaths from cancer.  But despite all the drawbacks and concerns the benefits of genetic engineering are tremendous. The modifications made by genetic engineering have negative impacts on the natural ecosystem. The major issue related to genetic engineering is the ethical and moral objections which religion has to these techniques.  In the eyes of Catholics, the use of stem cells obtained from unborn human fetuses created and destroyed is unethical.

There is need to proceed with caution in this field.