Pros and Cons:

	Pros	Cons
Agriculture	·  Might actually make agriculture easier and more productive, resulting in more food/healthier food ·  Could help to make getting meat less painful and more plentiful, causing in less deaths and gruesomeness	·  The food might be dangerous to eat and might pass on the genes to future generations ·  According to some tests, some types of foods can cause those who eat it to be infertile
Medicine	·  Can help to make new discoveries in the medicine	·  The medicine might not work on humans if it only works on different animals ·  If animals are modified to be sick, it causes unease because so many animals would die from that
Endangered species	·  Can help to re-introduce endangered species and make them more likely to survive	·  The endangered species, if modified, might be dangerous to their territory like invasive species
Research	·  Research could work and we could have a break-through	·  The research could prove to be false
Donating Organs	·  More organs= less deaths	·  The organs might not function properly or be damaged ·  The person could feel uncomfortable with having, for example, a pig liver ·  The organs might cause different changes in the humans

Overall, I believe that the pros and cons are about equal. While there might be more cons, the pros can lead to revolutionary things.

What do you think?

Why is it done?

There are many reasons why genetic engineering is done, but these are some of the more well-known and common ones.

Agriculture: For agriculture, genetic engineering can be used to better the food we grow. They can add genes that make it more efficient in growing, thriving in their areas or conditions and much more. As well, genes can be added to the organism to make it more nutritious or bigger or have less negatively effecting things.

Medicine: Animals can be engineered to be born with specific sicknesses and be tested on with cures that can also be used on humans.

Endangered species: Endangered species can be cloned and, in some cases, modified to be able to adapt to more territories. This can increase their numbers and better their chances of survival, possibly taking them off the endangered list.

Research: Researching the organism can help us understand them better and hopefully understand how they can cope more easily.

Donating Organs: Now, some scientists are considered engineering specific animals to have organs compatible to humans so we have more organs for those that need them.

Cloning Pets: In some places, there is now an option to clone your pet, to make it exactly the same instead
of getting a new one.

How is it done?

Genetic modifying is the process of adding, deleting or substituting part(s) of an organism’s DNA. To do that, you have to change the organism by “taking parts” (DNA) from other organism(s).

Every genetic engineering experiment includes 3 distinct stages, which are cloning, screening and gene transfer. Here are the stages:

Stage 1: Cloning. A scientist must first get samples of the gene that they want to transfer to another organism. The first step is to get a DNA strand from an organism that has the specified requirements. Using enzymes that cut DNA, they remove the specified gene and let the gene to insert itself into tiny circles of bacterial DNA. The special enzymes cut the DNA and leave sticky ends that attach to similar sticky ends on any other DNA piece cut by the same sort of enzyme. Finally, they let the bacteria carry the gene to infect bacterial cells. They identify the bacterial cells that have succeeded in getting the bacteria and gene. They then grow each of those cells as a “pure cell culture”. Each “culture is a clone” of each other. Each different clone has a different gene.

Stage 2: Screening. They now must select the particular clone which bears the gene that they want. There are many different ways to find a gene; however, one of the most widely used is to test each clone for its ability to stick to a special probe. The probe is fashioned to be made of DNA that will stick to the precise gene you seek and no others. DNA is made of two mirror-image strands (A,T,G,C). A pairs with T and C pairs with G. No other pairs are possible. So, for example, if one sequence is ATTCGGA and then the sequence TAAGCCT will be the only one that pairs with it.

Stage 3: Gene Transfer. Something to keep in mind is that plant cells, unlike animal cells, are encased within a thick cell wall of cellulose. To introduce plant genes, they must find a way to penetrate that thick well. Infection is the easiest way. Infectious bacteria can be used to carry your gene, if the targeted organism will accept the infection. To get the bacteria in, they remove the “wall” and zap the cell with electricity. The shock causes the cell to briefly open the cell’s pores which allows the DNA to slip in. Another way is to, literally, shoot the DNA into the cells with a particle gun.

Afterwards, they select the genes which have the desired characteristics. Using standard tissue culture techniques, they induce these cells to develop into adult genes. At that point the gene engineering experiment is complete.

 From: http://txtwriter.com/onscience/Articles/geneEng.html