Genetic Engineering a Double Helix :: Science Medical Essays

As we move on into the twenty-first century we fag end look back at all in all the fantastic achievements we have made in the theatre of medicine. While nearly all of those advancements have been good, we argon sometimes left to wonder about the ethical motive behind it all. No one will say that helping some separate person with a disease is wrong but, they might say that the proficiency you are using is wrong. There is a moral dilemma touch on with issuing placebos to patients undergoing a study. While granted they sign up for the study and know that they might well get a placebo they do so in the hope that they get the real treatment. Sometimes it can seem cruel when the patients with the placebo get worse or die mend the ones who actually got treated do better. This is a necessary part of move on medicine. Now that we know that there is at least one medical exam practice that can be considered wrong, others could be as well. One up and coming method entails altering ourse lves at the very genetic level, the close to fundamental part of our being. It entails altering our DNA to eliminate or assuage a plethora of disorders permanently. Is this a good thing? We have a saying, Pride goeth before a fall. This means that those who are arrogant are very likely to fail miserably. Are we going too furthest in attempts to change our genetic structure? Or are we non doing enough? Robert L. Sinsheimer, chancellor at UCSC describes the power possibilities of genetics as follows, In Homo Sapiens something new appeared on this small globe. The next note of evolution is ours. We must devise that once again on this sainted planet a fairer species will arise. (1) (Moraczewski, 101) Is it even our place to decide this? And who will make such evolutionary decisions? To understand how this powerful new field of medicine works you must first understand how a a few(prenominal) related things function. In 1943 Oswald Avery proved that Deoxyribonucleic Acid not protei n carried genetic information. (5) The biramous Helix structure of DNA wasnt discovered until 1953 by the have efforts of James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin. (5) Eventually enough data was collected from each others work that they were finally able to deduce the correct structure. They knew that the phosphates were on the outside of the molecule, and that certain nitrogen bases always occurred in a 11 ratio.