Gene Editing: Is it The Right Step Towards a Better Future?

Introduction

Gene editing is also known as genome editing or genome engineering. Gene editing is seen as an unforeseen challenging step towards a better future. In this process, the DNA is replaced or inserted in the genome of a living organism. Gene editing has opened a whole new door of solutions for the future in which there can be a cure for deadly diseases through the modification of DNA.

Gene editing is one of the best defences against famines and other threats that humans face health-wise or environment wise. Science is a reliable pathway to an incredible future but it can also be a nightmare if it is misused. There are always two sides of a coin.

Rapid technological advancements have made it possible for scientists to effectively perform gene editing to a certain extent. There are many great books like the Genome Editing and Engineering, Editing Mankind, CRISPR Gene Editing, etc which offer in-depth information about this subject.

The human body is a vast universe in itself. There is more to explore and study to create a better and secure future for everyone on this planet.

Pros and Cons of Gene Editing

There are many advantages we can get from gene editing and we are going to discuss them in this article. But there are some drawbacks also that come with them. We will highlight that as well since ignorance and half knowledge can be dangerous.

Pros

1. Helps in Curing Diseases

Research done by some doctors says that eliminating the infected and diseases causing genes can help them to treat a wide range of illnesses from heart diseases to Alzheimer's. They have advanced technology to make sure that only the infected gene gets changed. Currently, the treatment of certain eye diseases, blood disorders, and sickle cell anaemia can be done through gene therapy.

1. Prevents Inherited Diseases

Inherited diseases like Alzheimer’s pass in the family from one generation to another. Gene editing is one of the best defences against inherited diseases. To prevent inherited diseases caused by mutated genes in children, the doctor needs to introduce gene mutation in healthy children so it can carry forward into the population and help stop such diseases.

1. Can Save Endangered Species from Mass Extinction

Gene editing is an effective way that can use the same human genes on animals to prevent them from going extinct. There are some species like Tasmanian devil that have come to the curve of extinction due to infectious cancer that can also be treated with gene editing. This is a great step towards animal welfare for those animals which have a higher chance of extinction.

1. Helps to Create Better Offsprings

In this modern era, you would have come across the terminology, designer babies. Gene editing provides you with the power to design your own babies. You can now decide the eye colour, height, muscularity and memory capacity of your baby and also give them the trait that you never had.

1. Revive Extinct Species

Extinct species like passenger pigeons, woolly mammoth etc, can be brought back to life with the help of Gene editing. There is so much research going on to resurrect them back to the real world. They can do this by mixing genes from extinct species back into existing ones. This technology can also be used for creating new species for commercial or artistic purposes.

1. Enjoy a Healthier and Longer Lifespan

Gene editing provides you with a life, free from certain diseases like coronary heart diseases, etc that run in the family. It helps to build stronger and efficient human genes to fight and defend you from certain deficiencies that cause illness and low-quality life. For a healthy long life span, gene editing is one of the best options.

1. Create a Better Future

This can be used to free the children from genetic disorders. This technology also helps to build healthier and well-developed citizens and a better variety of plants for the future of the nation. The future generation is the real wealth of a nation and can be made stronger and healthier with gene editing.

1. Provide Growth in Food Production and Quality

With the help of Genetic engineering/ gene editing, you can design foods that can withstand harsh environmental conditions. It is the right answer to meet all the heavy food demand. There are so many unforeseen events that can affect your harvest and if you use genetically engineered crops then you can protect your crops. Gene editing is a valuable asset to the agriculture sector as it provides pest resilient crops that don't require the use of tons of insecticides and pesticides.

Cons1. Cause Ethical Dilemma

Gene editing has a lot of benefits for humankind to help in various problematic situations that the world is facing today. One of the main problems of gene editing is when humans start playing god. Everything in this world will die one day and preventing it is not natural. Diseases in this world are natural. If everyone will be protected from them, then no one will die. It may also cause some unexpected outcomes like mutations, etc.

2. The Concern of Safety

Let's put all other concerns aside and think for a while about whether making changes at the cellular level is safe at all. A small change in the cellular level can lead to a very unexpected result which can be good or very bad for mankind. Making that type of change to deal with some disease may lead to introducing a brand new disease that can be more dangerous.

3. Lack of Efficiency in the Process

Gene editing is very new to the world and editing efficiency is very less. This is one of the biggest con of gene editing. With all the latest and modern technologies available, editing cells efficiently is still a big challenge.

4. It is Harmful to the Genetic Diversity in the World

The genetic diversity in the world can be affected by gene editing. It is used currently for eliminating potential diseases and illnesses but can also slowly fade away the genetic diversity in the human race. At some point there will be a time when creating offspring will be impossible.

5. Harmful for Population Control

Gene editing is used for dealing with diseases and illness to provide protection to the human race. These diseases and illnesses are the most effective way of controlling the population. If everyone is genetically edited and protected from diseases then no one will die. Overpopulation is one of the major issues for our planet. It will cause a problem like job availability, lack of agricultural space to support everyone, economic disparity, etc.

6. It Discriminates

Genetic editing helps you to choose traits for your babies. You can choose how your baby looks. You can select their hair colour, eye colour and even gender. You would know how your baby looks with every age. It provides an advantage over the babies that are born naturally.

7. It has the Risk of Allergies

This is well known that allergens can transfer due to genetic engineering efforts. The allergies caused by genetic editing is one of the most feared concerns by scientists. The changes that take place due to genetic editing can cause devastating effects on ourselves and the whole planet and this reaction can take place automatically.

Conclusion

After reading this article you would have gained some basic ideas about gene editing and how it can unfold the door to an amazing future with no diseases or any type of physical defects. It can help to create a perfect human being.

But it is not completely good for our nature since it gives us the power to be the creator of ourselves which makes it completely wrong.

Nature has decided the role of everyone in this world and if we make the wrong choices then we have to pay the price of great chaos that is brought by nature.

Ubuy is not your usual e-commerce website, we provide our customers with access to an excellent variety of products.