基因工程(英文版)

Benefits of Genetic Engineering to the Environment and Human Health

覃靓

(澳大利亚卧龙岗大学,澳大利亚卧龙岗)

Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to argue that the genetic engineering may bring about benefits to human health and the environment.

By means of research of secondary source collection, relevant evidence is selected, evaluated and organized into three main parts: improving agricultural environment, providing effective medical therapy and supplying safe and nutrition food to human body. In order to explain the benefits that created by genetic engineering technologies, examples based on opinions of experts and results of experts' experiments are used. The research results strongly suggest that the genetic engineering has positive effects on environment and mankind. Base on those finds, the argument is justified that genetic engineering is certainly beneficial to the environment and human health. In the future, more attention and researches should be focus on the genetic engineering with the purpose of benefiting human beings and the natural worlds.

Key words: genetic engineering; benefits; human health; environment

Overseas English

2011年4月

Along with the extremely serious environmental problems worldwide and more public attention on human health, it has become increasingly significant to achieve a harmonious balance between environment and scientific development. Similarly, pursuit of a coordinated(协调的) coexistence(共处) of the genetic engineering and environment is a prerequisite(先决条件) for the development of this technology. Genetic engineering is one of the eco -technologies in the

21st century. Many countries exploit this technology to improve the agricultural productivity and prolong(延长) human life span(寿命). The existing significance of genetic engineering lies in its benefits to human being and natural world. The term genetic engineering can be interpreted as(看作) a high technology used to create new types of plants, animals or organisms（生物体）by changing the gene structures in order to fulfill specific purposes. Genetic engineering has positive effects on the environment and mankind. It can be argued by analyzing three areas about the good effect of genetic engineering on environment and human health, including improving environment, providing effective medical therapy and supplying higher nutritious and safer food to human body.

Genetic engineering possesses a favourable influence on the environment. Many countries rely on genetic engineering to solve the problems of food shortage and realize the high yield of crops. Thereupon, genetic engineering has been widely applied to agriculture and generated several agricultural environmental benefits. Transgenic crops reduce the wide use of insecticides and eventually protect the environment. According to a recent study (Snow . A et al., 2005, p380), transgenic crops can fight back lepidopteran or coleopteran vermin and prevent common diseases from spreading owing to its natural ability. Their findings demonstrate that transgenic crops own pest control effect itself, thereby they resist the pests and ward off several diseases without any environmental pollution. Meanwhile it relieves overuse of insecticides and fungicides in favour of agricultural environment. This research implies that transgenic crops are of great environmental - friendly values in controlling pests and reducing agricultural pollution. In addition, genetic engineering realizes (achieves) a wide

range of greening, in this way, genetic engineering substantially benefit the environment. According to Hisano, H, "With the availability of information of genes involved in ligin biosynthesis and by taking advantage of development in plant transformation technology, it is now possible to modify or reduce ligin content in biofuel crops" ( 2009,p307). The sedimentation of ligin impedes the growth of plants; however genetic engineering technology help cut down the ligin components and protect the landscaping. From this study it is not difficult to find that genetic engineering is of significant environmental benefits in maintaining wide scope of greening. Finally, genetic engineering is frequently used in the industrial fields to reduce industrial pollution and to improve the environment. For instance, genetic engineering technology supports sanitary biofuel production which is a suitable replacement for energy source. A type of biofuel called ethanol, for it is derived from plants, with a minimal level of toxins, is liable to biological degradation and creates less air pollution than ordinary fossil fuel. This biofuel can also decrease the greenhouse gas emission. (Sticklen,2008,p433). Conclusion draw from this research is that genetic engineering protects the environment by providing alternative clean resources. Therefore, it can be confirmed that genetic engineering indeed plays a positive role in the environment instead of having negative effects. Genetic engineering provides human being with an effective medical diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. Genetic engineering can be reckoned as an optimal technique in medical field and supply signals to predict various types of specific diseases. Genetic engineering output has the great potential to predict sickness recurrence or therapy response, which demonstrates the considerable medical advantages of genetic engineering. Lara Dunn & Angela DeMichele found that gene expression profiling changes the expression into signals that prognosticate disease recurrence or therapy reaction (2009, p74). Patients respond distinctively different to specific therapies. Signatures derived from the gene expression profiling identify these individual differences. Based on these individual differences, doctors analyse each patient's condition and make the decision whether or not use specific treatments and which treatment should be adopted to effectively address the single patient's disease. Therefore, examining the response of each patient to specific therapies with gene expression profiling is significant for maintaining the security of patients and pursuing an optimal treatment. This study suggests that genetic engineering is conducive to human