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Issues in biotechnology
your informed opinion counts!
As the
movement in physics against the atom bomb and the environmental movement
against the release of chemical toxins into a fragile environment,
biotechnology is the activist science of today.
You are now aware of the various aspects of molecular genetics so it is
time to evaluate some of the societal ramifications of the technology that
is quickly spinning out of the science.
In this science investigation you will use the Internet to find a topic
that involves a contemporary and perhaps contentious issue arising from
biotechnology.
Process - find at least one good news article
(hopefully a few more)
or science paper on the topic of genetic engineering as it affects human
culture. Read the piece and then respond in a critical way that supports
the technology and its promise for mankind or rejects it or supports and
rejects depending on point of view. Use the
knowledge that you have gained in biology/science classes to support your
case.
Feel free to argue both the benefits and also the possible drawbacks
of the technological process (it is possible!)
Your topic should be timely ........ reported on in the last couple of
weeks or months certainly not older than a year this is a hot topic and is changing daily.
After you have current articles providing the basis of your topic you may
include some older articles as back up.
Try to keep your response short 250 - 500 words and include a printout of your
reference(s) from the net , news paper or journal.
How to start : the easiest way to start is to think
of a topic and then go to GOOGLE.
and clik the news section. Enter your topic or a
general term in biotechnology into the NEWS section and start a
search you'll be surprised at the amount of news there is on this topic.
Possible topics to get going
Monsanto - wheat - corn - canola -
Transgenics
Gene modification
Medical genetic technology - cystic fibrosis - muscular dystrophy
Franken fish - genetically altered salmon
Cloning
Golden Rice
genetic engineering
GloFish
Bacillus thuringiensis
Stem cells
allergy free cats
who owns the human genome??
bioengineered food safety
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2000/100_bio.html
RoundUp Ready crops
AIDS treatments
Beware of encountering articles like this one (it
appears that there is someone out there that would like to discredit
Canada's most valuable crop after wheat)
evaluation/expectations
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