Biotechnology: Scientific Advancement versus Public Safety

Description

In this book, Dr Quintyn considers whether genetic engineering will exacerbate social injustices and/or lead to public safety issues. As designer babies mature, will they feel a sense of superiority or pass on mutations that negatively affect future generations? Should we ignore the risk of zoonotic (animal) diseases because they offer potential benefits for reducing organ shortages? Scientific advancement, if not guided responsibly and with public input, can be detrimental to public safety. This book is unique as it encompasses many biotechnologies within the definition of biotechnology. It gives a balanced view of biotechnology: its promise as evidenced in repairing mutations (i.e., genetic editing) and its dangers evidenced in creating (unintentionally) dangerous microbes or unregulated germline editing and cloning. Additionally, this book includes animals in biotechnological research because the success, advances, techniques, and science of genetic engineering could not have occurred without using animals (and microorganisms, insects, plants) as model organisms. A comprehensive description of the CRISPR system in bacteria and the exploitation of this knowledge in creating the CRISPR/Cas9 technology is also incorporated in this read. The author's overall goal is to discuss other biotechnology that is being used to improve and put at risk the health, environment, and safety of humans, giving the book a competitive edge. Furthermore, the book provides a provocative side in challenging scientists to consider the current belief governing research and development, which is that scientific advancement and public safety create a false dichotomy. Contents Preface About the Author Acknowledgments List of Tables Chapter 1 Defining Bioengineering: The New Eugenics? 1.1. Genetic Engineering: Treating Illnesses versus Personal Enhancement 1.2. Emergence of the New Eugenics Notes Chapter 2 Genetic Engineering in the Twenty-First Century: Genetically Modified Organisms 2.1. Genetically Modified Or Genetically Edited: Are the Resultant Products of these Technologies Dangerous? 2.2. Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: The Complexities of Reprogramming Human Adult Cells Notes Chapter 3 Cloning and In Vitro Fertilization 3.1. From Frogs to Dolly the Sheep and Other Animals: A Short History of Cloning Research — 1952 to the Present Notes Chapter 4 Designer or Selected Babies: Self-Controlled Reproduction 4.1. Preimplantation Diagnosis (PGD), In vitro Fertilization (IVF), and Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART): Frontline Soldiers in the New Eugenics Notes Chapter 5 The “New World”: Discovering the CRISPR System 5.1. Serendipity: CRISPR in Bacteria 5.2. Explaining CRISPR 5.3. The Biological Function of CRISPR 5.4. CRISPR Cascade Complex Notes Chapter 6 Genome Editing: Rewriting the Fundamental Code of Life 6.1. Events Enabling the Launch of the Research Leading to the CRISPR/Cas9 Technology 6.2. The Research Producing CRISPR/Cas9 6.3. Type I CRISPR-Cas Immune System 6.4. Type II CRISPR-Cas Immune System 6.5. The CRISPR/Cas9 Technology Notes Chapter 7 Crossing the Rubicon: Therapy versus Elective Enhancement 7.1. Creating Human-Animal Hybrids in the Name of Health: Violating Species Boundaries and/or Proliferation of Zoonoses (Animal Diseases)? 7.2. Benefits and Risks of Elective Biological Enhancement Notes Chapter 8 Playing God: Synthetic Biology and the Attempt to Control the Machinery of Life Notes Chapter 9 Bioengineering and the Emergence of Dual Use 9.1. Questionable Viral Studies in the Early 2000s 9.2. Dangerous Experiments On Avian H5N1 Influenza Virus Leading to Temporary Halt in Publication of Results in 2012 Notes Chapter 10 The Murky Waters of Regulation in the Age of Genetic Engineering 10.1. A Survey of Different Countries and their Laws On the Creation of Human-Animal Hybrid for Research Purposes 10.2. Regulation: Putting the Brakes On Runaway Science 10.3. Jennifer Doudna’s Fear Realized Notes Chapter 11 Benefits and Risks: The Eternal Struggle 11.1. Therapeutic Cloning and Genetic Editing via CRISPR: Benefits and Risks? 11.2. Resurrecting Extinct Animal Species Using Cloning: A Good Idea? 11.3. Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Promise and Their Propensity to Form Tumors 11.4. Assisted Reproductive Technology and the Long-term Dangers of Sex Selection Notes Chapter 12 Making New Mistakes? Bionanotechnology and Nanomedicine 12.1. Nanotechnology and Health Safety in U.S. 12.2. Bionanotechnologies: Nanomedicine and Dangers 12.3. Bionanotechnology: Social and Ethical Issues Notes Chapter 13 Unintended Consequences 13.1. Scientific Advancement and the Unintended Consequences Notes Chapter 14 The Impatience with Natural Selection Notes Chapter 15 Transhumanists, Homo evolutis, and Hubris 15.1. The Uses and Abuses of CRISPR/Cas9 and Other Technologies in Bioengineering Notes Addendum COVID-19 References Glossary Index