Download Genetic-Biotechnology

Taken from: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/dna/episode1/index.html
Biotechnology would soon transform the pharmaceutical industry and genetically modified food was to herald the biggest
revolution in agriculture since the industrialization of farming. Yet the public was skeptical, and so were certain scientists.
Some feared that a cancer-causing gene stitched into the DNA of a bacterium might be accidentally absorbed in the human
gut, enabling cancer to be passed on like an infectious disease. Biologists from all over the world were called to a meeting in
California to draw up a strict set of safety guidelines.
When the panic subsided the stage was set for a biotechnology bonanza. A race began to produce genetically engineered
insulin. A couple of years later a young researcher called Rob Horsch, who worked for the chemical giant Monsanto,
produced the first genetically engineered plant. The biotech revolutions had arrived.
The story begins in 1990, when the Human Genome Project was launched to decipher the complete instruction manual of
the human being. This epic endeavour took over a decade to complete and cost billions of dollars. Eight years after its
launch, a rival private bid was announced in an attempt to shut the public project down. A personal feud erupted between
Craig Venter, who ran Celera's privately funded Genome Project, and Sir John Sulston, who oversaw Britain's share of the
public Human Genome Project. Craig Venter believed he could finish the Human Genome several years before the public
project.
The fighting became so intense that President Clinton stepped in to try to unite the two sides. Clinton asked a go-between
to sort out the two warring groups. Over pizza and beer in a basement, the two sides agreed to a cease-fire. They would
announce their draft results -- together -- in a joint celebration hosted by The White House in June 2000.
His views are both extraordinary and extremely controversial. Watson argues for a new kind of eugenics -- where parents
are allowed to choose the DNA of their children -- to make them healthier, more intelligent, even better looking. His vision
may be disagreeable, yet it's a natural consequence of the decades of scientific exploration launched by his and Francis
Crick's discovery of the double helix. It's worth considering what effect the advancements in genetic science may have on
our future